Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League

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

Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ Bangladesh Peasants' Workers' People's League
Leader	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Founder	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Founded	24 February 1975
Dissolved	15 August 1975
Merger of	AL CPB BNAP BJL
Headquarters	Dhaka
Ideology	Mujibism Bengali nationalism Socialism
Political position	Left-wing
Politics of Bangladesh Political parties Elections

Following the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, enacted on 25 January 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed BaKSAL on 24 February.^[2] In addition, with the presidential order, all other political parties were outlawed with the formation of BaKSAL and were obliged to join the party due to a State of Emergency.

The party advocated Democratic socialism as a part of the group of reforms under the theory of the Second Revolution. BaKSAL was the decision-making council to achieve the objectives of the Second Revolution.^[3]

BaKSAL was dissolved after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975.^[4] With the end of BaKSAL, all the political parties that had merged with BaKSAL, including the Awami League, again became independent political parties.

Background

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (aka Mujibur) and his Awami League won a landslide victory in the 1973 Bangladeshi general election. However, Mujib had a hard time fighting with corruption within his own government and the leftist insurgency caused by the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. In the face of growing unrest, on 28 December 1974 Mujibur declared a state of emergency.^[5] 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 Awami League, and gave him the authority to form a national party called 'Bangladesh Krishak Shramik Awami League' or shortened as 'BaKSAL'.^[6] All the MPs and political parties were required to join the party to fight the prevalent crisis. In many ways, BakSAL had striking similarities with the National Union Party formed at the height of the American Civil War.

Formation

On 24 February 1975, Mujibur formed a new party, the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL), which all MPs were required to join.^[7][8] Any MP who missed a parliamentary session, abstained, or failed to vote with the party would lose their seat.^[9] All civilian government employees, professionals, and trade union leaders were pressed to join the party.^[7] All other political organizations were banned.^[9] Most Awami League politicians and many from other parties joined BaKSAL, seeing no other way to retain any political power.^[7] 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 BaKSAL.

BaKSAL was scheduled to officially replace the nation's other political organizations, and associations, on 1 September 1975.

Organizationally, President Mujibur Rahman, BaKSAL chairman, appointed for the national party 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).^[10] All members of the executive committee and central committee were to enjoy the status of ministers. BaKSAL was also designed to overhaul the administrative system of the country to make it people-oriented.

Executive committee

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

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. Brig. A. N. M. Nuruzzaman DG Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini
118. Kamruzzaman teachers Association
119. Dr. Mazhar Ali Kadri

Activities

Restrictive 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 were annulled. Only the Dainik Bangla, Bangladesh Observer, The Daily Ittefaq, and Bangladesh Times were allowed to continue, with the rest of the press and newspaper industries banned. The intention was to bring the entire news media under temporary governmental control as a means of combating the prevalent smuggling and black-marketing of newsprint paper. This smuggling activity prevented Bangladesh from exporting the paper to foreign countries, cutting off revenue^{[citation needed]} which could have helped prevent the Bangladesh famine of 1974.

As a greater effort to decentralize the authority, 61 district governors were appointed with training for governorship—quite unprecedented in the history of Bangladesh. The local elections were also peaceful and free. In the Kishorganj local election held in 1975, a school teacher won against the nephew of Syed Nazrul Islam, who was a national leader and also a major leader of BakSAL that time.

The BaKSAL was set to be effective from September 1975. But with the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members, the party went into dissolution.

Dissolution

The party contested in 1986 general election using "boat" symbol and later in 1991 general election using "bicycle" symbol. The party carried out independently until 1990s, when almost all of its party leaders deserted the organization to merge with the Bangladesh Awami League.^[11]

Legacy

Lawrence Lifschultz wrote in the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1974 that Bangladeshis thought that "the corruption and malpractices and plunder of national wealth" was "unprecedented".^[12] Many of BakSAL's goals were adopted by the successors of Mujib. For example, President Ziaur Rahman launched a crackdown on JASAD (Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal) and successfully banished the left-wing insurgency in the country.

References

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. "Bangladesh: The Second Revolution". Time. 10 February 1975. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
4. "Bangabandhu: a forbidden name for 16yrs". The Daily Star. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
5. "State of emergency announced in Dacca". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. 29 December 1974. p. 6A. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
6. "Mujib names his Govt". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press-Reuter. 28 January 1975. p. 4. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
7. 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.
8. "'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.  
9. "One man, one party govern Bangladesh". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 January 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 4 January 2016 – via news.google.com.
10. Maniruzzaman, Talukder (February 1976). "Bangladesh in 1975: The Fall of the Mujib Regime and Its Aftermath". Asian Survey. University of California Press. 16 (2): 119–129. doi:10.2307/2643140. JSTOR 2643140.
11. "Near East & South Asia: Bangladesh" (PDF). JPRS Report. 1: 10. 12 September 1991. (PDF) from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
12. . The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 8 February 2010.