Wikipedia

Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League

(Redirected from BAKSAL)
For the party established in 1983 with the same name, see Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (1983–1991).

The Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ, lit. 'Bangladesh Worker-Peasant's People's League'; BaKSAL/বাকশাল) was a political front comprising the Bangladesh Awami League, the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the National Awami Party (Muzaffar) and Bangladesh Jatiya League.[1]

Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League
বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ
Bangladesh Peasants' Workers' People's League
AbbreviationBaKSAL
LeaderSheikh Mujibur Rahman
FounderSheikh Mujibur Rahman
Founded24 February 1975
Dissolved15 August 1975
Merger ofAL
CPB
NAP(M)
BJL
HeadquartersDhaka
IdeologyMujibism
Second Revolution

Following the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, enacted on 25 January 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed BaKSAL on 24 February.[2] A presidential order also outlawed all political parties other than BaKSAL, creating a state of emergency and obligating other parties to join the front.[3]

The party advocated for democratic socialism as a part of reforms under the theory of the Second Revolution, which BaKSAL worked to achieve the objectives of.[4]

BaKSAL was dissolved after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975.[5] As a result, all the political parties that merged with BaKSAL became independent again.

Background

edit

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (also known as Mujibur) and the Awami League won a landslide victory in the 1973 Bangladeshi general election. However, Mujibur had difficulties with fighting corruption in his own government and the increase in leftism caused by the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. In the face of growing unrest, on 28 December 1974, Mujibur declared a state of emergency.[6] He pushed the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution through Parliament on 25 January 1975. The amendment was passed in the Parliament unanimously. It dissolved all political parties, including the ruling party, the Awami League, and gave Mujibur the authority to form the Bangladesh Krishak Shramik Awami League (shortened as 'BaKSAL'), which would become the national party of Bangladesh.[7] The party was designed to overhaul the administrative system of Bangladesh to make it people-oriented. BaKSAL had similarities with the National Union Party's formation in the United States, which occurred at the height of the American Civil War.

Formation

edit

BaKSAL was formed by Mujibur on 24 February 1975,[8][9] and it officially replaced the nation's other political organizations and associations on 1 September 1975; other political organizations were banned afterwards. All MPs and political parties were required to join the party; any MP who missed a parliamentary session, abstained, or failed to vote with the party would lose their seat.[10] As a result, most Awami League politicians and others from different parties joined BaKSAL; however, the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, Purbo Bangla Sammobadi Dal-Marxbadi-Leninbadi (East Bengal Communist Party Marxist–Leninist), East Pakistan Communist Party, and Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist) did not join.[8] Civilian government employees, professionals, and trade union leaders were also compelled to join the party.[8]

President Mujibur Rahman, BaKSAL's chairman, appointed a fifteen-member executive committee, a 120-member central committee, and five front organizations, namely, Jatiya Krishak League, Jatiya Sramik League, Jatiya Mahila League, Jatiya Juba League, and Jatiya Chhatra League (peasants, workers, women, youth, and students respectively) for the party.[11] All members of the executive committee and central committee were appointed as ministers.

Executive committee

edit
  1. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Chairman)
  2. Syed Nazrul Islam (Vice-Chairman)
  3. Muhammad Mansur Ali (Secretary General)
  4. Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman
  5. Abdul Mannan
  6. Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad
  7. Abdul Malek Ukil
  8. Professor M. Yousuf Ali
  9. Manaranjan Dhar
  10. Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury
  11. Sheikh Abdul Aziz
  12. Mohiuddin Ahmed
  13. Gazi Golam Mostafa
  14. Zillur Rahman
  15. Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani
  16. Abdur Razzaq

Central Committee

edit
  1. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
  2. Syed Nazrul Islam
  3. Muhammad Mansur Ali
  4. Abdul Mannan
  5. Abdul Malik Ukil
  6. Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad
  7. A.H.M Kamaruzzaman
  8. Kazi Linchon
  9. Mahmudullah
  10. Abdus Samad Azad
  11. M. Yousuf Ali
  12. Phani Bhushan Majumder
  13. Kamal Hossain
  14. Muhammad Sohrab Hossain
  15. Abdur Rab Serniabat
  16. Manaranjan Dhar
  17. Abdul Matin
  18. Asaduzzanan
  19. Md Korban Ali
  20. Dr. Azizul Rahman Mallik
  21. Dr. Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury
  22. Tofael Ahmed
  23. Shah Moazzam Hossain
  24. Abdul Momin Talukdar
  25. Dewan Farid Gazi
  26. Professor Nurul Islam Choudhry
  27. Taheruddin Thakur
  28. Moslemuddin Khan
  29. Professor Abu Sayeed
  30. Nurul Islam Manzur
  31. KM Obaidur Rahman
  32. Dr. Khitish Chandra Mandal
  33. Reazuddin Ahmad
  34. M. Baitullah
  35. Rahul Quddus (Secretary)
  36. Zillur Rahman
  37. Mohiuddin Ahmad MP
  38. Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani
  39. Abdur Razzaq
  40. Sheikh Shahidul Islam
  41. Anwar Choudhry
  42. Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury
  43. Taslima Abed
  44. Abdur Rahim
  45. Abdul Awal
  46. Lutfur Rahman
  47. A.K. Muzibur Rahman
  48. Dr. Mofiz Choudhry
  49. Dr. Alauddin Ahammad
  50. Dr. Ahsanul Haq
  51. Raushan Ali
  52. Azizur Rahman Akkas
  53. Sheikh Abdul Aziz
  54. Salahuddin Yusuf
  55. Michael Sushil Adhikari
  56. Kazi Abdul Hakim
  57. Mollah Jalaluddin
  58. Shamsuddin Mollah
  59. Gour Chandra Bala
  60. Gazi Ghulam Mustafa
  61. Shamsul Haq
  62. Shamsuzzoha
  63. Rafiqueuddin Bhuiya
  64. Syed Ahmad
  65. Shamsur Rahman Khan Shahjahan
  66. Nurul Haq
  67. Kazi Zahirul Qayyum
  68. Capt.(Retd) Sujjat Ali
  69. M.R. Siddiqui
  70. MA Wahab
  71. Chittaranjan Sutar,
  72. Sayeda Razia Banu
  73. Ataur Rahman Khan
  74. Khandakar Muhammad Illyas
  75. Mong Pru Saire
  76. Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury
  77. Ataur Rahman
  78. Pir Habibur Rahman
  79. Syed Altaf Hossain
  80. Muhammad Farhad
  81. Matia Chowdhury
  82. Hazi Danesh
  83. Taufiq Inam (Secretary)
  84. Nurul Islam (Secretary)
  85. Fayezuddin Ahmed (Secretary)
  86. Mahbubur Rahman (Secretary)
  87. Abdul Khaleque
  88. Muzibul Haq (Secretary)
  89. Abdur Rahim (Secretary)
  90. Moinul Islam (Secretary)
  91. Sayeeduzzaman (Secretary)
  92. Anisuzzaman (Secretary)
  93. Dr. A. Sattar (Secretary)
  94. M.A Samad (Secretary)
  95. Abu Tahir (Secretary)
  96. Al Hossaini (Secretary)
  97. Dr Tajul Hossain (Secretary)
  98. Motiur Rahman. Chairman of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh
  99. Maj. Gen K.M. Safiullah
  100. Air Vice Marshal Abdul Karim Khandker
  101. Commodore M.H. Khan
  102. Maj Gen. Khalilur Rahman
  103. A.K. Naziruddin Ahmed
  104. Dr. Abdul Matin Chowdhury
  105. Dr. Mazharul Islam
  106. Dr. Sramul Haq
  107. Badal Ghosh
  108. ATM Syed Hossain
  109. Nurul Islam
  110. Dr. Nilima Ibrahim
  111. Dr. Nurul Islam PG Hospital
  112. Obaidul Huq Editor Observer
  113. Anwar Hossain Manju Editor Ittefaq
  114. Mizanur Rahman Editor Bangladesh Press International
  115. Manawarul Islam
  116. Abu Thaer Bhuiyan
  117. Auritro Shayel
  118. Brig. A. N. M. Nuruzzaman DG Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini
  119. Kamruzzaman teachers Association
  120. Dr. Mazhar Ali Kadri

Activities

edit

Regulations originating from BaKSAL included the promulgation of the Newspaper Ordinance (June 1975; Annulment of Declaration). Under this, the declarations of all but four state-owned newspapers, the Dainik Bangla, Bangladesh Observer, The Daily Ittefaq, and Bangladesh Times, were annulled and banned. The intention of the annulment was to bring all news media under temporary governmental control as a means of combating the smuggling and black market of newspaper, which prevented Bangladesh from exporting the paper to foreign countries, cutting off revenue[citation needed] that could have helped prevent the Bangladesh famine of 1974.

In another effort to decentralize authority, 61 district governors were appointed with training for governorship—a new development in the history of Bangladesh. Local elections were also peaceful and free. In the 1975 Kishorganj local election, a schoolteacher won against the nephew of Syed Nazrul Islam, a leader of BakSAL at the time.

Party in the same name

edit

Although BaKSAL was put into effect during September 1975, the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members eventually led to the party's dissolution. However, another party participated in the 1986 and 1991 general elections in the same name; in 1986, the party's symbol was a boat, while it was a bicycle in 1991. The party acted independently until the 1990s, when almost all of its party leaders left the organization to join the Bangladesh Awami League.[12]

Legacy

edit

In the 1974 Far Eastern Economic Review, Lawrence Lifschultz wrote how Bangladeshis thought that "the corruption and malpractices and plunder of national wealth" were "unprecedented" during Mujibur's governance.[13] Some of BakSAL's goals were adopted by successors of Mujibur such as President Ziaur Rahman, who worked against JASAD (Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal) and decreased the liberal sentiment in the country.[citation needed]

References

edit
  1. ^ Rono, Haider Akbar Khan (2010). Śatābdī pēriẏē শতাব্দী পেরিয়ে (in Bengali). Taraphadara prakashani. p. 335. ISBN 978-984-779-027-5.
  2. ^ Ahmed, Moudud (1984) [First published 1983]. Bangladesh: Era of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 245. ISBN 3-515-04266-0.
  3. ^ "SHEIK MUJIB GETS TOTAL AUTHORITY OVER BANGLADESH". The New York Times. 26 January 1975. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Bangladesh: The Second Revolution". Time. 10 February 1975. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Bangabandhu: a forbidden name for 16yrs". The Daily Star. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  6. ^ "State of emergency announced in Dacca". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. 29 December 1974. p. 6A. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Mujib names his Govt". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press-Reuter. 28 January 1975. p. 4. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Khan, Zillur R. (2001). "From Mujib to Zia, Elite Politics in Bangladesh". In Ahmed, Rafiuddin (ed.). Religion, Identity & Politics: Essays on Bangladesh. International Academic Publishers. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-1-58868-081-5. ... landslide victory of the Awami League in the 1973 elections ... [those] who were earlier inspired by the charisma of Sheikh Mujib grew increasingly restive in view of what they viewed as widespread corruption ... making it mandatory for members of parliament to join the single national party, called the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL), if they wanted to retain their seats ... most Awami Leaguers, and many others from the other parties, decided to join the BaKSAL. Between Mujib's BaKSAL and total political oblivion, few were left with any choice ... All higher bureaucrats, professional people and trade union leaders were urged to join.
  9. ^ "'Second Revolution' Is Sham: No Real Change Seen in Bangladesh". The Capital Times. Madison, Wisconsin. Los Angeles Times News Service. 28 February 1975. p. 6. Retrieved 4 January 2016 – via newspaperarchive.com.  
  10. ^ "One man, one party govern Bangladesh". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 January 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 4 January 2016 – via news.google.com.
  11. ^ Maniruzzaman, Talukder (February 1976). "Bangladesh in 1975: The Fall of the Mujib Regime and Its Aftermath". Asian Survey. 16 (2). University of California Press: 119–129. doi:10.2307/2643140. JSTOR 2643140.
  12. ^ "Near East & South Asia: Bangladesh" (PDF). JPRS Report. 1: 10. 12 September 1991. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Tread Warily to the Dream". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 8 February 2010.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bangladesh_Krishak_Sramik_Awami_League&oldid=1252582649"