Bangabandhu's Home Coming
Reminiscences of a Memorable Day
Frankly Speaking
ON his release from captivity in Pakistan, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman arrived in New Delhi from London enroute to Dhaka, on the morning of January 10, 1972. It was by sheer coincidence, that Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad, who was holding the same post then as well, was on his first bilateral visit to New Delhi. We had, by then, working feverishly since the liberation of Dhaka on December 16, 1971, succeeded in setting up a proper Foreign Office in Dhaka where I was, among other assignments, performing the duties of the Chief of Protocol. I happened to be a member of Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad's delegation on that visit to New Delhi.
The eighth of January 1972 dawned as any other chilly New Delhi winter morning. We were at the New Delhi Foreign Office, and at the top of our agenda of the visit was discussions with the Indian authorities about ways and means for securing Bangabandhu's early release from Pakistan prison. Late that morning when we were having our talks with the Indian officials, Mani Dixit, then Director at the Indian Foreign Office who subsequently was Foreign Secretary, barged into the conference room. "Sheikh Mujib has been released", he said, all excited. The meeting broke up as we burst into spontaneous applause. An ordinary moment at once got indelibly imprinted in memory. We then learnt that Bangabandhu had left Pakistan in a special PIA aircraft for an undisclosed destination. It was another couple of hours before we were told that he had safely landed at the Heathrow Airport in London.
It was on our return to Ashok Hotel in New Delhi, where we were staying, that we learnt that Bangabandhu would be arriving in New Delhi enroute to Dhaka on the morning of January 10, 1972. Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Az-ad and Mr. Huma-yun Rashid Chow-dhury, the Spea-ker, who was the head of Bangla-desh Mission in New Delhi at that time decided that the Foreign Minister's delegation should at once return home but that, wearing my Chief of Protocol's hat, I should stay back and along with Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad accompany Bangabandhu back to Dhaka.
An exciting assignment it was for the Chief of Protocol of a newly born country. Events moved very fast from that moment on and one's memory is full of the preparations that we set about making for the historic arrival of Bangabandhu in New Delhi.
It was late in the evening of January 9, 1972 that I was given an unexpected task. Bangabandhu, I was told, would be making a prepared statement at the airport on his arrival and it fell on me to draft it. Drafting statements is a part of a professional diplomat's life but then occasions such as this one come but rarely, if ever, in one's career. And then there was this extraordinary situation of writing a speech for someone, one had not worked for before. I had then only seen Bangabandhu from a distance and had heard some of his speeches including his inspiring address of 7th of March 1971, but had never really met or talked to him. Writing a speech for someone that I did not know seemed like an impossible task. But as I sat in my hotel room, with pen in hand and in the silence of the night recalled his speech of 7th of March , 1971 addressing the vast multitude, I felt a strange familiarity with him, that guided, as it were, my pen that slowly found expression.
This is a journey from darkness to light, from captivity to freedom, from desolation to hope. I am atlast going back to "Sonar Bangla", the land of my dreams, after a period of nine months. In these nine months my people have traversed centuries. When I was taken away from my people they wept, when I was held in captivity they fought and now when I go back to them they are victorious. I go back to the sunshine of their million victorious smiles. I go back now to a free, independent and sovereign Bangladesh. I go back to join my people in the tremendous tasks that now lie ahead in turning our victory into the road of peace, progress and prosperity. I go back not with any hatred in my heart for anyone but with the satisfaction that truth has at last triumphed over falsehood, sanity over insanity, courage over cowardice, justice over injustice and good over evil."
One can never forget that moment, of the morning of January 10, 1972, when at the Delhi Palam airport, the silver coloured British Comet aircraft carrying Bangabandhu came to a noisy halt. The engines stopped and then there was a piercing silence. It was ten minutes past eight in the morning by the watch. The aircraft door opened and the gangway put in position. Then the gun salutes boomed and suddenly one saw the tall and handsome figure of Bangabandhu standing at the door way, smiling and waving at the assembled crowd. And it was some crowd, comprising President V.V. Giri, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, almost the entire Indian Cabinet, the diplomatic corps and hundreds of pressmen and photographers. "Joy Bangla" said Bangabandhu and then there were slogans and tears, garlands and embraces and here the memory gives in to an emotion one had never in life experienced before.
Bangabandhu read out the speech and standing near him I could see the tears in his eyes as he finished. One then recalls that morning drive through lines of cheering crowds to the cantonment parade crowd where a large crowd had gathered to hear him speak and where they spoke, Madame Gandhi in Hindi and Bangabandhu, in Bengali.
We then drove in a motorcade to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Indian President's House. There Bangabandhu took the decision that instead of traveling via Calcutta where a public meeting was being arranged in his honour, he would travel direct to Dhaka where "my people are waiting for me''. It was also decided that he would continue his journey to Dhaka in the British Comet and not change into a smaller aircraft provided by the Indian authorities, by which it was thought, the landing at the much bombed Dhaka airport with all its gaping craters, would be safer. Bangabandhu felt that he should make a separate trip to Calcutta to thank the "people of that area" for their help and support to the millions of our refugees and do so not by just "dropping in on my way home". He also thought that it would be proper to show his appreciation of the British gesture of offering him an aircraft by traveling in it to Dhaka and not "abandon it midway for fear of a few craters", which "the pilot should be able to negotiate".
I remember the moment, when as we sat face to face at the aircraft taking off from New Delhi, he enquired of Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad as to who I was. While introducing me the Foreign Minister mentioned that I had drafted his airport speech. "Why, he spoke my mind" said Bangabandhu with a warm smile. Aware as I was, of the historic aspect of the journey, I held out my diary opening it at the page of January 10, and asked for his autograph. "With pleasure" said Bangabandhu and wrote his name on the page of my diary in big bold letters.
It was an unforgettable journey in which besides the Foreign Minister and myself, Dr. Kamal Hussain and Mr. Ataus Samad, then a young and keen journalist, were among his companions.
A lot of time during the journey was spent in Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad briefing Bangabandhu on the developments that had taken place during the time he was in captivity in Pakistan. But I recall a couple of decisions that Bangabandhu took during that trip. Bangabandhu wondered as to how the national flag which then had the map of Bangladesh inscribed on it could be changed. He was happy to be told that Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, the Acting Prime Minister had already initiated discussions in that regard. And the national anthem? The tune was not exactly stirring, said Bangabandhu, but then thousands had died with the refrain of that song in their ears and it should never be changed. And what type of Government should Bangladesh ultimately have? Why, it should be of the parliamentary type in a democratic Bangladesh, said Bangabandhu.
It was unfortunate for the nation that Bangabandhu, on his return, was made to step into a short-sighted politico - bureaucratic situation. This like the proverbial quick-sand sucked him in, hardly leaving him the time for constructive nation-building. The intolerance of politicians, the machinations of self-seeking uniformed and civil bureaucrats, the inefficacy of planners and the corruption, infighting and wrangling in a post-war scenario stymied Bangabandhu beyond measure which had negative influence on many of his decisions. Again his secular and intensely nationalistic outlook incurred the wrath of many quarters, some of whom, though themselves at loggerheads, were sceptical of Bangabandhu's actions. Yet one has seen him on so many occasions among world statesmen, confident, strong and decisive, successfully creating, against so many odds, a niche for his war-ravaged country, in the comity of nations. However, inspite of the crowd around him at home, he so often seemed utterly lonely. And then the cowardly act of a few murderers cut short him life, so tragically. But even in his death, this man among men, remains undefeated. As one who led Bangladesh to freedom and independence, Sheikh Mujib shall forever remain invincible.
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