MY PILGRIMAGE TO TANGAIL TO VIEW THE FAMED BHASANI HUT Abid Bahar (Adapted from Abid Bahar's book: BHASANI AND THE BIRTH OF BANGLADESH) Soon I recognized that Bashani was a political leader who with the other leaders of his time shaped the politics of the subcontinent in general and Bengal and Bangladesh in particular. Bashani was born in British Bengal in the later part of the 19th century in the remote Pabna district of present day Bangladesh. He was a Sufi religious mystic and a peasant leader. While most leaders with the change in fortune turned from rural living into the status of Calcutta babus, all his life Bhasani lived like a Brngali rural peasant. He fought against the British, against Pakistani military leadership and in the independent Bangladesh he always supported Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who had been his political associate but not surprisingly disapproved Bangabandu's one party BKSAL politics. Among many of his accomplishments, Bhasani played a very important role during the 70's in the liberation war of Bangladesh in which I was also directly involved. Ironically, I never knowingly attended his political meetings personally, although I was aware of his activities through the media. I remember in 1967, once I was on my way to Kanungopara College in Chittagong to meet a family member, I saw Bashani at a close range. I saw him speaking at a meeting of rural peasants from a podium by the side of a rural road. I still remember that I was a curious passerby drawn to the thunderous noise coming from the roadside gathering where I saw him, then already an old man, speaking to the rural peasants. From his outfit and appearance he looked like a rural Bengali peasant, talking with a very angry face, his teeth partially out. I remember that before this encounter, I didn't know who he was. I inquired about the name of this person. I didn't then even in my dreams know that the life of this person was going to be my topic of great interest. I would have forgotten both his name and this incident had I not remembered the very angry look in his face and his teeth, that seemed almost about to bite something or somebody. That was my first impression of a political leader who could be very angry about something I did not know and I didn't want to enquire about at that time. Without understanding the depth of the matter, I remember, I left the place to my journey's end. Later, I came to know of Bashani's political activities but neither as a researcher nor as a follower of him. Before I began research, like many other Bengalis, I remained indifferent to his political appeals, though acknowledging with respect that he was one of the leading catalysts for change in the region. My research on the life of Bhasani began in the summer of 1989, by now, Bashani was dead and the dust had started to settle down and some research had been done on him. My proficiency in Bengali, the language Bashani used in his communications made my job easier. During the 80's as a faculty in a Bangladeshi university teaching the Social History of Bengal also served me with a useful foil to work on this topic. As I began my research in Dhaka, I had scheduled meeting Nasir Bashani, Bashani's son who was a former Minister in the Bangladeshi government. I also met Mostaque Ahamed, former AL/ BKSAL Minister and later the president of Bangladesh (I found Mostaque a very unpleasant personality.) I met many other Bhasani associates and followers including Kazi Zaffor. In the process, I have recorded some general oral history about Bhasani. Most of my interviewees did not provide much help but they all informed me that I should go to Santosh village of Tangail where Bashani lived in a hut "that is still there." Santosh is about 30 kilometers from Dhaka. I, along with my local guide, left for Santosh by bus through quite rugged streets (at the time of Ershed's regime in power) and often had to stand for hours hanging on the handle from the ceiling in a packed bus, sometimes feeling like I was suspended in the mid air. In addition, twice we had to wait and change to another bus. As it was becoming quite hectic, the feeling of discomfort and fatigue soon started to show. This was perhaps because I had gotten used to Canadian comfort. Finally after about an agonizing 6 hours off and on journey, I finally arrived in Santosh. As I approached the town, I looked for the hut but instead noticed from a distance the top of a huge building with a tomb. My guide said, that is where Bashani lived. For a moment, I felt as if my guide was as inexperienced as I was since I was sure that it could not be a hut. But my guide cleared my confusion saying that it was Bashani's newly built mausoleum. True, they had transformed his graveyard into a mausoleum. I felt disheartened, believing the original hut had been destroyed. As I approached near, I saw many would be his followers visiting his mausoleum. But not far from the mausoleum, I noticed a hut. I thought I had finally found what I wanted to find for my research: the hut where Bashani lived. To my great satisfaction, I collected some books on him, conducted some quick interviews with his colleagues and took some pictures of the hut and happily back to Canada. As I continued my work in Canada, I realized that I had not gathered enough to finish my research. However, I continued collecting secondary materials and kept up contacts with his followers in Bangladesh and abroad. During this time many Bashani followers launched an international campaign to fight against the Indian Farakka dam over the Ganges River. While Bhasani fought for the independence of Bangladesh and appreciated Indian help, when India began its water aggression against Bangladesh, Bashani initiated the protest march against this Indian dam project. It is to note that the impact of the Farakka dam devastated one quarter of Bangladesh in the southwest. As luck would have it, I was asked by some of his followers from New York to take an important leadership position in the lobbying campaign by the International Farakka Committee against the dam. As an environmental issue, I devoted some time to this through writing in newspapers, leading protest marches, touring Bangladesh and doing press conferences in Dhaka, Chittagong and in Tangail Press club. Many of the Bhasani followers believed that I, like many of them, was a Bashani supporter and some suggested I should also take an important position in Bashani's National Awami League (NAP) party work which I politely declined at the expense of their displeasure. The more I tried to convince them of my role, the more displeasure it caused them. Many of them are still angry with me and could not understand why, despite my role in the Farakka movement, I declined such a position. In my mind, I was not a Bashani's NAP party follower but principally a researcher who also had a chance to work in this great environmental cause initiated by Bashani. Fortunately, before it became a serious issue between us, my research was already done. Despite the misunderstandings, in the process of this close association (which I honestly appreciate,) I was able to collect important documents about Bashani, that otherwise would have been impossible to obtain. I made a second trip to Bangladesh in 1995 to renew my contacts, to verify the already formulated hypothesis about the ideological basis of Bashani's political leadership and to obtain additional information on my topic. I found the second trip more comfortable. I lived in a bungalow in Santosh over a week. This was thanks to Azizur Rahman, a civil servant, and a friend of mine who by now had become an important government official and was the former president of the Bashani Trust. I noticed how within about 8 years after my first trip, the place had turned into a small "temple city". It had become something of a pilgrimage center with the mausoleum and the hut still there as the centerpiece. Contact through Rahman also helped me to procure important documents. I also could easily make contact with Irfanul Bari, the former editor of Bashani's weekly Hoq Khota, and Mohammed Hossain, an associate of Bashani and also with Siddiqur Rahman, the former Bashani associate and the caretaker of the mausoleum. During this time, at the Tangail press club, the daily Deshkhata hearing my presence in the town interviewed me about our lobbying activities in USA and Canada. I took advantage of the bungalow to complete this "deluxe tour" - with my guide Kamal - to learn about Bhasani from Bhasani's family members, the Sufi Sagrits and the other close associates. I was also taken inside the hut, by the son-in-law of Bashani. I had a tour of the huge darbar hall (the bungalow style house) made of bamboo where he did jikr (meditation) with his disciples and settled disputes among people. Not far from it was the Bashani museum where artifacts were kept. I was taken to the Zamindars palace, which by now became the abode of supposedly harmless snakes. In 1996, I went to Bangladesh for a third time to find additional information. By now I realized that my long years of engagement with this project initially suggested by Dr. Sheila McDonough truly exhausted me. She had inspired me to understand this rare personality not known to most Bangladeshis but born in Bangladesh and for his selfless life style she called "the Gandhi of Bangladesh." As a scholar on South Asia, Dr. McDonough had written books on Gandhi, Jinnah, and Iqbal and singled out Bhasani as the leader whose life she thought should be researched. Throughout the time I was working on Bhasani's life, I kept in my mind what McDonough suggested in her book, Gandhi's Response to Islam, "In ... [doing research], we ... consider respect an important element in the attitude researchers should take when approaching religious phenomenon". She adds, "The reason [for this] is that an open, non-judgmental attitude is a valuable tool when attempting to comprehend religious meaning. … Respect from this perspective implies that we are open to the possibility of learning something we did not know before."(2) In approaching Bashani as a topic, I tried to internalize this habit. Among many others that helped me was the famous Canadian historian, Dr.Fridrick Bird. Ishwar Modi of Rajstan University in India also gave me necessary help to understand Bashani. In addition to Santosh being a beautiful place to visit it is truly a historic place where in 1957 world leaders assembled at the Kagmeri conference to say "Assalamu Alikum " to Pakistani rulers and now there is a university next to the mousalium and most importantly the Bhasani hut is still preserved for tourists. My 2003 tour of Santosh was truly hospitable and an unforgatable pilgrimage to this great temple city; even in Bhasani's absence, I felt that he was there present with his people. It was here when he heard the death of Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman he asked that someone bring him a transistor radio. [1]Maksud records it from the description of a person present at the time(3) After this he went, inside the mosque. Approximately an hour later he came out … his eyes were wet in tears. He said: "everything is over. …" He was counting the Tasbíh (the prayer-beads) rapidly. He had tears continuously flowing from his eyes. I understood how much he had loved Sheikh Mujib. I realized that he prayed for [him].(4) After the coup, while most leaders of the country and a large section of the population were joyous, celebrating the death of their once hero turned a dictator, Bhasani was visibly sad. He was sad because Mujib was his long time companion. He has been angry with him for the authoritarian rule he imposed over the young nation but never expected him to be killed with his entire family.(5) My work on Bhasani, the immortal pedestal took many years of research, partly because Bhasani was not alive and the sources of information about him used were written mostly in Bengali language. But during my research I was very fortunate to meet some special people that helped me while I was collecting rare documents for this project, one such special person was Hafiz Ullah. He was as if one of the many unknown selfless Bhasanis. After my research, I came back to Canada and lost my contact with him because like Bhasani he also left us for eternity. Endnotes 1. The above was adopted from Abid Bahar's Ph.D. Dissertation: The Religious and Philosophical Basis of Bhasani's Political Leadership, 2003. A revised version of the abstract is provided below: Bhasani was originally a Sufi mystic turned politician. His political career spanned for close to six decades. During this time, he never sought power. He always remained faithful to his rebubia ideology and remained in the opposition leadership. Interestingly, with this type of leadership in a liberal Muslim country like Bangladesh he was a shelter for the progressive forces to fight against oppressive regimes. The 50's records show it was Bhasani', Abul Hashem, and Abul Kashem's similar Islamic left ideology that initiated the language movement. Inspired by this ideology to fight against oppression, Bhasani first established the AL and the Ittafaq, the two national institutions that were behind the anti Ayub movement and Bhasani also led the 69 movement to release Mujib from Agartala conspiracy case. Susequently Bhasani warned Mujib to stop negotiation with the hypocriat military rulers and Bhasani's call for action against Yahya Khan and Bhutto contributed to the liberation war. During the war he was in India leading the war then surprisingly he was put under house arrest in Northern India. After the war, Bhasani also led the anti BKSAL movement and led the Farakka March against India's water aggression. In all this Bhasani's war was against the oppressor (jalim) for its oppression (Joloom). He was a fatherly figure to Mujib and the rest of the AL leadership. Ziaur Rahman, the BNP founder who introduced the multi party democracy through the Fifth Amendment also had the blessing of Bhasani. Unlike the other politicians of his time, Bhasani took politics as his service to God (Ebada). All his life he lived among peasants dined and dressed like a Bengali peasant. For his selfless service to his people, many contemporary South Asian and Western scholars wished to call him as if the Gandhi of Bangladesh. 2. Shiela McDonnough, Gandhi's Response to Islam. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd., 1994, p.1 3..Maksud, Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, op. cit., p. 514. 4. This is from the statement of a person present at the time, recorded by Maksud. See Maksud, Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani. op. cit., p. 514. 5.Ibid. (Professor Abid Bahar teaches in Canada. His recent books are on Burma is Burma's Missing Dots 2008 and Rohingyama- a drama on refugee experience 2008, Forget Me Not! 2009 on immigranr experience, and An Illustrated History of Bangabandu and Bangladesh, 2010 is in progress) |
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