"Bangladesh was born with the birth of Awami League"

With the birth of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, the East Bengal Muslim League activist camp at Mughaltulist No. 150 in Dhaka, led by the then organizing secretary of the Muslim League, Shamsul Haque, was deeply involved. The camp was on the ground floor of a three-storey building owned by Dhaka's influential Muslim League leader Shawkat Ali. Shawkat Ali used to run all the expenses of the staff camp. He was a front-line activist of the language movement that started in '48 and a close friend of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the leaders of the activist camp. However, the mastermind behind the establishment of the workers' camp was Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy, the leader of the progressive wing of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League, and Abul Hashim, a renowned Islamic scholar and general secretary of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. All the organizational activities of the language movement were conducted from this cadre camp. After the independence of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, the leaders of the conservative faction led by Nazimuddin and Maulana Akram Khan became stronger.

They were indirectly supported by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Nazim Uddin dismissed Suhrawardy as a member of the provincial legislature, calling him an 'agent of India' and an 'enemy of Pakistan'. As a result, the leaders of the progressive wing of the Muslim League led by Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy and Abul Hashim were cornered. In early 1948, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani was elected a member of the managing council of the Bengal Provincial Council from a seat in Tangail in a by-election nominated by the Muslim League. However, he continued to criticize the Muslim League government's various activities against the interests of East Bengal. For this reason, the Muslim League government filed a case against him in the court with the intention of harassing him by calling his election flawed.

The Governor of East Bengal declared his election void by an executive order and declared the seat vacant. Maulana Bhasani left for Assam. He was arrested and kept in Dhubri jail. Subsequently, the date for the by-election of 6 seats was announced on 26 April 1949. In that election, Shamsul Haque was declared the candidate by the leaders of the 150 Mughaltuli activist camp against Khurram Khan Panni, the rich candidate of the Muslim League. The leaders of the workers' camp raise money among themselves - some sell watches, some sell bicycles and thus create election funds. Bangabandhu's 'unfinished autobiography' mentions the nomination of candidates for this election and the formation of an election fund. People first saw the use of the mic for the welfare of the Muslim League candidate in the election. Although a number of ministers and heavyweight leaders, including Prime Minister Nazimuddin of the Muslim League government, campaigned for Khurram Khan Panni, there were no significant leaders for Shamsul Haque, except for a few activists from the 150 Mughaltuli activist camp.

In the election, Shamsul Haque surprised everyone by defeating the heavyweight candidate of the Muslim League Khurram Khan by a huge margin of votes. Because everyone thought that Shamsul Haque was not a worthy candidate against Zamindar Khurram Khan Panni. This verdict was not so much against Khurram Khan Panni but against the injustice and injustice of the Muslim League government. The Muslim League government was shaken by this defeat. As a result, after that by-election, the provincial Muslim League government did not hold any more by-elections until the 1954 United Front elections. But the same thing happened with the winner Shamsul Haque. The huge victory in the election was not pleasant for him. The election was canceled in the same manner.

Thus, one after another anti-people activities of the provincial Muslim League government created a backlash against the Muslim League in the minds of the leaders of the Muslim League activists including Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Maulana Bhasani and Shamsul Haque. At such a time, Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy came to Dhaka to fight the "habeas corpus" case on behalf of East Bengal Muslim Chhatra League leader Dabirul Islam. At that time, Suhrawardy was approached by Shawkat Ali, the manager of the Muslim League activist camp who was close to him from the east. At this time Suhrawardy instructed him to leave the Muslim League and form a new party. Later, Shawkat Ali encouraged the leaders of the Shibir to form a new party. Maulana Bhasani came to Dhaka in 1949 after being released from Dhubri Jail in Assam. Arriving in Dhaka, he stayed at the house of Ali Amjad Khan. Although he did not come before the Muslim League cadres, he had contacts with Yar Mohammad Khan. Shawkat Ali briefed Maulana Bhasani about the political activities of the Mughaltulist activist camp No. 150 and the Muslim League Workers Camp during a discussion at Ali Amjad Khan's residence.

Later, on the initiative of the Muslim League workers' camp, it was agreed to form a political party as an alternative to the Muslim League. Realizing such an initiative, the League government arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the leaders of the Shibir, on April 24, just two days before Shamsul Haque's Tangail by-election, and resorted to torture. Many are subjected to various pressures and temptations. But these misdeeds of the League government were of no use. In the hope of forming a party, it was decided to hold a staff conference on 23 June 1949. The conference was finally held at 3 pm on June 23 in the presence of about 300 workers at the historic "Rose Garden", their privately owned mansion in KM Das Lane, Dhaka, at the behest of Kazi Humayun Bashir and Yar Mohammad Khan.

A political party called "East Pakistan Awami Muslim League" was formed at the staff conference chaired by eminent lawyer Ataur Rahman Khan. Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani became the president of the party and Shamsul Haque was made the general secretary. Although there was no joint general secretary post in any of the contemporary political organizations of the Indian subcontinent at that time, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a young popular organizer of the Karmi Shibir, was made the No. 1 joint secretary in the organization in the belief of proper evaluation. Sheikh Mujib was in quarantine at that time. He was released from jail 5-6 days after the establishment of the new party. One thing to note is that there was no joint general secretary post in the Awami Muslim League in the committee where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became general secretary in the 53rd conference. The treasurer of the party was Yar Mohammad Khan, one of the richest men of Dhaka at that time. He had a lot to contribute during the founding of the team and he spent a lot of money to strengthen the team. He used to bear all the expenses of many leaders of Awami Muslim League staying in Dhaka.

Most of the officers and members of the first committee of the Awami Muslim League were nominated by Maulana Bhasani, some of whom had no previous political experience. Many of them had no role in the formation of the team and the subsequent development of the organization. Many later became inactive, many resigned from the party. In this case, the question remains about Mr. Bhasani's organizational Munsiana in the formation of the committee of the Awami Muslim League. However, after the formation of the team, he led with competence. At the workers' conference on 23 June, General Secretary Shamsul Haque prepared a timely draft manifesto for the new organization, demanding full autonomy for all units in East Bengal and Pakistan. As a result, people came to know about the aims and objectives of the organization. However, he could not lead the team far. Because besides Bangabandhu, he and party president Maulana Bhasani were arrested within a few days. Bangabandhu was arrested on January 1, 1950 and was released on February 26, 1952 with a broken body after spending almost 28 months in jail. However, his physical condition was so bad that he took treatment and rest from home for about two and a half months.

From then until his arrest on May 30, 1954, he made a significant contribution to the organizational strengthening of the Awami League during these two years. As the party's general secretary Shamsul Haque was in jail at the time, Sheikh Mujib, the party's No. 1 joint general secretary, became the party's acting general secretary. These two years were the organizational expansion of the Awami League in the early stages of party formation. At the forefront of which was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Although Shamsul Haque was released from prison a few days before the 53rd Conference, he suffered a mental breakdown due to government torture and the emotional pressure of leaving him with his beautiful wife's two young daughters. As a result, he was expelled from the party and dropped out of the conference. At the conference, Sheikh Mujib was elected general secretary of the party.

Bangabandhu took a strong stand in favor of Maulana Bhasani's decision in 1955 to abolish the word "Muslim" as a non-communal organization with the participation of people of all religions and castes without restricting the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League to the Muslim community. On the other hand Khan, Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed and many others were against the removal of the word "Muslim". With the assumption of the ministry by General Secretary Bangabandhu in 1956, a section led by Oli Ahad, the party's organizing secretary, tried to create a circle within the party.

Bangabandhu resigned from the cabinet on May 30, 1956 and remained the general secretary of the party in the interest of strengthening the organization. Because Bangabandhu knew that there was no alternative to a strong organization for realizing the rights of the people of this country. If Bangabandhu had taken a different decision on that day, it is doubtful whether we would have got an independent state called Bangladesh even today. This decision of Bangabandhu will be considered as a landmark decision in the history of independence of Bangladesh. At the Kagmari Conference on 6-7 February 1956, a dispute arose between Maulana Bhasani and Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy over the cancellation of the Pak-US military agreement by Awami League President Maulana Bhasani and the demand for autonomy for East Bengal. Bangabandhu Hossain took a stand for Shaheed Suhrawardy. Most of the leaders of the party led by Suhrawardy and Bangabandhu took a stand against the proposal of Maulana Bhasani. For this reason, under the leadership of Maulana Bhasani, many leaders including Yar Mohammad Khan and Oli Ahad resigned from the Awami League on March 16.

Although Maulana Bhasani resigned from the Awami League and formed the 'National Awami Party', the executive committee of the Awami League did not accept Bhasani's resignation at the decision of Bangabandhu. To the debater. The three posts of vice-president and treasurer in honor of Yar Mohammad Khan were also left vacant. Such instances are rare in politics. The Awami League has been running with the acting president for almost 6 long years. Although Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish was the acting president of the Awami League at that time, Bangabandhu was the general secretary of the party. After giving 6 points in 6, many leaders of the party took a stand against Bangabandhu, against 6 points. Maulana Tarkabagish, the acting president of the party, took a stand against the 6 points and dropped out of the leadership at the 7th conference. Bangabandhu was elected president of the party. Tajuddin Ahmed became the general secretary. In his concluding speech, Bangabandhu declared, "There is no compromise on the 6-point question. There is no short cut in politics. The Awami League is no longer confident in the unity of its leaders. The Awami League is confident in the unity of dedicated workers." . "

Bangabandhu further said- "I gave the bridge to move from independence to independence. If no one comes in this movement, we will continue the movement on the streets alone. Future history will prove that this is the right path for our liberation."
Bangabandhu was repeatedly imprisoned during the 6-point movement. After giving 6 points, Bangabandhu held 32 public rallies in 35 days to motivate the people and unite them. But he did not compromise on the 6-point question. A sedition case was filed under the name of Agartala Conspiracy Case. The Awami League won an absolute majority in the elections. Bangabandhu knew that the dream of independence of the Bengalis would not be realized without the mandate of the people. That is why Bangabandhu demanded elections and decided to participate in the elections of 1970. He objected. But later it was proved that Bangabandhu's decision to participate in the election was correct The huge mandate of the people for the Awami League in the 70's election under the leadership of Bangabandhu made the world understand that the freedom and independence movement of the people of Bengal was logical. That is why many countries including India and Russia strongly supported us in the liberation war of 1971. The result of which is today's independent sovereign Bangladesh. After the victory in the great liberation war of 1971, the organization of the masses changed from East Pakistan Awami League to today's Bangladesh Awami League.

Md. Nazrul Islam, columnist and young Awami League leader.