Bangladesh was fashioned to understand targets of the Lahore Resolution of 1940

Fifty years of the formation of Bangladesh is being celebrated fairly enthusiastically in West Bengal. The religious bond of the Bengali language and tradition between two Bengals is being rediscovered and championed. Bengali language motion of 1952 by the scholars of Dhaka University can also be virtually universally being accepted as the idea of the Bangladesh independence motion. The creation of Bangladesh is being portrayed because the emergence of a secular house on the japanese border of India. At this juncture, it is rather vital to show this lie on the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of Bangladesh.
Whenever the phrase Pakistan is uttered, a detrimental image of a strict Islamic nation emerges. When East Pakistan turned Bangladesh, most individuals felt relieved that there can be no Pakistan on our japanese border. There was hope in West Bengal that it might no extra be plagued with the fixed inflow of Hindu refugees from Islamic East Pakistan. And ‘secular’ Hindu Bengali historians, artists, intellectuals, political events (even some Hindutva activists) painted a rosy sentimental image concerning the newly fashioned nation known as Bangladesh.
But if we flip the web page somewhat again, we are going to see that even after the partition of the nation into Pakistan, the japanese wing of Pakistan was known as East Bengal. In 1955 it was formally named East Pakistan. The title Pakistan (which means Holy Land) was coined by Chowdhury Rahmat Ali after the names of the states of Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan. There was no point out of Bengal in it. There isn’t any point out of the phrase Pakistan within the Lahore decision of 1940 which is taken into account as the idea and elementary information for creation of Pakistan. The Lahore decision explicitly talked about that “that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the North-Western and Eastern Zones of India, should be grouped to constitute “Independent States” wherein the constituent models shall be autonomous and sovereign”.
Eminent author and political chief of East Pakistan/ Bangladesh, Abul Mansur Ahmed has defined it very clearly in his autobiographical e book – “One Pakistan has been replaced by two Pakistans in accordance with Lahore Resolution. The Government of India has assisted us in implementing the Lahore Resolution …. The Lahore resolution does not mention the word “Pakistan”, solely the Muslim majority states. This implies that the title of the states must be determined by the individuals later. The western individuals have named their state ‘Pakistan’. We, Easterners have named ours ‘Bangladesh’. There isn’t any motive to be confused. ” (Amar Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachhar [Fifty Years of Politics As I Saw It] –pp. 808 third Ed. by Abul Mansur Ahmed, Naoroj Kitabistan, Dhaka, 1975).
East Bengal and West Bengal have been fashioned on 20 June 1947 by a vote within the Bengal Legislative Assembly. All the Muslim members of the Bengal Legislative Assembly have been towards the division of Bengal and voted in favour of annexing the entire of Bengal to Pakistan. Those Muslim members demanded a united Bengal to not defend the language and tradition of Bengal however to achieve management over a bigger landmass together with the wealthy and affluent metropolis of Calcutta. Two most outstanding political leaders in favour of a united Muslim-majority impartial Bengal have been Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sarat Chandra Bose. Muslim Leaguer Shaheed Suhrawardy was then Primer of Bengal and likewise notorious as ‘butcher of Calcutta’ due to his function in Great Calcutta Killings.    Congressman Sarat Chandra Bose was the brother of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Debates on the standing of the Bengali language in Pakistan began from the time of the creation of Pakistan. Was it resulting from love for Bengali language and tradition? After the partition of the nation, all of the Bengali newspapers revealed in East Bengal and who spoke in favour of the Bengali language had Arabic names – Paygam, Dainik Azad, Ittefaq, Insan, Insaf and many others. The title of a very powerful group championing Bengali language was Tamaddun Majlis. This is an Islamic instance of affection for the Bengali language. Bengali-speaking Muslims nonetheless title their kids in Arabic.
On 23 February 1948, Dhirendranath Dutta, chief of Congress Party in within the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan demanded that Bengali be made the state language. He was supported by three Hindu members particularly Premahari Barman, Bhupendra Kumar Dutta and Srishchandra Chattopadhyay. Prime Minister Liaquat Khan (elected from East Bengal) and Chief Minister of East Bengal Khwaja Nizamuddin vehemently opposed it. No Muslim member of East Bengal supported this demand. However, shortly the motion to make Bengali the state language was intensified resulting from financial motive.
In the phrases of Abul Mansur Ahmed, “If Urdu is made the state language, the educated society of East Pakistan will become ‘uneducated’ and ‘unfit’ for government service overnight. By replacing Persian with English as the state language in the mid-nineteenth century, British imperialism made the Muslim educated society “uneducated” and incapable of public service in a single day.” (Purba Banglar Bhasa Andolan O Tatkaleen Rajnity [Language Movement of East Bengal and Politics of that Time]vol , pp 19 b Badaruddin Umar, Anandadhara Prakashan, Dhaka, 1970).
This was the crude actuality of the Bengali language motion. Of course, the scholars of Dhaka University and a bit of intellectuals added some emotional parts related to mom tongue. But love for mom tongue was not absolute. In an article revealed in December 1948, the eminent linguist and scholar Muhammad Shahidullah wrote: “Language of religion has the place next to mother tongue. For this, I will say with all my heart, like Bangla we want Arabic. The birth of the state of Pakistan will be meaningful on the day when Arabic will be accepted as the state language of the whole of Pakistan”. (Pakistaner Rashtrabhasa Samasya [Problem of State Language of Pakistan], Dainik Azad, 29 July, 1947). The strategy of the Arabization of the Bengali language has been occurring since then.
In 1954, Bengali turned the state language of Pakistan. In all official notifications from foreign money notes to postage stamps Bengali was used together with Urdu. The language motion was over. But this victory of the Bengali language didn’t have an effect on the continuing persecution of Bengali talking Hindus in East Bengal / East Pakistan. It continued as standard. In 1950, throughout the language motion, Jogendranath Mandal, the regulation minister of Pakistan, a pacesetter of the Scheduled Caste Society, a supporter of the Pakistan motion, fled to India to avoid wasting his life.
In this context, one other fantasy concerning the sacrifices of Bengali talking Muslims just for the Bengali language must be demolished. It is true that in 1952 police fired on agitating college students of Dhaka University and 4 Bengali talking Muslims (none of them have been college students of Dhaka University) have been killed. But ‘secular’ intellectuals of each the Bengals consciously ignored the sacrifices of 11 Hindu Bengalis within the Bengali language motion in Silchar, Assam in 1961. Out of 11 martyrs 9 have been Hindu refugees from East Pakistan together with a younger lady named Kamala Bhattacharya. So Bengali talking Hindus by no means had any mercy from the Bengali talking Islamists in East Pakistan/ Bangladesh.
Since the creation of Pakistan, virtually all of the political events of East Bengal/ East Pakistan had complained towards discrimination by West Pakistan in all aspects of life – jobs, schooling, business, agriculture, commerce. The first democratic election of East Bengal (not but East Pakistan) was held in 1954. The United Front which gained the election massively, was composed of 4 political events of East Bengal, particularly Awami Muslim League (later Awami League), KrishakShramik Party, Nezam-e-Islam and Ganatantrik Dal. The United entrance introduced 21-point package deal programme within the election manifesto, drafted by Abul Mansur Ahmed of Awami Muslim League. The nineteenth level of the programme was – “The Lahore Resolution proposed full autonomy of East Bengal leaving defence, foreign affairs and currency only under the central government. In the matter of defence, arrangements shall be made to set the headquarters of the army in West Pakistan and the naval headquarters in East Bengal and to establish ordnance factories in East Bengal, and to transform Ansar force into a full-fledged militia equipped with arms”. However, the United Front authorities didn’t final lengthy.
After a protracted interval of navy rule, a normal election of Pakistan was held in 1970. Awami League beneath the management of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gained virtually all of the seats in East Pakistan and claimed to be invited to type the federal government. The foundation of this enormous election victory of Awami League was the six-point constitution of calls for framed in 1966.The first sentence of the primary paragraph of the constitution was, “Pakistan must be built into a true federation based on the historic Lahore resolution.” In different phrases, the Awami League had by no means deviated from the raison d’etre of creation of Pakistan. The six-point calls for have been all about East Pakistan’s financial points. The final demand was the formation of an armed power for the safety of East Pakistan (from Indian invasion). There was no point out of Bengali language and tradition within the constitution.
The navy authorities of Pakistan and the foremost political events of West Pakistan didn’t settle for this victory of the Awami League and the next navy intervention compelled Awami League to demand complete separation from Pakistan. A so-called liberation struggle (MuktiYuddha) started. Historically such liberation wars go on for years and a long time. Here, solely 9 months later, with a 14-day Indian navy intervention gave delivery to a brand new nation – Bangladesh.
Politically, Bangladesh turned a newly impartial nation with a brand new secular structure. But, shortly inside three years, Bangladesh rolled again to the previous mould of Pakistan. The secular structure was scrapped, Islam was made the state faith. The opening phrases ‘bismillah-ar-rahman-arrahim’ (In the title of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful), have been added in 1997. Following the custom of Pakistan, persecution of Hindus continued and at the least ten million Bengali Hindus had been kicked out from Bangladesh within the final 50 years.
How are the Bengali Hindus Living there? After the assault on idols, temple vandalism and assaults on the Hindu neighborhood throughout Bangladesh throughout Durga Puja final October, 2021, outstanding Bangladeshi educationist and author Muhammad Zafar Iqbal (brother of the legendary author Humayun Ahmed) wrote in considered one of his social media posts on October 19, 2021, “for last few days I am feeling myself impure. It seems that I am immersed in a dirty sewer. Not only me, but many people like me in this country have the same feeling, it seems that a large part of the nation is drowning in depression. The reason must be understood by everyone. Durga Puja, which is considered to be the biggest festival of Hindus, is at the center of the biggest violence this time. I can’t even comfort myself that this is an isolated incident. Starting from Comilla, it did not stop in Comilla, it spread all over the country. Which means there are horrible communal people all over the country, they are not hiding, they are open in public, proudly carrying out their operation. … ..When the time for Durga Puja comes, the work of making idols starts all over the country, since then I feel a kind of suppressed unrest inside myself. Inevitably I get the news that the idols are being smashed here and there in the country. When the puja starts, I hold my breath”. Do you discover any distinction between Bangladesh and (East) Pakistan?
Famous Bengali author and thinker Annadashankar Roy wrote – (throughout a go to of Dhaka after formation of Bangladesh) “We asked Sheikh (Mujibar) Saheb, ‘When did the idea of ​​Bangladesh come to your mind?’ –  He smiled and said, in 1947. I was a part of  the team of Mr. Suhrawardy (then Prime Minister of United Bengal under British rule and known as ‘Butcher of Calcutta” for his alleged function in riot in Calcutta). He and Sarat Chandra Bose (brother of Netaji Subhash) wished United Bengal. I (Mujib) additionally wished a rustic for all Bengalis. ” (Indrapat, Kando Priyo Desh, Kolkata, 1979, Quoted in Bangabandhu Kibhbe Amader Swadhinata Enechhilen [How Bangabadhu Gave Us Independence] pp15 by Muntasir Mamun, Maola Brothers, Dhaka, 2013)
Do the individuals of West Bengal scent something? The slogan of ‘Joy Bangla’, extremely popular in Bangladesh, is these days being heard within the streets of West Bengal too. The ruling social gathering of the state is popularizing this slogan to rework West Bengal into West Bangladesh to make their vote financial institution completely satisfied. In the fiftieth yr of the formation of Bangladesh, the heirs of Sarat Chandra Bose and Suhrawardy are once more dreaming of merging Hindu majority West Bengal into Islamic Bangladesh to fulfil the spirit of Lahore decision. Even Hindutva activists have now turn out to be Gandhites and care much less about these ‘communal’ points.
Now it’s time to look forward to West Bengal to turn out to be West Bangladesh.
Author- Mohit Ray
The writer is a well known environmentalist, refugee rights activist and state committee member of BJP in West Bengal. He has authored a lot of books on the surroundings and Bangladesh points.