The demise of the veteran politician Tofail Ahmed was not unexpected. He had been suffering from prolonged illness and paralysis, which effectively sequestered him from public life. He has finally taken his leave; however, his name will be remembered in the political history of Bangladesh as one of the defining faces of the 1969 Mass Upsurge.
I first saw Tofail Ahmed during the mass movement of 1969, when I was a student at Dhaka College. In January of that year, four student organisations joined hands to form the Central Student Action Committee. Tofail Ahmed, then the VP of DUCSU, was at the vanguard of the student movement. His presence at the action committee’s rallies and meetings was formidable. As the momentum of the movement escalated, so too did his popularity.
By the zenith of the agitation, he had emerged as one of the most revered student leaders of his time. It is fair to say that following his release from prison, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the pre-eminent political figure in terms of popularity, and immediately behind him stood Tofail Ahmed. The stature he attained and the public adoration he commanded during that epoch remain an exceedingly rare phenomenon in the history of Bangladeshi student politics.
Towards the end of 1969, he was elected President of the Chhatra League, with Asmat Ali serving as General Secretary. Around this time, at the initiative of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a clandestine organisation comprising select Chhatra League activists was forged to lay the groundwork for independence. This outfit was named the “Nucleus”.
While numerous misconceptions surround this subject today, in reality, it served as an underground organisational apparatus designed to prepare for independence. Central figures such as Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni, Serajul Alam Khan, and Abdur Razzaq were deeply involved with it. By mid-1970, when many began to foresee the necessity of an armed struggle, the operations of this outfit gained significant strategic momentum, alongside plans for military training.
Later, when it became certain that a general election would proceed and that the Awami League would sweep the polls, the activities of the “nucleus” were largely suspended. However, following the horrific genocide perpetrated on 25 March 1971, Chhatra League leaders and activists crossed into India to reactivate the network. According to various accounts, its membership numbered several thousand. In October 1971, it was renamed into “Mujib Bahini”. Tofail Ahmed was entrusted with the command of this force’s south-western region.
It is widely believed that Sheikh Hasina felt an inherent unease in Tofail Ahmed’s presence. This stemmed from a fundamental dichotomy: Tofail Ahmed was a leader forged in the crucible of mass movements, whereas Sheikh Hasina’s political authority derived from dynastic lineage.
Following the independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to the country and appointed Tofail Ahmed as his Political Secretary. From that juncture onward, Tofail Ahmed became an intrinsic component of the state apparatus and ruling regime. Consequently, his name became entangled with some of the controversies that dogged the post-independence administration—most notably, the allegations surrounding the Rakkhi Bahini (a paramilitary force). In later years, however, he repeatedly maintained that the command of the Rakkhi Bahini never fell under his jurisdiction.
Following the assassination of Bangabandhu on 15 August 1975 and the subsequent collapse of the BAKSAL, Tofail Ahmed, like many other Awami League stalwarts, was arrested. He endured severe state torture and spent several years behind bars. Upon his release, he threw himself back into reviving the Awami League’s political fortunes. Indeed, he was serving as the Organising Secretary when Sheikh Hasina returned from exile to assume the party presidency. Nonetheless, Tofail Ahmed later faced intense scrutiny and criticism from Sheikh Hasina for his perceived “inaction” immediately following the 1975 assassination.
Tofail Ahmed’s political weight within the party became a focal point once more in 2007, during the tenure of the military-backed caretaker government. At the time, a ‘reformist’ faction became highly active within the Awami League. They tabled various proposals for restructuring the party and engaged in backchannel dialogues with the then 1/11 administration regarding the future trajectory of the Awami League. Ultimately, however, the initiative faltered. As the geopolitical landscape shifted, the reformists found their leverage decimated.
When the Awami League swept back to power under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership in 2009, the ‘reformist’ leaders found themselves permanently locked out of the inner sanctum of power. Consequently, the twilight chapter of Tofail Ahmed’s political career was spent on the outermost fringes of the party.
Although he was accommodated within the party’s Advisory Council, the position was strictly ceremonial. It is widely believed that Sheikh Hasina felt an inherent unease in Tofail Ahmed’s presence. This stemmed from a fundamental dichotomy: Tofail Ahmed was a leader forged in the crucible of mass movements, whereas Sheikh Hasina’s political authority derived from dynastic lineage. This encapsulates a profound reality of Bangladeshi politics—the latent, perpetual tension between leadership earned through grassroots agitation and leadership inherited by birthright.
In sum, Tofail Ahmed’s life was a microcosm of the dramatic ascents, falls, promises, and structural limitations embedded within the political history of Bangladesh. The legendary student leader whom the masses championed during the 1969 Mass Upsurge could never quite recapture that pristine political altitude once ensnared by state power, rigid party loyalty, and realpolitik.
Nevertheless, his contributions to the ‘69 uprising, the strategic preparations for the Liberation War, and the evolution of the nation’s parliamentary politics will ensure his legacy endures.