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Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, popularly known as Mozloom
Jananeta - the leader of the oppressed - was born in 1885 at village
Dhangara of the then Sirajganj Sub-division of Pabna district into
a middle-class family.
He lost his father Haji Sharafat Ali Khan, a small shop owner,
in 1889. His mother Maziran Nesa Bibi, grand mother, two brothers
and a sister died in an epidemic in 1894. His elementary schooling
took place at a madrasa in Sirajganj.
A saint, Peer Nasiruddin Baghdadi, sent Abdul Hamid, an orphan,
to Deoband Darul Ulum in 1907 for Islamic studies. There he came
in contact with some prominent Islamic scholars and anti-British
freedom fighters including Shaikh-ul-Hind Mahmudul Hasan. He imbued
with their anti-imperialist spirit and ideology.
On return from Deoband, he taught at a primary school at
Tangail for about two years. At that time he was associated with
an extremist political organisation and worked with them for about
four years.
He became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1917
but mainly worked among the peasants in Pabna-Mymensingh areas.
As an earnest worker of the Congress and the Khilafat Movement,
he was jailed for a short period in 1919.
He actively participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement
of Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 and was imprisoned.
A great admirer of Deshbandhu Chitta Ranjan Das, Abdul Hamid
joined his Swarajya Dal in 1923. But as an unconventional peasant
leader, he went to the root causes of their problems. At that time
the vast majority of the peasantry were at the mercy of the Hindu
Mahajans. He, not as a member of any organization but as an individual,
began movement against the rural money-lenders. He seized every
opportunity that he found suitable to organize peasants against
the oppressors.
Bhasani's popularity and his infernal zeal to fight for peasants
against the colonial rulers and zaminders made him the most detested
man in the ruling class. Following a tussle with the Moharaja of
Santosh, he was extradited from Mymensingh under the pretext of
preserving peace in the area. In 1926, he was declared persona non
grata in Bengal.
The largest ever peasants rally held in Bengal during British
rule was organized by Maulana Bhasani at Kawakhola Maidan in Sirajganj
district in December 1931. The rally adopted several strongly worded
resolutions in the interest of farmers including abolition of Zamindari
system.
Moving to Assam, he fathered a movement to amend the Line
System to allow Bengali peasants to settle in that province. Official
axe descended on the Maulana in various forms including frequent
imprisonment.
In 1937 Mohammad Ali Jinnah invited him to join Muslim League.
The same year he was elected a member of the Assam Provincial Constituent
Assembly.
Bhasani valiantly fought for the establishment of Pakistan
in the 1940's.But his concept of Pakistan was different from that
of other Muslim League leaders. After the independence of Pakistan,
he was released from the jail in Assam and returned to East Bengal
now Bangladesh..
He was elected a member of the East Pakistan Legislative
Assembly from Tangail in 1947, but resigned after a few months in
early 1948.
The Maulana founded the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League
in June 1949. He was the first president of the party.
He took leading part in the historic Language Movement and
after 21st February 1952 he was arrested and suffered one year imprisonment.
Maulana Bhasani , A.K. Fazlul Huq and H.S. Suhrawardy formed
a united front against the ruling Muslim league in 1954. The Front
won all the seats save nine in the first ever general elections
in East Bengal.
Bhasani left Awami League and formed the National Awami Party
in July 1957.
General Ayub Khan seized power in a coup in October 1958.
With other opposition leaders, Bhasani was arrested and suffered
four years imprisonment.
The Maulana initiated the mass upsurge in December 1968 against
the Ayub regime, as result Ayub handed over power to General Yahia
in March 1969.
Bhasani engaged all his energies in the movement for the
independence of Bangladesh from December 1970. During the War of
Liberation in 1971, he was the chairman of the All Party Consultative
Committee of the Bangladesh Government in exile.
After the independence of Bangladesh, the Maulana played
a great role as an opposition leader in the establishment of democratic
rule in the country.
Contribution of Bhasani in the field of education is immense.
Althrough his life, he was active in establishment of educational
institutions such as moktabs, schools and colleges in the then provinces
of Bengal and Assam of British India.
He established at Santosh in Tangail, on a campus of over
800 acres of land, a number of institutions including a primary
school for boys and girls, a high school for girls, a high school
for boys and intermediate technical college for boys and girls,
a school of Talimat-e-Quran, an orphanage and several vocational
training units.
Immediately before the Liberation War, Bhasani established
Santosh Islamic University in 1970. But he did not have time and
resource to implement his dream of establishment of a full-fledged
university before his death.
The Maulana led historic Farakka March in May 1976. After
a few days he was admitted to PG Hospital. The medical board advised
him to send him abroad and he left Dhaka for London on August 14.
He was admitted to St Peters Hospital where he was operated upon
on August 27. The Maulana returned home from London on September
12.
He addressed a conference of Khoda-i-Khidmatgar at Santosh
on November 13. After the conference, the same day he was rush to
Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
The great leader breathed his last at 8:20 BST on November
17, 1976 at DMCH. His mortal remains was buried at Santosh with
full state honour.
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