‘One Unit Bill’ সম্পর্কে বাঙ্গালীর অবস্থান স্পষ্ট করলেন বঙ্গবন্ধু
২১ সেপ্টেম্বর ১৯৫৫
করাচী
The constituent assembly of Pakistan:
Sir, I can give through you a warning at this stage in regard to the integration of Karachi into West Pakistan. I am coming from Dacca after addressing a public meeting of 60 thousand people in Paltan Maidan and there I have seen the determination of the common people; they are not at all prepared to allow Karachi to be included in the One-Unit. I met in Dacca the man in the street, the poorest people I have met there and I know how to mix up with them. I am also a poor man from East Bengal; I am a poor Sheikh and I know what their feelings are about Karachi. They have said that if you are going to sacrifice Karachi and merge it into One-Unit province, we are not going to tolerate it. If, on the contrary, you feel that the people are behind it, then I would throw a challenge to the Honourable Members on the other side of the House to hold the four bye-elections in Dacca on this issue. Let us test the popularity of Mr. Fazlul Huq on this issue. And, I am sure, sir, Fazlul Haq’s party will face a very unfortunate defeat there in East Bengal.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, you must give me another two minutes for these interruptions.
I tell you, sir, that on this issue of Karachi Whether it should be included in the West Pakistan Province or not, you must hold your four bye-elections in East Bengal and you will see the result. I even ask Mr. Fazlul Huq to resign and fight his own election from any constituency in Dacca City on this issue, and he will be defeated. You know the result of Natore and Balurghat bye-elections in which Mr. Fazlul Huq’s nominee got only 800 votes out of 10 thousand votes. Why should he forget all these things now? These are historical facts. Now, Sir, it is the demand of the people of East Bengal that if you are going to merge Karachi into West Pakistan then the capital should be shifted to Dhaka. They are prepared to give the whole of Dacca to the Federation of Pakistan people in West Pakistan have been accusing East Pakistanis that they want to be out of Pakistan. I tell you, Sir that we form the major portion of Pakistan, we are 56 per cent and we are more Pakistani than anybody else. If, however, the people of West Pakistan do not want to remain with us, well the course is left open for them. We, on our side, are true Pakistanis and we have suffered much more than anybody else for the cause of the establishment of Pakistan. It was on account of Bengal that Pakistan was created. We will not go out of it after having sacrificed all that we had. Bengal will not even think of that. I know our people are suffering immensely on account of various things; they are starving and dying. But people in West Pakistan have not suffered much for the cause of Pakistan and therefore they cannot appreciate our viewpoint.
Reference:
Iqbal, S. (1997) Sheikh Mujib in Parliament (1955-58), p. 18-29, Dhaka, Agami Prakashani
বঙ্গবন্ধুর ভাষণ সমগ্র, Farzana Yeasmine Aparajita, Dr Md Razibul Bari