A Modern History of Bangladesh

By Opy (Bangladesh)

It was August 14, 1947. Pakistan was declared an independent country, while India achieved its independence on August 15. People shouted "Azadi, Azadi!" after almost two hundred years of British rule. The long-awaited freedom had finally been achieved, and the British left the subcontinent. However, undivided India was now separated into two different countries—Pakistan and India (or Hindustan)—based on the Two-Nation Theory proposed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This theory, which left a scar in people's hearts, remains dormant but never completely vanished.

The name "Pakistan" itself indicated a country intended for Muslims, while "Hindustan" became the land of Hindus. Consequently, East Bengal (now Bangladesh), a Muslim-majority area despite being 1,500 miles away, became a province of Pakistan. During this partition, Muslims from West Bengal in India migrated to East Bengal, while Hindus from East Bengal moved to India, leaving behind their ancestral homes. This upheaval proved the fallacy of dividing a country solely based on religion when the Liberation War of 1971 started.

When the prey grasps power, they become hunters themselves. The anti-British movement and World War II compelled the British to leave the subcontinent. Once touted as the empire on which the sun never set, Britain's global dominance weakened after World War Two, allowing the United States to emerge as a new superpower. At this juncture, ruling India became increasingly difficult for the British. A new generation of patriots intensified the anti-British movement, leading to the eventual departure of the British.

However, the new rulers of Pakistan, the Urdu-speaking elites from West Pakistan, perpetuated the cycle of exploitation. The discrimination that once existed between colonizers and the colonized, whites and browns, now took on a new guise—between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking elites. Urdu, the language of the elites, was imposed on the Bengali people. A series of movements fostered the belief in Bengali nationalism. Despite being the economic stronghold, East Pakistan had never been treated equally. Isn't it the same history we observed during British rule?Though religion was shared, the culture, customs, and language were never the same as those of the Urdu-speaking elites.

A small flicker of independence, a hope for an independent nation, ignited after the language movement of 1952. The West Pakistani, Urdu-speaking rulers attacked the mother tongue of the Bengalis by insisting that Urdu be the only state language of Pakistan, despite 56% of the population being Bengali. This led to the Language Movement of February 21, 1952. The success of this movement strengthened the belief in Bengali nationalism. Then came the unfair election of 1954, where West Pakistani conspiracies prevented the Bengali winners from forming a government. Military rule began, and the series of movements continued, including the Six-Point Movement of 1966 and the Mass Upsurge of 1969 against the military rule of General Ayub Khan. Ayub Khan fell from power, and Yahya Khan became president, promising an election. The long-awaited election of 1970 resulted in a victory for the Bengali people. The Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won the election. However, the Pakistani elites refused to recognize the election result, leading to riots and unrest in East Pakistan. The "Oshohojog Andolon" or Non-Cooperation Movement officially started after the historic speech at the Racecourse on March 7, 1971. The name Bangladesh was used for East Pakistan for the first time, symbolizing the land of the Bengalis.

Soon after the speech, President Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto met with Sheikh Mujib, not to solve the problems but to bring the Pakistani military into the area for Operation Searchlight. On March 25, 1971, the cruelest genocide in the country's history took place, aiming to stop the movements. More than seven thousand students from Dhaka University and innocent people were killed that night. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh after midnight via wireless media before being arrested. A war broke out—the Liberation War—an unfair conflict between a strong military and the innocent people of Bangladesh.

The Mukti Bahini was formed, and students, workers, and people of all ages and classes joined to fight. During Bangladesh's weakest times, India helped by providing refuge to millions and training freedom fighters. After a bloody war and the sacrifice of millions of lives, a new country named Bangladesh was born.

Do the scars of a war ever heal? They remain. Generation after generation, we carry these scars. These scars repeat history; the history of oppression repeats again and again. What are the reasons that oppressed people become oppressors themselves after achieving power? We have observed this closely: when the British were the oppressors, the difference between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking people wasn't as intense as the discrimination between whites and browns. However, after grasping power, people changed, their vows faded away, and they started to act like the previous oppressors. Is it power that turns the prey into hunters, or is it the very nature of human beings? Or are the reasons rooted in the scars left by the oppressors, binding us in a loop of oppressed and oppressor?