Awami League is not a bogus organization. The name of this party is closely associated with the name of independent Bangladesh. The contribution of Bangladesh Awami League in every aspect of the country including language movement of 1952, united front of 1954, six-point movement of 1966, popular-Overthrow of 1979, general election of Pakistan in 1970, independence movement of 1971 is undeniable.
The 'East Pakistan Awami Muslim League' was founded on 23 June 1949 at the Rose
Garden Palace, KM Das Lane Road, Tikatuli, Dhaka by a conference of sections of
the then Bengal Provincial Muslim League led by Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy and
Abul Hashem, with Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani of Tangail as its president
and general secretary Tangail Shamsul Haque. Over time, qualified and famous
political figures were the leaders of the party.
Awami League had a great reputation in intellectual politics in the Indian
subcontinent. But today's Awami League does not have a single thinker and
organizer like Shamsul Haque-Tajuddin. A large part of those who work in the
research office of this group are fat headed and money greedy. They are ready
to turn night into day and day into night for greed of money.
We have seen that the notification has just been published, the 'Manarat
International University' founded by the late intellectual legend of Jamaat islami Shah Abdul Hannan has been taken
over by the Awami League. Allegations that the university intervened were
termed as hotbeds of militancy. But they could not present any sign of
militancy there before the nation. If they wanted, they could have done it like
the police putting marijuana in the pocket of a passer-by; This is a normal
phenomenon in Bengali politics. By not doing so, the people of Bengal
understood that it was political revenge as they were forcibly occupied.
"International Islamic University Chittagong" has been occupied by
the same pretext before. In fact, Awami League did not take over these
universities to stop the ideal practice of Jamaat, but some leaders of Awami
League did such a despicable job due to lack of money. The Jamaat was more
concerned with money than establishing a university as a field of ideal
practice. If the government wanted to stop the practice of Jamaat's ideals, it
would have taken over the primary, secondary and higher secondary educational
institutions established by Jamaat. Because Jamaat mainly works to brainwash
small children. Once the foundation of Jamaat ideology is formed in the head of
a child, it cannot be uprooted. Even after occupying a thousand universities
like Manarat, no ideology can be raised against that ideal. The ideology of
Jamaat seems to be very strong. All political parties, including Awami League,
have no choice but to practice good ideals to wipe out Jamaat islami in this
country.
Although Awami League talks about the cherished ideals of Bangabandhu, the
party has now passed into the hands of businessmen. They are picking their own
sugarcane for the sake of ideology. If the Awami League falls, they will sit on
the back of another party again. The future of Awami League is very worried.
Awami League says that Bangladesh will not lose its way if it is in the hands
of Sheikh Hasina. Sheikh Hasina is uncontested but no one is working to sustain
the existence of Awami League after Sheikh Hasina's death.
There is no alternative to the intellectual work of Awami League. And Awami
League has no power to stand in front of Jamaat if they want to keep Awami
League alive with the help of these person whose are like Shamim Osman-Shomrat.
The Awami League cannot be trusted because golden people like Bangabandhu were
martyred by the powerless Awami League. Sheikh Hasina does not seem to trust
any kind of leader. So he is advancing as a single leader. However, how much
single leadership is detrimental to the team will emerge in a short time.
Awami League has become so dependent on a single leadership that the current
Awami government or Awami League party refers to Sheikh Hasina alone. Sheikh
Hasina, as the head of the party and the government, has to keep track of the
pulse of the country and the party. As soon as he was inactive for some time,
the interjections and commotion started. He has to solve all the problems of
the country and the party alone. A few days ago, we saw that neither the
administration nor the official of the government party had the competence and
knowledge to resolve the tea workers movement in Sylhet. The
workers-owners-administration sat in the round table for discussions, but in
the end the matter had to be resolved by Sheikh Hasina's hands. Sheikh Hasina's
government has a cabinet but all the ministers depend on the Prime Minister for
decisions. No one has the ability to make an independent bully about his
ministry. As a result, Awami League is disappearing far from intellectual
politics.
The history of Awami League is bright in the practice of democratic party
politics and intellectual politics. Where there is no practice of democracy in
the party, how will democracy come to the country? The Awami of Maulana and
Bangabandhu did not have to face such questions. The committee of Awami League
which was formed on June 23, 1949 did not adopt the democratic system. All
together gave Maulana Bhasani the task of forming the committee. The committee
made by Maulana was so organized and well thought out that no one commented on
it. Everyone was greeted with a smile. Young leader Sheikh Mujib was appointed
acting general secretary in the council of Awami League in 1952 and became the
full general secretary in the council meeting of 1953. Since then, he has been
working full-time to expand the party to the grassroots. The foundation of
Awami League that we see today was formed at that time. Committees of Awami
League were also formed at the union level. No other party had such a scope,
and still does not. Sheikh Mujib was the General Secretary of Awami League for
13 years from 1953 to 1966. This record of being the general secretary of a
party for so long is still unbroken. Political parties in this country revolve
around the president. But as long as
Sheikh Mujib was the general secretary of the party, he actually ran the party.
He was the lifeblood of the party. Two things are very important here—the
responsibility of the General Secretary and his personality. The combination of
these two was not seen in any general secretary in the later period. Now the
post of General Secretary is just a formality. Sheikh Mujib thought that if the
party formed the government, then the government would run on the instructions
of the party. In 1956-58, there was a provincial government led by Awami League
in this country for several terms. The party had control over the government
then. There was a provision in the constitution of Awami League, if he becomes
a government minister, he has to leave the party post. Accepting this
provision, Sheikh Mujib resigned from the post of Minister of the Provincial
Government in 1957. Today's Awami League has come so far in return for all
those sacrifices of Bangabandhu.
Obaidul Quader, the current general secretary, always relies on Sheikh Hasina
whenever a deep question is asked. Sheikh Hasina is the head of the government
as the head of the party. General Secretary Obaidul Quader is also an
influential minister of the Council of Ministers. If the current Awami League
cannot make the party and the head of the government separate, then the Awami
League has no future. One of the signs of which is the misspelling of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary celebration banner. Where Sheikh Hasina has to
correct the spelling mistakes, there is nothing to say about the poor condition
of Awami League's intellectual politics.
writer,
Muhammad
Easin Taha
Essayist and columnist.
Email- tohaarafat1998@gmail.com
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