“When the tiger arrives, the lamb must give away”, Jinnah commented while making way for Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, enter the hall, to address the All India Muslim League to present Lahore Resolution. Sher-e-Bangla was a visionary leader, lawyer, orator and patriotic politician. He was the mentor for many subsequent political leaders in this region. He always stood beside down-trodden people from the very early stage of his career. Haq always wanted emancipation of down-trodden people of Bengal exploited by Calcutta based Zamindars/elites. Political affiliation was not important for him but when Dhaka Nawab Kawaja Salimulla dragged him into politics while launching the Muslim League (ML) in 1906, Haq gladly accepted it as it was a win-win situation. Huq accepted to support ML to help the peasantry of the East Bengal Asam region, to free them from Zamindars most of whom lived in W Bengal. He needed a platform to work for the people, so existing parties attracted him. He was first elected to Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1913 and also became secretary of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League in the same year, with which actually his political career started in full swing. In 1916, Huq was elected president of the All India Muslim League (1916-1922). He is the only person in South-Asian history to concurrently hold the presidency of the Muslim League and the General Secretary's position in Congress. Nehru was his political secretary between 1918 and 1919. In 1940, Huq was selected by the All India Muslim League to formally present the Lahore Resolution, which envisaged ‘independent States’ in the eastern and north-western parts of India.
After partition in 1947, Huq saw that exploitation of Bengal against which he fought all along, has merely shifted from Calcutta to Karachi. At this point, he reiterated his Lahore Resolution concept i.e. concept of a confederation of autonomous states within the federal government of Pakistan (this concept was later elaborated in 1966 as 6-point by Bangabandhu). But the landed aristocracy leading Pakistan called him a traitor and in coalition with civil and military forces supported Ayub Khan to impose martial law in 1958 and overthrow the democratically elected Jukta front (Sher e Bangla, Suhrawardi, Bhashani) government in the centre and the province. Suhrawardi was exiled and Sher e Bengal was put under house arrest. It is said that continuous conspiracies hatched by the landed aristocracies in coalition with civil and military forces against democratic rule frustrated Sher e Bangla, who ultimately resigned from politics in 1961 and died in 1962. (It may be mentioned here that Pakistani Landed aristocracy in collusion with civil and military forces, always picked up some puppet bureaucrats to represent east Bengal, carefully sidelining elected popular leaders: Khawaja Nazimuddin of Dhaka Nawab family; Iskander Mirza, the great-grandson of Mir Jafer; Md Ali of Bogra a bureaucrat and so on. Golam Mohammad from Punjab started the game but when it became unavoidable to hand over power to the elected people, Martial law was imposed).
Before the partition of Bengal in 1947, Sher-e-Bangla took over many political positions namely the Education Minister of Bengal (1924); Mayor of Calcutta (1935), First Prime Minister of the Undivided Bengal (1937 -1943) and so on. Nazimuddin and Suhrawardy were both in his cabinet of ministers and were later on PMs of Pakistan. Sher e Bangla courted the votes of the Bengali middle classes and rural communities. Permanent Settlement regulations 1793 by Lord Cornwallis of British East India Company created a landed aristocracy, which was supposed to be loyal to the British regime. Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885 defined the rights and liabilities of the tenants in relation to their superior landlords. Sher e Bangla was the first leader who wanted to curb these privileges of Zamindars. He pushed for land reform in favour of the general masses and curbing the influence of Zamindars. Huq had a significant contribution in founding the Dhaka University and Agriculture College in Dhaka (now Sher e Bangla Agriculture University, Dhaka) before the partition. Huq boycotted titles and knighthood granted by the British government.
From day one after the partition (1947), landed-aristocracy in collusion with civil and military forces started hatching conspiracy not to give power to people’s leaders and picked up some puppets to lead. Jinnah and Liaquat died under suspicious circumstances, Golam Mohammad (who consolidated a coalition of civil and military forces in the central government and secured a virtual transfer of power from the politicians to the coalition), Iskander Mirza and Mohammad Ali without any roots in the public were appointed to head the country, depriving the genuine people’s leaders. When it became unavoidable to leave the power to the people’s representative, Martial Law was imposed and elected governments were sacked.
After the partition of Bengal, Shere e Bangla was the first person to raise the demand of Bangla to be one of the National Language of Pakistan and led a procession on 11 March 1948 in which he was injured by police baton (lathi) charge. Nazimuddin was then the CM, who probably misled Jinnah regarding the language issue. Sher e Bangla was instrumental in abolishing the Zamindari system in East Bengal under the East Bengal Estate Acquisition and Tenancy Act (1950), (except CHT) which panicked Pakistan Central government. As Sher e Bangla was instrumental to these reforms, he was never allowed to come closer in the whole Pakistan affairs. India adopted a similar law in 1953. In Pakistan, such reforms were never carried out, which is why the effect of feudalism and military aristocracy has perpetrated Pakistani national politics and governance. After the partition, Sher e Bangla was the home minister of Pakistan (1950). The charisma of the Sher-e-Bangla was a dominant factor for the landslide victory of the Jukta Front (United Front) in1954 (led by Shere e Bangla, Suhrawardi and Bhashani). He was made East Pakistan's Chief Minister in 1954 (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been in his cabinet); Sher e Bangla served as federal minister (1955-1956); Governor of East Pakistan (1956 -1958) and many other portfolios. During his Chief Ministership of East Bengal, Bangla Academy was founded and Bengali New Year's Day (Pohela Boishak) was officially recognized and was declared a public holiday. Eradication of Zamindari, the concept of provincial autonomy and mass people’s language to become national language were his seminal contributions. Sher e Bangla was a true and undisputed leader of the masses.
By Prof. Dr Qazi Azizul Mowla, Vice-Chancellor, Leading University, Sylhet, Bangladesh. e-mail: vc@lus.ac.bd; qmowla@yahoo.co.uk
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