Father of the Nation: Selected Speeches of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

By Dr Abul Hasnat Milton

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was an extraordinary orator. He was termed as a ‘poet of politics’ by the international ‘Newsweek’ magazine in April 1971. With the magic of words, he could awaken people.

During the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s, he gave speeches that showed Bengalis the way to freedom. And at the forefront of Bangabandhu's great speeches is the one he gave on March 7, 1971, in a crowded Racecourse ground in Dhaka (now known as Suhrawardy Udyan). By leading the Bengali people to independence, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the Father of The Nation and the leader of the world's oppressed peoples' liberation movement.

This book contains 25 selected speeches of Sheikh Mujib. These speeches will provide insight into Bangabandhu's overall leadership ability. Therein lies the path to the liberation of the world's marginalised people. The words spoken in these speeches are still relevant today, despite being delivered decades ago. This is a must-read for those interested in Bangladesh's independence struggle, Bangabandhu, or the Third World citizens. Aside from that, we think our readers will enjoy this book. They can understand how, despite being the leader of a small South Asian country like Bangladesh, Bangabandhu emerged to become one of the world's most influential leaders in his time. Readers can also discover how a leader overcame adversity to change the path of his country and time.

 

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“I have not seen the Himalayas. But I have seen Sheikh Mujib. In personality and in courage, this man is the Himalayas. I have thus had the experience of witnessing the Himalayas.” -Cuban leader Fidel Castro speaking about Mujib during the Non-Aligned Summit held in Algiers in 1973.

“In a sense, Sheikh Mujib is a greater leader than George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi and De Valera.” -Lord Fenner Brockway, British politician and passionate socialist.

“The Indian subcontinent is going through a hard situation due to ideological misleading and we have many reasons to seek help from Bangabandhu aiming to get encouraged and direction to this end. Sheikh Mujib’s thoughts and judgments are still relevant.” - Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

“Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was ahead of his time. He was a champion of human rights who fought against oppression and exploitation. I had to prepare a draft report which was sent from Delhi to Seoul to establish diplomatic relations with Bangladesh. With my fountain pen, I signed a document for establishing diplomatic relations between the two nations.” - Former Secretary General of United Nations Ban Ki Moon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982291846

Dr Abul Hasnat Milton

Dr Abul Hasnat Milton is a Bangladeshi-born Australian author, academic, public health physician and social activist. Of his pursuits, writing and poetry are his passion, and he has published eleven books of poetry and three novels in Bengali. He is a regular contributor to multiple Bangladeshi newspapers and writes on politics, health and literature.

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Copyright © 2021 Dr Abul Hasnat Milton.

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views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover design: Angie Alaya, Florida, USA

Image sources: mujib100.gov.bd, Website of Bangladesh Awami League

www.albd.org, Graphic Arts Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Copy editor: Paul Mayhew, 121editorial.com.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9185-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9186-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9184-6 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/03/2022

With respect and gratitude,

this book is dedicated to the daughters of

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,

Sheikh Hasina

and

Sheikh Rehana

Preface

Our family friend and neighbour from Newcastle, Australia, taught English at a school in Bangladesh for many years. In Dhaka, she paid a visit to the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum. One day after her return, she asked me, There was such a great leader like Sheikh Mujib in your country. Why didn’t we know about him before?

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was indeed a great leader and the founder and official Father of the Nation of Bangladesh, earning his name Bangabandhu, friend of the people of Bangladesh, in his lifetime.¹ He has long been an inspiration to me for devoting his entire life to loving his people and liberating them from thousands of years of oppression.

There is some international awareness of his political struggle and role in the creation of Bangladesh, but little of his ideology and thinking is known outside Bangladesh. He was a brave man with a keen understanding of his followers and the people around him. He was also a powerful and eloquent orator who spoke from his heart for the demands and aspirations of millions of Bengalis. He inspired, motivated, and coordinated his audience, ultimately preparing them to give their lives in the Liberation War to achieve freedom.

Following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15, 1975, the new government attempted to suppress his name and achievements. This is certainly a part of why he is not more widely known internationally. The situation began to improve in June 1996, when Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, was elected prime minister of Bangladesh. With time, Sheikh Mujib is now receiving the recognition a great leader deserves, and his story will no doubt continue to spread across borders and centuries.

I recently noticed discussions on social media of the need for translations of Bangabandhu’s speeches. Researching for myself, I could only find a small portion of his life and works in English. Thus the seed of this book was sown.

Although I primarily write in Bengali, I have increasingly also written in English for my teaching and academic work. With this experience and evolving confidence, and with a desire to share his work with English-speaking readers around the world, I started translating Bangabandhu’s key speeches. I feel a sense of duty to spread his story to the entire world. Let the world know that a South Asian leader named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman fought to liberate the world’s exploited people!

With this selection of speeches I aimed to cover Bangabandhu’s entire political career, from 1956 to 1975. The speeches prior to the 1971 independence war provide valuable context for the liberation struggle in Bangladesh, and the post-1971 speeches convey a lot about the condition of the country at the time, as well as his ambitions and plans for restoring it. Also included, in chapters 2 and 3, are two speeches to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in the 1950s, which he delivered in English. As a minor editorial point, chapters 5, 6, 7, 18, and 21 are incomplete speeches, as full transcripts were unavailable. I felt their value still warranted their inclusion.

My sources included both audiovisual recordings available on the internet and books of his speeches in Bengali. Where I found variations in the wording of published speeches, I tried to match the audiovisual version to ensure the speeches’ original meanings remained intact. For each chapter, the key references used are given in footnotes on the first page.

Sheikh Mujib liked to speak in the first-person singular in his speeches, often using I instead of we or us. This reflects his unique sense of possessing all Bengalis in his own existence. In translating, we considered occasions where we might be more his intention, but for him and many Bengalis, there was and is no line between Sheikh Mujib and the Bengali spirit.

Many people have assisted me in translating the book in various ways, some of whom I list in the subsequent Acknowledgements section. Many thanks to all my friends and well-wishers for their unwavering support. In addition, my family has provided me with immeasurable assistance in completing this time-consuming task. Thanks especially to my wife, Dr Shahnaz Akter Nupur, and my two children, Parthib Hasnat and Purnota Naz Hasnat, for making this possible. A special thank you to Paul Mayhew for help in developing and copy-editing the book.

If there is interest, I hope to pursue more work to spread the words and awareness of the great Bangabandhu.

It is my sincere hope that in this book the reader will discover a world-class political leader in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Best wishes to all. Cheers!

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Foreword

SheikhHasina_Foreword.jpg

My father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was in school when he protested on behalf of his schoolmates and raised demand for a good hostel and good classrooms. He knew how to speak and motivate people around him to work for achieving their rights.

He never stopped or failed to be by the side of common people. He was righteous in nature, courageous in every step, and bold to say the truth. He believed in the power of his people, and he was committed to them.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s firm belief in freedom, equality, justice, and secularism made him the unquestionable leader of the Bangalee nation, and he became their beloved Bangabandhu, the Father of the Nation.

He was actively engaged in stopping riots during the partitioning of the Indian subcontinent, getting rights for the low-income peasants and labourers on their land and water bodies. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was one of the earliest organizers of Language Movement, which culminated in a mass protest in 1952.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was an extraordinary orator. He could read the minds of his people, and everywhere he spoke, people followed him like he was a magician casting a spell on them. He subtly organized the youth to fight for the liberation of Bangladesh since 1948, and in 1966, he declared the Six-Point Demands, which became the framework of the movement for a democratic and independent Bangladesh.

His struggle for ending the feudal zamindari system, where landlords exploited the poor farmers, earned him huge support in the beginning of his political career. He had the wisdom, courage, and political wizardry to connect with and mobilize the people. His mesmerizing speeches acted like the Pied Piper of Hamelin on the Bangalee nation. The nation strived and struggled for independence, and on March 7, 1971, he gave one of the most treasured speeches of all, which changed the course of world history. The speech united the whole nation towards the war of liberation and emancipation from thousands of years of old monarchy, colonialism, and military rule. Bangladesh was born to end the story of deprivation and deceit. Now we can boldly say: If Sheikh Mujib was not there, no one knows if the Bangalee population would ever attain self-rule.

He had exceptional knowledge about society, culture, religion, democracy, and politics. He was a staunch advocate of human rights, women’s rights, child rights, and labour rights. He had his own vision to achieve what he wanted. Sheikh Mujib’s thoughts are portrayed in many of his speeches where he outlined his own ideas about socialism, poverty, and distribution of wealth. He was like a sailor who knew the map to freedom and had it engraved inside his heart. Sheikh Mujib became the everlasting source of inspiration and a beacon of hope for his people. His name is not just a name; his name depicts the glory of a hard-working nation. His speeches convey the messages to the people living now and for the future.

He was assassinated by the enemies of independence on the fateful night of August 15, 1975, along with eighteen of his family members, including wife, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib; three sons—freedom fighter Captain Sheikh Kamal, freedom fighter Lieutenant Sheikh Jamal, and ten-year schoolboy Sheikh Russel; two daughters-in-law, Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal; younger brother freedom fighter Sheikh Abu Naser; nephew freedom fighter Sheikh Fazlul Haq Moni and his wife, Arzu Moni; brother-in-law freedom fighter Abdur Rob Serniabat and his daughter, Baby, son, Arif Serniabat, and grandson, Sukanta Babu. Others killed on that night included Bangabandhu’s military secretary Col. Jamil Uddin Ahmad and police officer Siddiqur Rahman. The march forward of the country that he initiated was halted. We have since been trying to materialize his dream of building a Sonar Bangla (Golden Bangladesh).

I am happy that his speeches are now translated for better understanding by people around the world. These speeches are not time-bound. The eternal struggle for freedom and rights are everywhere in his words, and they can be a guide to bringing equality and justice all over the world.

I would like to extend my best wishes to Dr Abul Hasnat Milton for his work and all others involved in the process of creating this book, Father of the Nation: Selected Speeches of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I hope the light of the soul of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman shall illuminate the hearts of generations to come, and the world will become a peaceful, prosperous place where people shall live up to their full potentials and dreams. Leaders will not only rule but become friends to their own population like Bangabandhu, the friend of the people of Bangladesh. The Father of the Nation is not just an honorific title, it is the love of his people towards him. Let us fulfill his dream of a prosperous Bangladesh and contribute to the world through positive actions.

Sign_PrimeMinister.jpg

Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister

People’s Republic of Bangladesh

July 2021

Acknowledgements

I am greatly indebted to the following friends, colleagues, and advisers for their help in producing this book.

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Professor Syed Modasser Ali

Md Saiful Alam

Mohammad Sufiur Rahman

Nadeem Qadir

Naem Nizam

Syed Borhan Kabir

Tariq Sujat

Dr Abdun Noor Tushar

Rudro Saiful

Dr Aftab Siddiq

Ekram Kabir

Kazi Ahmad Pervez

Dr Farhad Ali Khan

Dr Tasbirul Islam

Gama Abdul Kadir

Dr Shakhawat Nayon

Barrister Rizwana Yusuf

Barrister Fahima Hossain

Md Shafiqul Alam

Dr Sabbir Siddique

Dr Ezaz Mamun

Faysal Matin

Abdullah Al Noman Shamim

Nasim Samad

Nusrat Nahid

Michelle Thompson

Jacinta Parmeter

Sheikh Farook Ahmad

Nirmalya Talukder

Jakir Prodhania

Hasan Shimun Farooq Robin

Hossain Mofazzal

Shawan Mahmud

Sayed Hasan Tipu

Amit Goswami

Raymond Salomann

Md Shahadat Hossain

Muyed Ur Rahman Johnny

Nafisa Shama Probha

Jamal Uddin

Naim Tarique

Dr A B M Kamrul Hasan

Dr Sabrina Rubin

Dr Huda, Qudsia Deepa

Dr Kazi Shahriar Hossain

Dr Sharmin Sarah

Adiba Oishee

Prodipto Shakshar Joy

Pronob Sarker

Australia Awami League

The Foundation for Doctors’ Safety, Rights and Responsibilities (FDSR), Bangladesh

Contents

Part 1: Before the Independence War of 1971

Chapter 1 Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: A Short Biography

Chapter 2 If You Press This Constitution, Then You Are Playing With Fire

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, KarachiJanuary 21, 1956

Chapter 3 Democracy Should Come Forward to Save the Country from Chaos

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, KarachiFebruary 4, 1956

Chapter 4 The Victory of the Masses is Inevitable

Pakistan Television Service and Radio PakistanOctober 28, 1970

Chapter 5 We Have Received the People’s Verdict

Ramna Racecourse Ground, DhakaJanuary 3, 1971

Chapter 6 The History of Bangladesh has yet to be Written

Ramna Racecourse Ground, DhakaJanuary 4, 1971

Chapter 7 Political and Economic Freedom are Meaningless Without Cultural Freedom

The Institute of Engineers, DhakaJanuary 24, 1971

Chapter 8 Make Every House a Fortress

Ramna Racecourse Ground, DhakaMarch 7, 1971

Part 2: After the Independence War, 1972–1975

Chapter 9 I Am Going Back Without Hatred for Anyone in my Heart

Palam Airport, Delhi, IndiaJanuary 10, 1972

Chapter 10 We Do Not Know Defeat

Ramna Racecourse Ground, DhakaJanuary 10, 1972

Chapter 11 This Sacrifice is Not to be Wasted

Sugandha Bhaban, DhakaJanuary 16, 1972

Chapter 12 I Have Nothing to Give; There is Only Love, and I Give You That

Brigade Parade Ground, Kolkata, IndiaFebruary 6, 1972

Chapter 13 No Nation Gave its Land So Much Blood

Bangladesh RadioFebruary 15, 1972

Chapter 14 Our Struggle Will Continue Until We Achieve a Society Free of Exploitation

Bangladesh TelevisionFebruary 21, 1972

Chapter 15 May the Relations Between the Soviet Union and Bangladesh Remain Intact

Dhaka AirportMarch 6, 1972

Chapter 16 We Will Create a New Society Free From Exploitation and Injustice

Bangladesh Radio and Bangladesh TelevisionMarch 26, 1972

Chapter 17 The Brothers and Sisters of Independent Bangladesh Will be Equal

Bangladesh National Women’s Sports Association Azimpur Girls’ School, DhakaMarch 26, 1972

Chapter 18 We Must Devote Ourselves Entirely to the Service of the Needy

The Awami League’s ⁹th CouncilSuhrawardy Udyan, DhakaApril 8, 1972

Chapter 19 I Do Not Know Any Shortcuts to Prosperity

Bangladesh Radio and TelevisionMay 1, 1972

Chapter 20 Our Socialism Will Originate from the Soil of Bengal

Suhrawardy Udyan, DhakaJune 7, 1972

Chapter 21 Now You Must Fight Oppression and Injustice

Sunamganj, Sylhet DistrictJune 27, 1972

Chapter 22 The Country is Yours, and Your Country Can Demand Service from You

Institute of Postgraduate MedicalResearch, DhakaOctober 8, 1972

Chapter 23 The Constitution’s Fulfilment Depends Upon Our Own Efforts and Actions

Opening of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, DhakaDecember 18, 1972

Chapter 24 Now is the Time To Unequivocally Declare that We Have a Global Responsibility

UN General Assembly, New York CitySeptember 25, 1974

Chapter 25 No Nation Can Develop Without Discipline

Bangladesh Military Academy, CumillaJanuary 11, 1975

Chapter 26 We Want Democracy for the Oppressed

Suhrawardy Udyan, DhakaMarch 26, 1975

Chapter 1

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Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman: A Short Biography

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Sheikh Mujib or simply Mujib, was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman. Regarded as the Father of the Nation of Bangladesh, he was the founding president of Bangladesh and served as president from April 11, 1971, to January 12, 1972, and subsequently from January 25, 1975, until his assassination on August 15, 1975. He also served as the country’s prime minister from January 12, 1972, until January 24, 1975.

Early Life (1920–1942)

Sheikh Mujib was born in Tungipara, a village in the then Gopalganj subdivision (now a district) of the then Faridpur District on March 17, 1920. His father, Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and his mother, Sheikh Sayera Khatun, had four daughters and two sons. Sheikh Mujib was their third child. His parents used to call him Khoka (baby), adoringly.

He began school at Gimadanga Primary School in 1927, at the age of seven. Two years later, he was admitted to Gopalganj Public School’s class three. Before getting involved in student politics, Sheikh Mujib had a passion for sports, especially football. A talented player, he spent his teenage years competing in tournaments and winning awards for his achievements.

In 1938, he married Sheikh Fazilatunnesa (Renu). They had two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, and three sons, Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, and Sheikh Russel.

In 1942, Sheikh Mujib passed his final matriculation examinations at Gopalganj Missionary School and was admitted to Islamia College, now Maulana Azad College, in Kolkata, India.

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The ancestral home of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman in Tungipara, Gopaganj.

Early Politics and the Partition (1943–1947)

Elected as a councillor representing Bengal for the All-India Muslim League in 1943, he served in this capacity until India’s partitioning in 1947.

In 1946, Sheikh Mujib was elected unopposed as general secretary of the Islamia College Students Union. On August 16, 1946, nationwide protests by the Indian Muslim community led to widespread violence and killings between Muslims and Hindus in Kolkata (then named Calcutta), resulting in thousands of deaths. During these 1946 Calcutta killings, Sheikh Mujib helped preserve peace and social harmony and saved the lives of many Hindus and Muslims.

Sheikh Mujib supported his political mentor Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy’s proposal for a united and independent Bengal as a third free state, alongside India and Pakistan, in 1947. However, the proposal was thwarted, leading to Sheik Mujib’s vision for an independent Bangladesh. After the partition, he did not rush to East Pakistan, as many others did, but instead remained in Kolkata with Suhrawardy for a few weeks, to join Mahatma Gandhi’s peace mission.

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Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with his mother,

Sayera Khatun, and father, Sheikh Lutfar Rahman.

The Birth of the Bengali Language Movement (1948–1953)

Sheikh Mujib was admitted to the University of Dhaka’s Department of Law in 1948. On January 4, 1948, he founded the East Pakistan Muslim Students’ League, Pakistan’s first opposition student organization.

On February 23, 1948, Chief Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin announced in the Pakistani Constituent Assembly that the people of East Pakistan must recognize Urdu as their sole official language. Sheikh Mujib spontaneously protested and immediately began to organize a strong opposition.

A meeting held on March 2, 1948, at Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall, accepted Sheikh Mujib’s resolution to establish an all-party state language action committee. On March 11, he and a group of political activists were arrested while picketing in front of the secretariat building in observance of State Language Bangla Day. Following his arrest, the country’s student population began large protests, and on March 15, 1948, the Muslim League government was forced to release Sheikh Mujib and the other student leaders.

In 1949, Sheikh Mujib lent his support to a campaign of University of Dhaka class IV employees aimed at ensuring their rights and job security. On April 19, 1949, he was arrested outside the university vice-chancellor’s home, where he and other students had assembled for a demonstration. Despite being incarcerated, he was elected joint secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (now Bangladesh Awami League) on June 23, 1949.

At a public meeting in Dhaka’s Paltan ground on January 26, 1952, Pakistan’s prime minister, Khawaja Nazimuddin, declared Urdu to be the country’s only state language. Despite his imprisonment, Sheikh Mujib maintained contact with those fighting for Bangla to be recognized as one of the state languages and issued key directives to ensure the movement’s success.

Amid heightened political unrest over the issue, governor general of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah announced in Dhaka on March 21, 1948, that Urdu, and only Urdu, will be the state language of Pakistan, as it, embodied the spirit of Muslim nations. He labelled those opposing this as the Enemies of Pakistan. Thus he clearly drew a line between the Urdu- and Bengali-speaking people of Pakistan, with West Pakistan dominating the Eastern wing.

On February 16, 1952, Sheikh Mujib began an eleven-day hunger strike demanding that Bangla be recognized as the state language. In spite of a government ban on public protest, agitated students went on strike on February 21 to press their demand that Bangla be made a state language. When police opened fire on a rally, many students were