Dr. Rashid Askari
Published in the Dhaka Courier, Thursday, August 15th, 2013
As
George Washington is the father of the United States, Peter I of
Russia, Sun Yat-sen of China, Sir Henry Parkes of Australia, Miguel
Hidalgo of Mexico, Sam Nujoma of Namibia, William the Silent of the
Netherlands, Einar Gerhardsm of Norway, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Jomo
Kenyatta of Kenya, Carlos Mannel of Cuba, Mustafa Kemal of Turkey,
Sukarno of Indonesia, Tunku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia, Mahatma Gandhi of
India, Don Stephen Senanayake of Sri Lanka and Mohammad Ali Jinnah of
Pakistan– so is Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975), the
father of the Bangladesh. He is the architect of our country and the
nation by all implications of the term.
As a matter of fact, what we now call
Bangladesh was never independent in the truest sense of the term before
1971. It was Mujib and only Mujib who gave the nation a real touch of
freedom. It was quite a trek into the long way of freedom from all-out
oppression through autonomy and home rule in which he gave the active
lead. He was the fearless fighter of the Language Movement of 1952; the
pioneer of the democratic movement of 1962; the architect of the
Six-point Movement of 1966; the life-force of the Mass Movement of 1969;
the enviable victor of the election of 1970 and, above all, the
greatest hero of the Liberation War of 1971. He is undisputedly the
founder of independent Bangladesh and, therefore, the Father of the
Nation.
It is really shocking that we are not yet fully aware of this
greatest national leader. There is still a vicious slander on his
reputation! But who is to blame for that? As a matter of fact, there
has been a long chain of conspiracy to make people oblivious of
Bangabandhu. It began with his assassination on the inauspicious August
night of 1975. Ever since then the country fell mostly under the sway of
despotic military rule accompanied by the corrupt politicians,
opportunistic bureaucrats, pseudo-democrats and religious
fundamentalists. They had one thing in common i.e. Bangabandhu-bashing.
They tried to indemnify the killers of Bangabandhu, and rewarded them
with lucrative portfolios. They took sustained efforts to erase the
image of Bangabandhu from the minds of the people by distorting history.
They tried to obliterate the memories of Bangabandhu from the pages of
history, inscriptions of monuments and from whatever holds the
recollections of Mujib.
The anti-Mujib campaigners are not, however, as powerful as history
itself. History takes its own course, maybe after quite a long time. But
this is inevitable. So, the anti-Mujib campaigners have vainly tried to
change the course of history eventually making a mockery of it. What
they had done at best is that they had fooled some people for sometime
or what they can still do is that they can fool some people for all
time, but they can never fool all people into believing a false story
for all time. People must be endowed with a true sense of history today
or tomorrow.
To look into one’s own history and culture and to go for the quest
for national identity and cultural heritage have become an imperative in
these postcolonial days. Ours is not a poor socio-political and
cultural legacy. We fought valiantly a war of independence under the
leadership of Bangabandhu. We can very well come up with this political
legacy and assert ourselves more. We can uphold the ideals of
Bangabandhu to rebuild our nation.
Mujib is really Bangabandhu- friend of Bangladesh. And hence he could
utter: “Standing on the gallows, I will tell them, I am a Bengali,
Bangla is my country, Bangla is my language”. On the black night of
March 25, when it was suggested that he go into hiding, he flatly
refused and retorted: “I must share the sufferings of my people along
with them. I must share. I cannot leave them in the face of fire. I
cannot.” Really he did not flee to safety from the war-torn country.
Rather he willingly became the first prey to the marauding force. Love
for the motherland had prompted him to take such a risk. Afterwards,
over nine long months, day after day and night after night in the dark
cell of the prison camp, he longed for the freedom of his country. The
unbearable suffering of the dungeon could not sap the strength of his
patriotism. On his return home on 10 January 1972, addressing a huge
gathering in Suhrawardy Uddyan, Bangabandhu declared: “Bangladesh has
earned independence. Now if anybody wants to seize it, Mujib would be
the first man to sacrifice his life for the protection of that
independence”. His country was all important to him. He believed it was
his calling to do good to his country, not to look forward to anything
in return. He often used to mention the famous quote by President John
F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can
do for your country”.
Such a big man was Bangabandhu! The undisputed Father of independent
Bangladesh! To be unaware of this is sheer ignorance. To deny this is an
offence against history.
Dr. Rashid Askari writes fiction and columns and teaches
English literature at Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh.E-mail:
rashidaskari65@yahoo.com
- See more at: http://www.dhakacourier.com.bd/?p=13063#sthash.CehhgUH5.dpuf
As George Washington is the father of the United States, Peter I of Russia, Sun Yat-sen of China, Sir Henry Parkes of Australia, Miguel Hidalgo of Mexico, Sam Nujoma of Namibia, William the Silent of the Netherlands, Einar Gerhardsm of Norway, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Carlos Mannel of Cuba, Mustafa Kemal of Turkey, Sukarno of Indonesia, Tunku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia, Mahatma Gandhi of India, Don Stephen Senanayake of Sri Lanka and Mohammad Ali Jinnah of Pakistan– so is Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975)
