Bangabandhu's Six Points: Nation's Magna Carta

 
The emergence of Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign country holds a special and extraordinary spot in the history of other Asian countries. Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971 is different from the story of the independence of India or Pakistan from the colonial ruling authorities. Most of the previously colonized countries became independent through armed struggles or as a result of decolonization following World War II but Bangladesh achieved liberation on the basis a combination of lingual distinctions, democratic upheavals and taking up arms against the occupation forces. This is why the legacy of independent Bangladesh is an outstanding one.

The advent, esteem and existence of Bengalis began to be jeopardized under the jackboot of Pakistan's state mechanism back in 1947. The Pakistan government imposed the autocratic ruling system of so-called Presidential basic democracy on the masses of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Pakhtun, Baluchistan, Sindh etcetera. As a result people's liberty to grow as individual nations came under severe impediments. It led to extreme difficulties in waging democratic movements under Pakistan's despotic ruling top brass.

Despondency engulfed the democracy-loving people when military dictator Ayub Khan became Pakistan President quite predictably through the 1965 elections held in line with the state machineries of basic democracy. During the same period the India-Pakistan war added a new dimension to Pakistan's political turf. However, a peace accord was signed between India and Pakistan in Tashkent. Everyone in West Pakistan discarded this peace accord but the architect of Bengali people's visions and interests Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his party Awami League welcomed this peace treaty back then. Sheikh Mujib stated quite categorically that East Pakistan was absolutely undefended during the war. East Pakistan was saved from this war just because of India's blessings.

Uncompromising political fighter Sheikh Mujib decided to capitalize on the unequal war between India and Pakistan that broke out in 1965. Democratic quarters joined a convention in Lahore in February 1966 on the backdrop of the Tashkent Peace Accord. The objective of this convention was to formulate strategies to fight against Ayub Khan's repressive regime. Sheikh Mujib got hold of an opportunity to chalk out a distinctive and uncommon set of political programs to consolidate the honour and democratic rights of the Bengali people in light of the Lahore Convention which was held in February 1966. Sheikh Mujib put forward six specific points as an outline for the autonomy of East Pakistan which he termed "Six-Point Movement" coming back to Dhaka.

However, Ayub Khan's servile stalwarts including Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, Monem Khan, Sabur Khan, Kazi Mahabuddin, Nasrullah Khan, Mahmud Ali Kasuri, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Moududi and Golam Azam heated up the political front with intensified opposition and acute criticism aimed at maligning the Six-Point declaration. Simultaneously, Ayub Khan said that he would deal with the situation in the language of weapons. The opponents of the Six-Point Movement named it a naked separatist script. Even leftist leader Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani also viewed the Six Points as a conspiracy plotted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America to fortify the US government's grip on South Asia. Mawlana Bhashani went on to say that Sheikh Mujib was America's broker. Government officials and other opponents named Sheikh Mujib an agent serving the interest of India. Everyone became panicked over the Six Points Movement except National Awami Party (NAP), also known as Mozaffar NAP, which followed the ideology of Moscow. It appeared to be the fact that as if the ghost of Sheikh Mujib's Six Points started haunting all his political antagonists.

Some senior Awami League leaders disagreed with the Six Points but in the same year on 13 March Awami League Executive Committee approved the proposals of the Six Points in a meeting.

Sheikh Mujib spearheaded an enthusiastic political campaign with his young and spirited coworkers to deliver the message of the Six Points Movement to the people all over the country. In this way the desire for an independent and self-reliant landscape belonging to the Bengali people began to be shaped up on the basis of Bengali nationalism buttressed by the Six-Point Movement.

Some countries in the Middle East failed to build up federal state system during 1960s. Federal state system existed in the United States of America, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia but afterwards federal state system collapsed in Soviet Union and Yugoslavia which is a proven instance in history. The USA was the only country in the west at that time that could retain the federal state system. The USA has a long tradition of their language, cultural heritage, theological sensibility and a legacy of struggle for independence. The Americans succeeded to build up an effective democracy through a long and time-consuming process. India has been able to sustain their federal state system due to their undivided cultural creeds and customs while another reason is India has been able to construct a sustainable democratic ruling system though it has a few shortcomings. The European Union was founded following the example of Indian democracy.

The principal aim of the historic Six Points was nothing but a framework to achieve Bangladesh's independence in a peaceful way but the Pakistani rulers hatched a heinous plot to eliminate Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman forever by resorting to the Agartala Conspiracy Case. Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman actually raised the Six-Point program to liberate the people of Bangladesh from the tyrannical governance of West Pakistan. The Six Points were utilized to constitute people's mindset through a methodical democratic uprising. For this reason the intrigue cooked up to implicate Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with the Agartala Conspiracy Case failed to convince the people of Bangladesh. Rather the general masses stood by Bangabandhu with firm determination while Bangabandhu chose the pathway of an uncompromising combat.

Bangabandhu succeeded to achieve people's mandate through his Six Points. At the same time he renamed East Pakistan 'Bangladesh' on 5 December 1969 which drove the people's patriotic zeal forward. It also inspired the people across Bangladesh to spontaneously participate in the glorious Liberation War of 1971 which was an outcome of Bangabandhu's visionary Six-Point Movement. The Six-Point Movement also assisted Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to build up a de facto statehood and to form a government following 7 March 1971.

All the aspects of Bangabandhu's Six Points were aimed at highlighting the indispensability of liberating Bangladesh. For this reason we would term the decisive Six-Point Movement as a Magna Carta for Bengalis and an evidential document and catalyst on Bangladesh's long walk to freedom.

RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury is Housing and Public Works Minister of Bangladesh government and a heroic freedom fighter.