Undeniably, the recent past Awami League government had resorted to limitless plunder and corruption in the name of the liberation war spirit. In the guise of establishing democracy, it ushered in an extreme autocratic and fascist system. It carried out cruel repression and suppression to silence criticism and the voice of the opposition. It snatched away people's right to vote. It not only misappropriated state resources, but also twisted history to a great extent. And the people had to bear this burden for many, many year.
However, in dismissing the Awami League narrative, we should not do anything that diminishes the history of our liberation war and independence, anything that questions all the achievements and victories of the past.
Unfortunately, in our country when power changes hands, many other things change too. The changes are not only in the chair, but in state plans and policies. It needs to be assessed how far all this is done in the interests of the people and how far for other reasons. Till date, 17 amendments have been made to the constitution of Bangladesh, and most of these amendments have been made out of partisan and personal interests.
This debate has arisen in connection to eight national days being cancelled recently. The days are, the historical 7 March, the 17 March birth anniversary of the father of the nation and National Children's Day, 5 August Shaheed Captain Sheikh Kamal's birthday, 8 August Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib's birthday, 15 August national mourning day, 18 October Sheikh Russel Day, 4 November National Constitution Day and 12 December Smart Bangladesh Day.
Why do we observe national days? These days are observed in an effort to uphold the national spirit, that is, the emotions and feelings of the people. For example, there is our Independence Day, Victory Day, National Martyrs Day, National Martyred Intellectual Day and the Bangla New Year. There are no debates over these days. Of course, there are certain questions that have debated over these days too.
Like many other things, the past government had politicised the national days too. The government offices were forced to commemorate these days. That was wrong. At the same time, it must also be admitted that all these eight of these days should not have been measured with the same yardstick. For example, 7 March is an extremely significant day in our national history. The 8 November Constitution Day is significant too. It is only natural that there will be debates on these matters.
On the other hands, no one questioned the cancellation of at least four other days observed on party and family considerations. No one will question this action. But it is hardly prudent to bracket 7 March and 4 November with these other days. The Supreme Court has been used as an excuse regarding 15 August. But the government must also remember that the Awami League government also used the excuse of this Supreme Court to cancel the caretaker government system.
Advisor for information and broadcasting Nahid Islam, justifying the cancellation of these national days, said Awami League forcefully made its party days into national days. While admitting the significance of the 7 March speech, he also said that this was nothing to be commemorated as a national day. He said, "We are not obliterating 7 March from history. We are not obliterating the importance of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from history. Whatever is a part of history will remain, history will be rewritten objectively from a new perspective. But commemorating these days is a political matter. The government of the mass uprising cannot allow that sort of politics to continue."
However, surely Nahid Islam will not deny that excerpts from the 7 March speech were used in the graffiti sprawled on the walls during the movement against discrimination.
When asked whether this government recognised Bangabandhu as the father of the nation, Nahid Islam replied, "Certainly not." He said, "The history of struggle in this land is not just of one person. It includes the contributions of many. Our history did not start in just 1952. We have a long history of struggle. There is the people's struggle against the British, the 1947 struggle, the 1971 struggle, the 1990 struggle and the struggle of 2024."
Naming Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Abul Hashem, Jogen Mandal, Maulana Hamid Khan Bhasani and others, Nahid Islam said, "To me there is not just one father of the nation. There are several founding fathers whose contributions gave us this land, this state and independence. We do not want to restrict this to one party, one individual."
We also want due recognition to be given to those who contributed to establishing this state. Underestimating anyone or overestimating anyone will not bode well for the country and the people.
He mentioned the names of Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Abul Hashem, Jogen Mandal and Maulana Bhasani as the forefathers.
The information advisor wanted to consider the history of this country from pre-partition times, but he did not mention the name of Surja Sen, the hero of the Chittagong revolt. He only mentioned the name of Jogen Mandal who supported the Pakistan movement in his fight against upper caste Hindus. In 1950 that Jogen Mandal too had to leave this country in the dark of night.
Nahid Islam will naturally admit that long before the movement for Bengali's self-determination, that is, the independence movement, AK Fazlul Huq passed away in 1962 and Suhrawardy in 1963. Abul Hashed had been alive, but not active in politics. Maulana Bhasani took part in the struggle for independence from his position.
However, the man who spent 12 years of his life in prison during the Pakistan rule is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The six-point programme he came up with in 1966 stirred the entire population, regardless of party or ideological stand. These six points were added to the 11 points of the mass uprising brought on by the students in 1969 against the Ayub regime. After he was released from the Agartala conspiracy case, the people of this country gave Sheikh Mujib the title Bangabandhu. And the 1970 election basically revolved around freedom as a nation. The people were not drawn to the slogan of the leftists at the time - "First food, then votes." During the entire span of the 1971 liberation war, Sheikh Mujib was in prison in Pakistan.
Sheikh Mujib's speech delivered in the Pakistan National Assembly proves that he was active against Pakistani exploitation from back in the fifties. He even held meetings with the leftist leaders in the start of the sixties regarding the struggle for independence.
Everything can't simply be dropped because the Awami League government did it. The Awami League government fixed our national anthem and our national flag. Does that mean the national anthem and the national flag will be dropped too?
That is why we feel that it would not be right to ignore Bangabandhu's historic role simply because of the corruption, misrule, repression and suppression of the Sheikh Hasina government's rule. The leader Sheikh Mujib before 26 March 1971 and the leader Sheikh Mujib later on, are not one and the same. As a leader, he was a failure to the greater part. He gave no space to the indispensable part of a democratic system, that is, the opposition. We will sternly criticise him for establishing a one-party rule in 1975. But how can his role in the independence struggle be denied?
The decision of the interim government that has hurt many persons the most is the cancellation of Constitution Day. This was not a government holiday. All countries of the world place much importance on their constitution days. In India, Pakistan and several other countries, Constitution Day is officially a holiday. Two and a half years after gaining independence, India came up with its constitution on 26 January 1950. Pakistan authored its constitution 9 years after its independence, on 23 March 1956. India celebrates that day as Republic Day. Pakistan commemorates it as Pakistan Day. And in just 10 months after the liberation war, Bangladesh proudly authored its constitution. No matter how controversial it has been made by later amendments, the basic constitution of Bangladesh was not a repressive law.
There was the struggle of lawyers and professionals behind Constitution Day being given the status of the national day. In an interview taken in November 2022, lawyer Dr Shahdeen Malik said, "The recognition of Constitution Day and attaching due importance to this must certainly be carried out on initiative of the state." In 1999, a reception was accorded to the 19 persons surviving among the 34 members of the constitution composition committee to duly honour them. He said, "All governments talk about the rule of law, but they do not understand that the constitution must be given utmost importance to establish the rule of law."
On what basis did the interim government cancel Constitution Day which was recognised through the movement and struggle of the people? Can anyone deny that this speaks about democracy, human rights, human dignity and social justice?
Everything can't simply be dropped because the Awami League government did it. The Awami League government fixed our national anthem and our national flag. Does that mean the national anthem and the national flag will be dropped too?
Not everyone will evaluate history in the same manner. Different people and different parties will have different views. But we must reach a certain position along with all these differences, and that must be on the basis of democracy and the liberation war. We cannot drop 1971 and advance forward.
* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir