December 30, 2006

A.K. Fazlul Haq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Khwaja Nazimuddin constitute a trio that occupied a central place in shaping the Bengali politics in the first half of the twentieth century. Very different from each other, coming from backgrounds at variance with each other, and representing different strata of the society, they contested each other, fought fierce political battles and let each other down but then, at times, coalesced too.

These leaders’ internal scrambles along with instances of their interaction make the colonial Bengal’s complex political terrain – marred with social stratification and rural-urban divide, cutting across the communal boundaries – all the more complex and difficult to tread. Muslim League’s presence in Bengal, in a way, provided them an arena for mutual contest as well as, on occasions, facilitated them to bear each other. In return, the League acquired for itself, in Bengal, a relevant presence, a position that was so important for it to assert its claims in the high politics of colonial India in the first half of the twentieth century.

Historically, Bengal was one of the earliest regions to have succumbed to colonial yoke. It was also pre-eminent in revolting against the colonial rule which had introduced far reaching structural changes in the Bengali society and had sowed the seeds of discontent and political uprising. From the point of view of Muslim separatism too, Bengal took the lead in forming political organizations. It was no accident of history that the first all India based political organization of the Muslims, the Muslim League, was founded in Dhaka in 1906. Though the initial shape of the League was far removed from the aspirations of the common people as it was primarily the Muslim aristocracy which had assembled under the banner of the Muslim League to pursue its own socioeconomic and political interests, in the subsequent years, it acquired a wider social base with the urban middle class and the professional groups increasingly coming under its banner. In the 1940s, the League became a popular organization through its efforts in mass mobilization among the Indian Muslims. Bengal was a part of this popular drive where it also came into office. Following the elections of 1937, Bengal was the only Muslim majority province where the League managed to become a part of a coalition government while in other majority provinces it had miserably failed in registering its presence in the legislative assemblies. Similarly, in 1947, it was a province where League had been in office for a considerable period.

As against the Punjab and Sindh where the Muslim zamindars were among the beneficiaries of the British agrarian policies, in Bengal, the British policies had primarily benefited the Hindu landowning class which was given the proprietary rights by the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793. The application of the Act, gradually deprived the Muslims peasantry of the security of tenure and gradually made it indebted to the money-lenders who were mostly Hindus. This may help understand why the rural Bengali Muslims were so active in the political movements which emerged from the third to the fifth decade of the twentieth century. Congress could not make inroads in the rural Bengal, especially in its Muslim component, given its support to the upper-caste Hindu landlords that exposed itself on different occasions, especially on the occasion of the introduction of the Bengal Tenancy Act in 1928.

The educational backwardness of the Muslim community was another source of cleavage between the Hindus and the Muslims. This backwardness made the Muslims under-represented in government jobs with the result that in the urban centres there was only a limited Muslim professional and educated class, which itself had been the one uprooted from the rural areas and had migrated to the urban centres. The rural Muslim peasantry and its component that migrated to the urban centres provided the political base to Fazlul Haq.

Coming from a rural background, Fazlul Haq initially earned his name through his work in the educational field. He had also started taking active part in the regional politics right in the beginning of the twentieth century but his involvement in politics was often interrupted by his occupation with other fields like journalism, law, and government service. However, from 1913 onward, he pursued politics consistently and from 1913 to 1916, served as the secretary of the provincial Muslim League. He came to national prominence in 1916 as one of the signatories of the famous Lucknow Pact. After taking part in the Khilafat Movement for some time he served as the member of the Mont-ford Reforms Council from 1920 to 1935. In 1927, he established Krishak Proja Party, a rural-based political organization, centered on its founder’s charismatic personality. Acknowledging his place in Bengali politics, he was invited to the Round Table Conference, held in London between 1930 and 1932. In 1935-36, Fazlul Haq served as the mayor of Calcutta.

The last paragraph on page 2, beginning with “In the landed aristocracy of Bengal, Muslim segment was relatively small in size . …” and the next paragraph reading “After doing graduation from Cambridge, Khwaja Nazimuddin ……” deleted and replaced by the following:

According to Dr. Md. Alamgir, historian of the Dhaka Nawab Family: “Throughout the nineteenth century, Nawab Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani (1813 – 1896) was the most influential landlord, the richest man and an honourable person of Eastern Bengal. He made several contributions towards beneficent and charitable work, not only in this city and elsewhere in Bengal but also beyond the subcontinent.” This tradition was carried down the line by Nawab Sir Khwaja Ahsanullah (1846 – 1901) and his son Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah (1871 - 1915) who was a great educational reformer, and, like his father was inclined to prodigal liberality. He was a great philanthropist and is mainly remembered for the part he played in the partition of Bengal in 1905; for being the founder of such a strong political party as the All India Muslim League in December 1906, and the establishment of Dhaka University in 1912.

The head of the family in 1936 was Nawab Khwaja Habibullah Bahadur, the Nawab of Dhaka. Khwaja Nazimuddin was a member of the family, and the most ardent and loyal supporter of Mr. Jinnah. When the Quaid-e-Azam came to Calcutta in 1936 he entrusted Khwaja Nazimuddin with the responsibility of organizing the Muslim League by bringing together the different groups and individuals under one banner.

Khwaja Nazimuddin did his M. A. at Cambridge University, in England, and was called to the bar in 1916, but, on his return to India he did not take up legal practice. At a comparative young age of 28, he was elected Chairman of the Dhaka Municipality Board, a position he held until 1929, and in December of that year he was appointed a Member of the Governor’s Executive Council, in Calcutta, as the Education Minister of Bengal. He was the Home Minister in the Cabinet of A. K. Fazkuk Haq’s Coalition Government from 1937 to 1941; and Chief Minister of undivided Bengal from 1943 to 1945. He was made a member of the working committee of Muslim League, and his influence within the League grew in the following years.

Suhrawardy’s support came from the middle and lower middle class of the urban centres especially Calcutta, where he had for long organized industrial labour and had worked for its rights. Suhrawardy had also started his career in the beginning of the century as an ally of famous Swarajist leader C.R. Das. He served as a member of the Bengal Legislative Council after 1924. Khilafat Movement had provided him a wider platform to reach out to the masses. He also served as the secretary of the Khilafat Committee in Calcutta. During these years, he also involved himself with workers’ organizations and in 1927 established the National Labour Federation. He specifically focused the jute, cotton, and dock workers and brought their activities under the fold of formal trade unionism. On the national stage, he made his debut when he served as the chairman of the reception committee of the All Parties Conference. In 1936, he established the United Muslim Party (UMP). The party was later merged with the Muslim League on Jinnah’s proposition and on the understanding that the UMP would in fact become the Muslim League party of the Bengal. Suhrawardy was elected as the secretary of the Bengal Muslim League.

The post-1935 Bengal increased the political stakes of each of the three leaders. The Government of India Act 1935 brought an end, in the provinces, the anomaly of diarchy introduced earlier by the 1919 Act. With the enlargement of the provincial competence, an extended franchise and the fact that the Centre still did not have elected institutions, Indian provinces became the potential arenas of political activity. Like other provinces, Bengal too saw hectic activities in the following decade.

Though in the 1937 elections, Congress emerged as the single largest party, it was not in a position to form a ministry of its own or even to strike alliances with other groups to achieve that end. Muslim League and Fazlul Haq’s Krishak Proja Party struck a deal with the result that Haq got an opportunity to lead a coalition ministry. But as Muslim League had more members in the Assembly as compared to the Krishak Proja Party, Fazlul Haq depended on the League’s support.

Jinnah made use of this, and successfully persuaded Fazlul Haq to support League’s policies at the Centre. Amidst this honeymoon, came the Lahore session of the League in 1940 where Fazlul Haq presented the famous resolution on 23 March. It was high time for Fazlul Haq who had earned the title of Sher-e-Bangal but soon afterwards his fortunes began to fall. His compromise with Muslim League had compelled him to respond favourably to the Bengali Muslim zamindars’ interests, which cost him his support in his rural constituency and gradually his party-men started deserting him. Then, there came another blow when Jinnah asked him to relinquish his membership of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Fazlul Haq made the wrong bid. He declined Jinnah in the hope that this would endear him to the Viceroy. For a while, this worked and Fazlul Haq survived even after Muslim League withdrew its support to him and he engineered another coalition with Congress and Mahasabha, a move which further alienated him from the Muslim electorate. Both Suhrawardy and Nazimuddin launched severe campaign against him and charged him with treachery and the damaging of the Muslim cause. With his support in the Assembly dwindling and his not being in a position to withstand the League onslaught against him, Fazlul Haq lost legitimacy to rule. At least in the eyes of the English governor, a Muslim Chief Minister without commanding unanimous support of the Muslims of the province, was more of a burden at a time when the British government’s War Effort needed a more united populace. Fazlul Haq was, consequently, shown the door.

Fazlul Haq’s removal enabled the Muslim League to form its ministry in 1943 under Nazimuddin. But for Nazimuddin too, it was not an easy sailing as new issues welcomed his assumption of power. Within the League, lines were drawn between the ministers and the party organization. Party’s provincial secretary Abul Hashim had been able to establish his hold on the party through his organizational skills and his successful projection of the League in the rural areas. Moreover, in Bengal, Jinnah trusted Nazimuddin and his ally Ispahani more than anyone else; this caused Suhrawardy to drift away from Nazimuddin. Moreover, Suhrawardy had cultivated his own desires and had an eye on the premiership. So, Nazimuddin soon found out that the real threat to him came from within the party. The situation became even worse for him due to the famine in his province for it was he who was blamed for economic mismanagement. A province-wise campaign was launched against him in which his opponents like Fazlul Haq were far more active than anyone else. The final assault came when the provincial Muslim League revolted against Nazimuddin forcing him to tender resignation in March 1945.

Now, it was the turn of Suhrawardy, who formed his ministry in April 1946. Though he had successfully maneuvered to become chief minister, he did not command support of all the League legislators. Within the party organization itself, he represented a faction and was not at all in a position to bring all factions together. Somehow, he continued for sometime but by the time partition of India drew closer he sensed the ultimate fate. If Bengal was to be partitioned, Calcutta would have gone to India depriving Suhrawardy of his power-base. He sought to keep Bengal united, and at one point also succeeded in getting Jinnah’s support for the proposal but it was bluntly turned down by Congress. Congress had all along stood for keeping India united but once it was known that this was not going to happen it rejected the idea of the united Bengal as well for that could pave the way for further balkanization of India. In Bengal and within the League the division of Bengal rekindled Nazimuddin’s fortunes as the Muslim League, parliamentary party voted to replace Suhrawardy with him.

In Pakistan, the three big Bengali leaders had once again different courses to follow. Fazlul Haq served as Advocate General in East Bengal from 1948 to 1953. In 1953 he formed Krishak Sramik Party which became a component of Jugtu Front that defeated Muslim League in 1954 provincial elections. Suhrawardy’s Awami Muslim League was also a part of the Jugtu Front. So the two re-united against the League but soon fell apart. Fazlul Haq’s ministry came into office in April 1954. It was dismissed the next month. Then in 1955-56, he accepted to become a central minister and during 1956 and 1958 served as provincial governor.

On partition, Suhrawardy stayed in India on Jinnah’s advice in order to help defuse riots in Calcutta but when he came to Pakistan he found out that neither the government nor his party was willing to accept him. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan did not hide his dislike of Suhrawardy who was humiliated when he was voted out of the assembly membership while he was present on the floor of the house. Suhrawardy described it as a unique moment when someone attended once own funeral. Suhrawardy however survived and made his place in politics and even succeeded to become Prime Minister from September 1956 to October 1957.

Nazimuddin remained chief minister till September 1948. On Jinnah’s de ath, he was elevated to become the governor general but on Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan’s assassination on 16 October 1951, he stepped down to become prime minister enabling Ghulam Mohammad to occupy the governor general’s office. In April 1953, Nazimuddin was removed by Ghulam Mohammad in a palace coup.

Despite their personal weaknesses and political limitations, all the three influential Bengali Muslim leaders, Fazlul Haq, Suhrawardy and Nazimuddin, had the potential to serve the new country in a meaningful manner but they were deprived to do so. In the undivided Bengal, each one of them had his successes and failures. Each one would have also won on one occasion and lost on another but in Pakistan they all lost. They lost it to a military-bureaucracy oligarchy that had, right in the beginning, taken over the reins of state-power to the exclusion of political forces. The Muslim League was sent in bewilderment and its leaders, either in oblivion, or in a mode of submission.

— Dr. Syed Jaffar Ahmed

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