Politicians

A BIOGRAPHY OF MAWLANA ABDUL HAMID KHAN BHASHANI

MAWLANA ABDUL HAMID KHAN BHASHANI

BIOGRAPHY OF
Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani
(Famous Politician of Bangladesh)
(12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976)
 

A BIOGRAPHY OF MAWLANA ABDUL HAMID KHAN BHASHANI

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was a popular Islamic scholar and political leader in British India (now Bangladesh). Maulana Bhashani bears the honorary title of Mozlum Jananeta (Leader of the Oppressed) because of his lifelong commitment to the underprivileged who have been victimized by the system. He garnered widespread popularity among peasants and was instrumental in the formation of the East Pakistan Peasant Association. He is also known as ‘The Red Maulana’ because of his leftist tendencies, which are commonly referred to as Islamic Socialism. His political career covered the British colonial eras in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

He led the Muslims of Assam in a victorious campaign during the 1947 Sylhet Referendum, in which Sylhet opted to become part of the Pakistan national project. He was a graduate of Darul Uloom Deoband and a participant in the Khilafat Movement opposing the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. He founded and led the Pakistan Awami Muslim League, which subsequently became the Awami League (AL).

In an article for Time, American writer Dan Coggin attributed Bhashani with inspiring the 1969 East Pakistan Mass Uprising, which ended in the fall of the Ayub Khan dictatorship and the liberation of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the other Agartala conspiracy suspects. Bhashani’s decision to boycott the 1970 Pakistan general elections, according to lay author S. Akhtar Ehtisham, effectively led to Mujibur Rahman’s electoral sweep. Without any serious opposition in East Pakistan, the Awami League won 160 of the province’s 162 seats, giving it a majority in the Pakistan national legislature.

Title: ‘The Red Maulana’
Profession:
Political leader
Islamic scholar
Born: 12 December 1880
Place of Birth: Dhangara, Sirajganj District, Bengal Presidency
Nationality:
British Indian (1880–1947)
Pakistani (1947–1971)
Bangladeshi (1971–1976)
Religion: Islam
Education: Deoband Madrashah
Political party:
National Awami Party (since 1957)
Awami Muslim League (1949–1957)
Father: Sharafat Ali Khan
Mother: Mst. Mojiron Bibi.
Spouse: Alema Khatun
Died: 17 November 1976 (aged 95)
Death Age: 95 Years
Death Place: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Resting place: Santosh, Tangail, Bangladesh

Early Life of Maulana Bhashani

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was born in Sirajganj, British India (Bangladesh), on December 10, 1880, to Haji Sharafat Ali Khan and Mst. Mojiron Bibi. Between 1907 and 1909, he studied at the Deoband Madrasah. His parents had five children, and he was the youngest. His father died while he was a child, and his mother died a few days after, along with two brothers. He spent a few days with his uncle after losing his closest family.

 

Bhashani was motivated to fight British imperialism by Mahmud Hasan Deobandi and other progressive Islamic philosophers. He began teaching at a primary school in Kagmaree, Tangail, in 1909.

Political Career:

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani began his teaching career at Kagmaree, Tangail, as a primary school teacher. He became an activist for the Nationalist party in 1917, led by Desbandhu Chittaranjan Das. He joined the Indian National Congress two years later, in 1919. He was captured and imprisoned at the end of the year. Hamid Khan, who joined Das’s non-cooperation campaign against British imperialism, was imprisoned along with a large number of his supporters. He joined the Muslim League in 1930 and was elected MLA from Dhubri in the Assam Legislative Assembly. In 1944, he was chosen president of the Muslim League.

On June 23, 1949, after India and Pakistan were separated, he founded the Pakistan Muslim League, of which he was the founder president and Shamsul Huq was the first general secretary. Hamid Khan established the ‘All Party Language Movement Committee,’ which demands that Bangla become Pakistan’s official language. In 1953, he renamed the Awami Muslim League the Awami League, removing the word “Muslim.” After a year in Stockholm, he was prohibited from returning to East Pakistan by Iskander Mirza, who had labeled him a communist. He announced ‘Walakumusalam’ during the Awami League’s Kagmaree Conference in 1957, hinting at Pakistan’s secession.

He demanded that the government lift the ban on Rabindranath Tagore, that the Agartala Conspiracy Case be dropped, and that Sheikh Mujib be released.

War of Independence 1971:

In 1971, the Chairman of Sorbodoliyo Songram Parisad was Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. He has witnessed Bangladesh’s dream. He requested China to assist in the liberation of Bangladesh during the independence struggle, but the country did not respond. He also requested Russia to take action against Pakistani killings of civilians in Bangladesh. He was a government advisor at Mujibnagar.

Career in independent Bangladesh:

Bhashani wanted to be seen as a responsible opponent. With Kazi Zafar Ahmed as General Secretary, the progressive forces rallied around him and strengthened his NAP. However, factionalism among progressive forces quickly erupted, weakening Bhashani.

The most notable political achievement of Bhasani after independence is that, in order to facilitate Bangabandhu’s participation in the OIC’s Islamic Conference in Pakistan in 1974, he rallied public support in Paltan ground. He was a harsh opponent of the Awami League and the BAKSAL government’s dictatorial approach. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , for whom Bhashani had a lot of fatherly affection, and his family members were killed, and Bhashani was stunned. Bhashani sobbed and then proceeded to his prayer room to offer prayer, according to the individual who delivered the news of Mujib’s death.

In May 1976, he led a large Long March demanding the removal of the Farakka Barrage, which was built by India to channel Ganges flows into its territory, causing the river Padma to dry up and Bangladesh to become desertified. It was the first public campaign against India, asking that the Ganges’ water be distributed fairly. Since then, Bangladesh has celebrated Historic Farakka Long March Day on March 16 every year.

Political philosophy:

In the early 1950s, he believed that the primacy of West Pakistan made an integrated Pakistan unsustainable. He bid farewell to West Pakistan at the Kagmari Conference by stating Assalamu Alaikum, which became a reference quotation. He refused to vote in the 1970 national election, claiming that doing so would only assist West Pakistan maintain its authority. Swadhin Bangla Zindabad and Azad Bangla Zindabad have been his favorite slogans since 1969.

When Bangladesh became an independent nation-state in 1971, he realized his ideal of an autonomous Purba Bangla (East Bengal). He was an outspoken supporter of the separation of church and state. He was a devout Muslim who supported socialism. He spoke out against the Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh and its politics.

In terms of political Islam, Bhashani advocated revolutionary views. He invented the notion of Rububuiyat as a result of his Sufi studies under Nasiruddin Baghdadi.

Journalism:

Since the early 1970s, the Daily Ittefaq has been Bangladesh’s most popular Bengali daily. Weekly Ittefaq, on the other hand, is its forerunner. The Muslim League became the main political party when the British left South Asia in 1947. Soon after, an opposition movement arose, and the Awami Muslim League was formed, with Bhashani as one of its founding members. In 1949, Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan launched the Weekly Ittefaq against this backdrop. The popular weekly periodical was a scathing indictment of the Muslim League’s administration. Tofazzal Hossain is a journalist. It was edited by Manik Miah. On August 14, 1951, Manik Miah became the paper’s editor and publisher.

Bhashani began publishing a weekly Haq Katha on February 25, 1972, and it quickly grew in popularity. It was a socialist and pro-Chinese periodical. Irfanul Bari, Bhashani’s deputy, modified it.

Personal Life:

In Joypurhat, Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani married Alema Khatun, Jamidar Shamsuddin Ahmed Chowdhury’s daughter. He also married twice more for political reasons.

Death:

He died on November 17, 1976, at the age of 96, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and was buried at Santosh, Tangail.

Legacy:

His fans in Bangladesh and worldwide see Bhashani as a proponent of anti-imperialist, non-communal, and left-leaning politics. Bhashani was ranked the eighth greatest Bengali of all time by the BBC in 2004. 

Abdul Hamid Khan was self-educated, village-based as well as fire-brand political hero. His leadership was founded on his unwavering commitment to protecting the rights and interests of the peasantry and working classes.

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