The story of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangabandhu―friend of Bengal―to his people, remains an epic tale of struggle for the people of Bangladesh and indeed for people in the South Asian region. In his relatively brief life of fifty-five years, a significant segment of which he spent in prison when Bangladesh was part of the Pakistan state, he engineered the rise of Bengali nationalism based on the need for his people to have their voices heard in the country.
Mujib’s campaign throughout the twenty-four years in which his country was part of Pakistan was defined by a consistency underscored by his political programme of seeking autonomy for East Pakistan. Leading his political party to a landslide victory at Pakistan’s very first general election in December 1970, he soon realised that the political and military establishment in distant Rawalpindi was not ready to hand over power to him.
That was the moment which propelled him into a movement for the liberation of Bangladesh. Detained and flown to (West) Pakistan to face trial before a military court, which sentenced him to death, Bangabandhu was freed when Bangladesh stood liberated as a sovereign state in December 1971. And yet his struggle was far from over. Taking charge of Bangladesh, he was soon buffeted by an enormity of problems. Political intrigue led to his assassination as also the murder of almost his entire family in August 1975.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was, and is, Bangladesh’s window to the world. This is the story of his rise from political worker to Father of the Nation.
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