Man with 70 million Bengalis on his mind
From Peter Hazelhurst
Delhi. Dec 12
Mr Tajudddin Ahmed the Prime Minister of Bangla Desh will emerge as the leader of the second largest Muslim and the eight most population country in the world when East Bengal attains its independence.
One of Shaikh Mujibur Rahman’s most trusted lieutenants. Mr Ahmed held the posts of organizing secretary and general secretary in the Awami League before fleeing to Calcutta on March 26 to establish the provisional government of BanglaDesh in exile.
Born in an outlying village of Dacca in 1925, he graduated with honors in economics at Dacca University in 1946 and later completed his law degree while in jail as a political prisoner.
He first entered politics as a student leader in the early 1940s. when he joined the Muslim league, which ironically, was fighting at the demand for the partition of Bengal and the formation of Pakistan.
Shortly after indepdence, however, Mr Ahmed severed connections with the Muslim league and in 1949 joined the Awami League, which was ultimately to becomes the spearhead of the Bengalis demand’s for greater autonomy and subsequently independence.
Mr Ahmed’s initial act of resistance against West Pakistan rule was in 1952 when religious Zealots in the western wing first alienated the eastern province by attempting to foist the Urdu language on the Bengali’s in the name of Islam.
During the subsequent language resistance movement, Mr. Ahmed became a fervent Bengali nationalist. In the next decade his antipathy for the West Pakistanis developed to such a degree that he was considered to be the real hawk behind the demand for outright independence when Shaikh Mujib was attempting to negotiate a political solution with the West Pakistanis within the framework of a federation.
It is now well known that several of Mr Ahmed’s Cabinet colleagues wanted to reach a political accommodation with the West Pakistanis during the past eight months, but it was the emotional Prime Minister who was adamant that he would accept nothing but complete independence.
In his early career in politics Mr Ahmed served as the general secretary of the Dacca district Awami League from 1953 until 1957. He was selected in 1955 as social and cultural secretary of the East Pakistan Awami League.
In terms of political thinking, Mr Ahmed is essentially a nationalist without any firm commitment to ideology. Like Sheikh Mujib he believes in parliamentary democracy but whether he is capable of welding his government and 70 million Bengalis together without the charisma of Sheikh Mujib remains an extremely doubtful question.
Reference: The Guardian, 13 December, 1971