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HIS103 ASSIGNMENT (REPORT

WRITING)

Topic: The Rise of Bengali Politics & Awami League

Course Title: HIS103(Fall 2021)

Submitted by:
Name: Md. Rakibul Islam Reshad
ID: 2021723642
Section: 46
Group: B

SUBMITTED TO:
Faculty Name: Saleh Md. Shahriar
Initial: SSr1
Date: 21/12/2021
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Introduction

The rise of Bengali politics is a gradual process that took years to come to fruition. The
same can and should be said about the political party known now as the Awami League. They
both are deeply intertwined & cannot be discussed without one another. A large portion of the
progressive elements played a role in the establishment of the Awami Muslim League in Dhaka
in 1949, with Maulana Bhashani as President, Shamsul Haque as General Secretary, and
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as Joint Secretary. The Awami League has always
advocated for a democratic system, with nationwide elections and increased authority for the
provinces. When the Awami League dropped the word "Muslim" from its name in 1955, it
signaled a shift toward a secular political culture. A hugely significant chapter of the rise of
Bengali politics was the election of 1954. It laid the groundwork for a lot of things in the
Bengali political scenario of the time.

The Election of 1954 & Awami League

Bangabandhu was chosen general secretary of the Awami Muslim League at its council
meeting in 1953, and he went on to become a prominent Bengali political figure. The
formation of the United Front under the leadership of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani,
Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was one of the most
remarkable events of the time, and Bangabandhu was heavily involved with the alliance as it
prepared for the provincial assembly elections in March 1954.

Sheikh Mujib once invited Sher-e Bangla AK Fazlul Haque to join the Awami League.
In response to Mujib's plea, he spoke out in support of the Awami League at a public assembly
in Chandpur. However, he then founded the Kishak-Shramik Party. Earlier in 1937, his
Kishak-Praja Party garnered enormous popularity in India's provincial elections. However, for
the first time since Pakistan's inception, he entered politics and forged an alliance with the
Awami League with his party on December 4, 1953. As a result, the Awami League-led the
formation of the United Front. The Ganatantri Party and Nijam-e-Islam are the other parties
involved. The United Front used a boat as a symbol in the Awami League-led elections in
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1954.

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, President of the All-Pakistan Awami League, was

chosen President of the United Front. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, general secretary of the East
Pakistan Awami League, maintained his tenacious campaign throughout Bengal. People
ignored the hardline religious indoctrination and voted for human rights in the boat symbol in
this provincial election. The 21-Point formula was developed as a standard electoral manifesto.
The United Front's electoral platform includes the following 21-point package program:

1. Recognize Bangla as one of Pakistan's official languages;

2. To eliminate zamindari and other rent-receiving interests in a land without compensation,

and to redistribute excess lands among cultivators; to cut rent to a reasonable level, and to
remove the certificate system of realizing rent.

3. To nationalize the jute trade and place it under the direct administration of the East Bengal
government, to provide fair jute prices for producers, and to investigate jute-bungling under the
Muslim League era and punish those found culpable.

4. To implement cooperative farming in agriculture and to promote cottage industries with full
government support;

5. To establish a salt business (on a small and big scale) in order to make East Bengal self-
sufficient in salt supplies, as well as to investigate and punish those responsible for salt
bungling under the Muslim League rule.

6. To promptly rehabilitate all destitute refugees from the artisan and technical classes;

7. To safeguard the country from floods and hunger by excavating canals and strengthening the
irrigation system;

8. To achieve self-sufficiency through modernizing farming and industrialization methods, as

well as to safeguard labor rights in accordance with the ILO Convention;

9. To make elementary education free and obligatory across the country, as well as to provide
teachers with fair salaries and allowances;

10. To reorganize the whole education system, including the introduction of mother language
as the medium of instruction, the elimination of discrimination between public and private
schools, and the conversion of all schools into government-aided institutions.
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11. Repeal all reactionary legislation, including those governing Dhaka and Rajshahi
Universities, and establish them as independent institutions; make education more affordable
and accessible to the general public;

12. To reduce administrative costs and to rationalize the pay scales of high and low-paid
government employees. Ministers shall not be paid more than 1000 taka per month.

13. To take efforts to remove corruption, nepotism, and bribery, and to that purpose, to take
stock of all government officers and businessmen's possessions from 1940 onwards, and forfeit
those properties whose acquisition is not fully accounted for;

14. To abolish all Safety and Preventive Detention Acts, free all detainees imprisoned without
trial, and try everyone engaging in anti-state actions in open court; to protect the rights of the
press and to attend assemblies;

15. Separation of the judiciary and the executive;

16. To relocate the United Front's chief minister's mansion to a less expensive building, and to
transform Burdwan House into a students' hostel now, and subsequently, into an institution for
study on Bangla language and literature;

17. To create a memorial in commemoration of the Language Movement martyrs on the site
where they were assassinated, as well as to compensate the martyrs' families;

18. Declare February 21st as 'Shaheed Day' as a public holiday;

19. The Lahore Resolution envisaged full autonomy for East Bengal, with the central
government in charge of the military, foreign affairs, and currency. In terms of defense, efforts
must be made to construct the army's headquarters in West Pakistan and the navy's
headquarters in East Bengal, as well as ordnance factories in East Bengal, and to develop the
Ansar force into a full-fledged militia armed with weapons.

20. The United Front Ministry shall not extend the tenure of the Legislature and shall resign six
months before the general elections to facilitate free and fair elections under an Election
Commission;

21. All casual vacancies in the Legislature shall be filled up through by-elections within three
months of the vacancies, and the ministry shall resign from office if the nominees of the Front
are defeated in three successive by-elections.
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As a consequence, the coalition was able to secure 228 of the 237 Muslim seats. The
Awami League received 143 seats on its own. In the general election, the United Front toppled
the old governing Muslim League. Following the election, East Bengal's chief minister was AK
Fazlul Huq of the Krishak Praja Party. Meanwhile, in the provincial government, youthful
politicians such as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury, and Khaleque Nawaz
Khan rose to prominence.

The United Front established the government on April 3, 1954, depending on the
Awami League, exposing the Muslim League's politics of religion. However, on May 31, 1954,
the United Front administration was deposed in less than two months due to a Pakistani plot.
At the same time, the Pakistani Central Government named Iskandar Mirza as governor of East
Bengal. 35 East Pakistan Legislative Council members, including Sheikh Mujib, were
detained. The United Front was disbanded in February 1955, and the Awami League emerged
as the sole majority party.

Conclusion

According to Christophe Jaffrelot, author of A History of Pakistan and Its

Origins, "This (Awami League) party went on to unite all the nationalists, whether they came
from the left, the center or the right, on a common platform. In fact, the Communist party
leaders pushed their members to join the ranks of the new party, where they were less exposed
to official repressions, and then to work from the inside to get the communist point of view
heard." Awami league went on to feature as a prominent figure in the emergence of Bengal and
remained a pivotal figure in Bengali politics. The six-point for an exploitation-free state, the
election of 1970 such further events are etched in the history books. The aftermath of the
partition, the aftereffects of the language movement, the election of 1954 was a watershed
moment in the emergence of Bengali politics. They paved the way for the further events that
followed as Bengali politics raised and progressed.
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References

https://www.albd.org/articles/news/36694/Bangladesh:-Awami-League's-Glorious-Achievement-on-
its-Journey-so-far
https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/straight-line/news/71-years-awami-league-1918781
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/03/21/bangabandhu-s-rise-as-bengal-s-spokesman