Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is a Bangladeshi political leader and statesman, who led the East Pakistan secession movement (present-day Bangladesh), and was the founder and architect of the new state. He began his political career as a student, and his activism led to his expulsion from university, opposed military rule, demanded political autonomy, and spent 12 years in Pakistani prisons in 23 years.
He was a prisoner when he was appointed the first head of government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, and is considered a central figure of his time, known as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib, and was nicknamed "Pangabandhu", meaning friend of Bengal or father of the nation.
He was killed along with his family members after nearly 4 years of running the country, in a military coup that marked the end of the first democratic experiment in the history of Bangladesh, and the establishment of military rule that lasted about 16 years after that.
Birth and upbringing
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on March 17, 1920, to a Bengali Muslim family in Tunjipara village, a suburb of Gobagang, Bengal Province (now Bangladesh).
The third son of Sheikh Lut Rahman, the officer in charge of keeping records at the Gubagang (India) court, was Sayera Khatun, and they used to call him "Khoka".
Some accounts say that his family origins date back to Iraq, about 400 years ago, when Sheikh Awal came from Mesopotamia to preach and spread Islam in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent.
Historians believe that part of the family settled in Sonargaon, near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh after its separation from Pakistan, while a second part settled in another city.
In his early twenties, he became involved in an association for the care and maintenance of poor Muslim students, founded by his private mentor Qazi Abdul Hamid in Gubaganj.
He had been used to collect alms from all over the city every Friday, and when Mujibur Rahman died he took it over for a long time with the help of another teacher.
Talented football player
Mujeeb was tall and practiced sports, especially football, volleyball and hockey.
He was a talented footballer, who led the school team in competitive tournaments, and won numerous awards for his outstanding performances on the field, yet his father tried to keep him out of the game, due to suffering from heart weakness, due to a severe infection that afflicted him at a young age.
He was a violent child and ruthlessly punished anyone who offended him, or any member of his team, and his father constantly scolded him for his aggressive manner.
Those close to him were quoted as saying that he was disturbed by the slightest sound from his aides, following the years he spent in prison.
Study and scientific training
At the age of seven, Mujibur Rahman began his initial education at Jimadanga Primary School, enrolled in the third grade at Gubagang Public School in 1929, and continued his fourth grade education at Madagbeer Islamic High School in 1931.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (left) appointed in absentia as head of the first interim government of the Republic of Bangladesh (Associated Press)
At the age of 14, he had to stop studying in 1934 for a complex eye surgery at Calcutta Hospital, where he was threatened with blindness and had been wearing glasses since 1936.
Four years later, he did not return to his old school because his classmates had advanced him in their studies, but he completed his studies at the Gubagang School, received a special education at home from teacher Qadi Abdul Hamid, and obtained his high school diploma in 4.
At the age of 22, he passed the entrance examination to the Islamic College, affiliated to the University of Calcutta for the Study of Humanities (now Maulana Azad College), and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944.
At his father's wishes, he joined the Department of Law and Political Science in 1948 at the University of Dhaka in eastern Pakistan, although he was not interested in that discipline and was not interested in the legal profession.
In his memoirs, he later wrote that his father was upset about this and was ready to sell his land and send him to England to complete his law studies.
On March 26, 1949, he was expelled for supporting a protest movement formed by university staff, and he was unable to complete his university studies, and 61 years later, the university rescinded the decision on the 35th anniversary of his death.
During his university studies, Mujibur Rahman was interested in learning Persian and was an avid reader of the works of Bernard Shaw, Karl Marx, Rabindranath Tagore, and the poet Kazi Nasrul Islam.
Student Activities
Mujeeb showed leadership and organizational personality at an early age, at the age of nine he organized a peaceful demonstration against the behavior of the school principal. In 1939, he became politically active as a student at the Gubaganj Missionary School, first meeting Bashir Fazlul ul-Haq, the chief minister of Bengal, and Hussain Shahid Suhrawardi, founder of the Awami League, and at the age of 20, led a protest demanding that the school's cracked roof be repaired in preparation for their visit.
In 1940, he joined the Muslim Student Union of India, was elected Chancellor for one year (1943), joined the Bengal Muslim League, and was elected Secretary of the Faridpur District Assembly in 1944.
He was elected secretary-general of the Islamic College Student Union in 1946 and was one of the politicians who worked under Suhrawardi during the sectarian violence that erupted at the University of Calcutta.
Suhrawardi became Sheikh Mujib's political mentor and mentor, and they had a close relationship until Suhrawardi's death in 1963.
On January 1948, 11, he founded the Muslim Students Association of East Pakistan, and on March 15, he was one of the first detainees of the language movement, after Urdu was declared an official language for Bengalis, and on March <>, he was released, along with other leaders, after student protests.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (centre) spent 12 years in Pakistani jails after leading Bangladesh secession (AP)
Political and professional life
Mujibur Rahman was a supporter of leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Pakistan's secession from India in 1947. On June 23, 1949, he joined the Awami League and was elected assistant secretary, then secretary general on July 1953, <>.
On 15 May 1954, he was appointed Minister of Cooperative Development and Agriculture, lost his appointment after the dissolution of the government, arrested 14 days later for organizing a protest against the central government's decision to dismiss the United Front Ministry, and released on 23 December.
From 1955 to 1958, he was a member of Pakistan's Second Constituent Assembly (Parliament), and became Minister of Commerce, Industry, Labour, Village Assistance and Anti-Corruption in a second coalition government in 1956, resigning in 1957.
On 1958 October 5, General Ayub Khan suspended the constitution, and five days later Mujibur Rahman was arrested for organizing a protest and imprisoned for three years.
After his release in 1961, the BPRC established Sawadin Bangal Biblupi Parishad, a secret body to counter the military regime, and was arrested in 1962.
In the 1964 elections, he supported opposition candidate Fatima Jinnah, was arrested on charges of sedition and imprisoned for a year.
On February 1966, 6, he became the president of the Awami Muslim League, renamed it the Awami League, meaning "General Party", presented a 8-point program called the Freedom Charter for the Bengali Nation, and toured the country, in order to gain support for his program, during which he was arrested <> times.
On May 1966, 34, he was arrested in the Agartala conspiracy case and charged with <> military officers of colluding with India in a plot to partition Pakistan.
He was released in 1969, the case against him was dropped in the face of mass protests, he earned the nickname "Bangabandhu" (meaning friend of Bengal) at a public reception, then joined the Congress of Political Parties, demanding acceptance of his program, which historians have called the "Six Point Movement".
On December 5, at a public meeting commemorating Suhrawardi's death, it was announced that eastern Pakistan would be named Bangladesh.
Bangabandu
Many historians have viewed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a charismatic political leader and a powerful orator of socialism as an ideal solution to collective poverty, unemployment, and poor living conditions.
Some considered the Pangabandu to be better than adhering to the adage "Bengalis never believe in anything until there is a poet who expresses it", when he adopted poetry to explain moral attitudes.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is one of the most prominent figures who led Bangladesh's secession from Pakistan (AP)
His poetic style was so effective in his speeches that the Pakistani government tried to ban the singing of Tagore's poetry as subversive.
The "poet of politics" began and then led the liberation movement, and historians say that he "provided applied leadership that reflects the distinctive vitality of his emotional and nationalist personality, and his organizational strength."
Bangladesh secession leader
On December 1970, 167, Mujibur Rahman's Awami Party won a landslide victory in the general elections, with 169 out of <> seats, guaranteeing it the formation of a government on its own, but the central government refused to allow it to form it.
On March 1971, <>, then-President Yahya Khan postponed the National Assembly (parliament) amid massive demonstrations in eastern Pakistan.
Mujibur Rahman delivered a historic 19-minute speech on March 1971, <>, to a gathering of more than a million people, in which he accused the authorities of failing to transfer power to elected representatives and called for a willingness to fight for the "independence" of Bangladesh, a speech recognized by UNESCO as part of the World Documentary Heritage.
On March 24, 1971, talks between the winning parties stalled, and Mujibur Rahman said at the time, "We did not want to accelerate the separation, we wanted our share in freedom and development, and my people showed their will in free elections, and I should have become the ruler of all Pakistan according to legitimacy, and Yahya Khan pretended to be negotiating with us a solution to a constitutional crisis for which we did not know the cause."
In the early hours of 26 March, Mujib spoke on Radio Chita Gong (Independent Bengal) and declared the secession of Bangladesh, immediately after which he was arrested, placed under house arrest and put on trial for fomenting war against Pakistan.
The army launched a military operation called "Floodlight", more than 100 days after the first general and free elections, which lasted for nearly 22 years, targeting Bangladeshi intellectuals, students, university professors and writers. The so-called "East Pakistan Liberation War" broke away from Bangladesh.
From the Presidency of the Government to the Presidency of the State
Najibur Rahman was held captive when, on April 1971, <>, he was appointed in absentia as the head of the first interim government of the Republic of Bangladesh, by deputies of the People's Assembly.
After nine months of war, Bangladesh seceded on December 9, and the Pakistani junta sentenced Mujib to death, and under international pressure, he was released on December 16, 1972, holding a press conference in London calling for recognition of his state.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's memoirs were found after his assassination, published and translated into several languages (Reuters)
He returned to Bangladesh via New Delhi, and on 12 January 1972 was sworn in as the first prime minister of a parliamentary democracy, with 83 percent Muslim population and 16 percent Hindu, Buddhist and Christian population.
Mujibur Rahman drafted a constitution for the country, and in the first parliamentary elections in 1973, his party received 73 percent of the total vote, and the parliament formed Janiva Sang Sad and assumed the premiership.
In 1974, Bangladesh gained worldwide recognition, becoming the 136th member of the United Nations, and at the 29th session of the General Assembly Mujibur Rahman delivered a speech in Bengali.
On January 15, 1974, Mujibur Rahman was elected president, and despite an improvement in the economic situation in the first half of that year, criticism of his policy grew as the country was swept by a wave of famine.
In early January 25, 1975, the "Friend of Bengal" imposed a state of emergency, amending the constitution, replacing the parliamentary system with a presidential one, dissolving political parties, and merging his supporters into a new party called the Bangladesh League.
Coup and assassination
On August 15, 1975, Mujibur Rahman, 55, was assassinated at the presidential residence in a military coup by military officers.
Reports revealed that he refused his request to step down, and was shot dead along with members of his family, and his daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikha Rihana, who were in Europe at the time, survived.
After returning from self-imposed exile in 1981, Hasina led the Awami League to victory in the 1996 elections, serving as prime minister until 2001.
In 1998, the local judiciary sentenced about 10 officers to death, 5 convicted of her father's murder were executed, and 45 years after former Bangladeshi army captain Abdul Majeed fled, he was arrested and executed in 2009.
Memoirs among the ruins
On the morning of the assassination, a small notebook was found among the rubble containing the diary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, written while in prison between 1967 and 1969, and entitled with the phrase "A plate, a pot and a blanket are all the prisoner's possessions."
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's memoirs were published under the title "Unfinished Memoirs" and translated into English by his daughter (Al Jazeera)
The memoir remained in the possession of a Bangladeshi politician for 30 years, until Mujibur Rahman's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, received it from him, wrote a preface and translated it from Bengali into English.
The Indian version of the book was published in New Delhi in 2012, the English version in London, and in 2016 the Arabic translation was published in Ramallah under the title "Unfinished Memoirs".
Awards & Recognitions
- Launch of a school construction project named "Sheikh Mujibur Rahman School" in Bahrain, 2022.
- Establishment of the UNESCO-Bangladesh/Pango Bandu Prize Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for Creative Economy 2021.
- Establishment of a chair in his name by Delhi University and Indian Council for Cultural Relations 2021.
- Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize by Government of India 2021.
- Bust of Mujibur Rahman inaugurated in the Turkish capital, Ankara in 2021.
- Declaring 2020 the "Year of the Respondent", or Respondent Year, on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of his birth.
- Inauguration of a bust of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in London, 2016.
- Julie Curie Prize from the World Peace Council, 1973.
- Named "Bangabandu District" in Turkey in honor of Sheikh Mujib, 1997.
- Every year August 15 is designated to commemorate National Day of Mourning for the death of him and his family.
- Conversion of Sheikh Mujib's residence into a national museum.
- "The greatest Bengali of all time," according to a BBC poll of Bengalis worldwide, 2004.
- Sheikh Mujib's historic speech on March 1971, <>, was placed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register as a list of important World Documentary Heritage.