Dear Mrs Sharmin I feel fortunate to attend such a historic seminar on Mr. Tajuddin Ahmad, the most dynamic & astute leader of modern Bangladesh. Professor Anisuzzamans key note paper was an extraordinary paper on Mr. Tajuddin Ahmad - concise, crisp & informative. A paper is worth to preserve for ever to understand Mr. Tajuddin Ahmad at a glance. You too spoke extremely well with emotion & with flawless language (the choice of words & quotations were so absorbing) made everybody present in the hall spell bound. I am attaching a small write up (appended below) focussing on Mr. Tajuddin. Thanks. Amin Banga Bandhu, Tajuddin & Bangladesh I first met Mr. Tajuddin Ahmad at 8 Theatre Road Calcutta (now Kolikata). With about six years of military service I was a young Captain then just defected from the Pakistan Army. I had to wait at Gen. Osmanys office, as at the upstairs in a shared room with Syed Nazrul Islam, the Acting President, the PM of Provisional Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was washing his clothes all by himself. And that what Mr. Tajuddin was - a symbol of source of inspiration & Hope. Unfortunately we lost him. After Banga Bandhu, it was the greatest loss as far as the national leadership was concerned of the Independent Bangladesh. Immediately after the Indian Armed Forces left the soil of Bangladesh, Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman should have called Mr. Tajuddin & handed over power to him to run the national Government for three years before giving a fresh election under the newly framed constitution, giving a clear instruction to over ambitious Sk Moni in particular to obey & render a helping hand to Mr. Taijuddin, if not then not to disturb him & his Government, while himself off to abroad on leave, simultaneously leaving a message to Mr. Tajuddin that with a State/British Grant (even oversea Bangladeshis in Britain would have loved to bear the cost) one year he would be travelling all over the world with his entire family (including Sk Kamal & Jamal) to relax & quietly carrying out image building of Bangladesh & on return would sit on the opposition bench as a watch dog. Alas it did not happen like that. Instead, he listened to Sk Moni & other ambitious firebrands of his party, most of them young student leaders of yesterdays. Sk Moni in his university days was a good, dynamic & brave student leader but he should have waited to avail his turn, instead, at a hurry encouraged by Gen. Oban, a clownish character of the Indian Army, he took off with a Hop Step & Jump & made a crash landing, destroying (he & Sirajul Alam Khan, immediately after the War of Liberation, together but from different platforms) the cohesiveness of Liberation forces under AL leadership. In our College days 1961-63, we used to admire Sk Moni & Sirajul Alam Khan (as students both were senior to me) along with Kazi Arif- Rono-Menon & Motia Chowdhury & later on Obadiur Rahman, Abdur Razzak, Tofail & ASM Rob, for their outstanding contributions in students politics of the erstwhile East Pakistan especially during 1960s & later on Six Points Movement (by 1965 I joined the Pakistan Army). After Liberation, Banga Bandhu should have acted as a Guardian/Referee/Arbitrator of the entire country. During long struggle of Liberation of Bangladesh particularly from 1969 onward culminating into War of Liberation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Banga Bandhu became not only the most glamorous legend & precious public property, the greatest national leader ever produced by Bangladesh, but also a most sought after political leader & tremendously respected International Leader. For him to run any Government of any particular political party was below his dignity. He already reached much higher position both from public perception & esteem of home & abroad. This finer aspect & the tremendous spirit of comradeship, a bond thicker than blood, generated among almost all the citizen of Bangladesh irrespective of caste, creed & colour, primarily due to inhuman suffering suffered by the general people under the heels of blood thirsty barbarous occupation Army from Pakistan yet remarkable resilience shown by the people of Bangladesh during the nine long months of bloody War of Liberation made them one solid piece of rock of Gibraltar with Sheikh Mujib was their sole leader, was not understood by the ambitious stal-warts of AL (most of them were hardly present physically in any of the battle fields) & for their own selfish interest unfortunately the younger leadership of AL exploited the lion hearted Sheikh Mujib & dragged him down to make him leader of AL only – a terrible mistake, if not a crime, they committed beyond any conceivable imagination. It was a national loss, nay a national tragedy. At the finest hour of national consolidation & unity ushering a dawn of a new era, yet in years time it collapsed like house of cards. It was the younger generation of AL leadership who damaged the sky high image of Sheikh Mujib, the Banga Bandhu keeping him alive Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the firebrand lion hearted leader of AL. Sk.Moni wanted to rule through AL only, nay through his own selected & trained cadres only, sadly a miscalculation & due to premature attempt it misfired very badly. Unfortunate but hard reality is that after Liberation, the whole political scenario was magnified manifolds, from province to became a sovereign state, new dimensions were creped in, perception started changing,though value added politics was making its inroad to the political arena of Bangladesh overwhelmed with bright ideas, but at the same time with the backing of national & international pressure groups at the back door overriding social & political factors to dominate single handedly started squeezing in the society, weapon & use of weapon became a major factor to destabilize century old social values yet a national consensus on major & fundamental issues was in the offing which traditional AL leadership could not grasp it or comprehend it as a whole. Instead of building national unity galvanizing peoples support & good wishes they went all out to sort opposition & dissent voices & in the process bogged down in the quagmire of hidden politics. There is no doubt that during Mar’71 in particular onward & during the War of Liberation the charismatic leadership of Banga Bandhu charmed the whole world. But as he was physically absent from the battle field, after the Liberation, he was easily misled & was wrongly briefed about the conduct of the war & particularly about Mr. Tajuddin & Major Ziaur Rahman & Bangladesh military forces by the people, who hardly fought or even present physically in any of the battle fields. He was given an idea that it was the Indian Armed Forces who liberated Bangladesh. Although it was quite likely that with the passage of time Banga Bandhu must have had realized & could visualize the battle scenario but probably it was too late. In that ups & down situation AL failed to give national leadership as expected & could not cement the bond generated among the different participating forces under AL leadership during War of Liberation’71, primarily due to internal feud & conflict of interests & ideas within the AL higher echelon & became prisoner of its own forces & Khonder Mustaque, the dark horse within the AL hierarchy took the full advantage & exploited it to its fullest. And at an opportune moment in one stroke he got rid of Banga Bandhu’s family including Sk Moni (whom he used as a pawn during Liberation War & after, against Mr. Tajuddin) & four potential rivals of his, an inhuman crime Kh. Mustaque committed so that he could command the AL all by himself which ultimately he could not, as he was a born conspirator only rather than a leader to lead the nation, which in the absence of Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman only Tajuddin Ahmad could shoulder that huge responsibilities & carry the country to its cherished goal over coming all odds & challenges & if failed or stranded absentee Banga Bandhu & his name would have been there to rescue him & his Government. Till today it remains a day dream only due to our own follies. Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, BB Email:sejdach@gmail
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:40:09 +0000
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