Abdur Razzak … in time, in politics

You do not often come across politicians like Abdur Razzak, at least not in these less than exciting times. To be sure, you do not always agree with Razzak or people who share his political beliefs, but you do know that with such people life is always a matter of principle, to be lived on the high plateau of values. Back in the 1960s, when he was a student, Razzak waged his struggle, along with so many others, against the Ayub Khan regime with a determination which bordered on dignity. When you think of Razzak, you are likely to recall as well everyone else who made those days of struggle something of a stirring exercise in defence of democracy.
It is the names we remember today -- Sheikh Fazlul Haq Moni, Rashed Khan Menon, Saifuddin Manik, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, A.S.M. Abdur Rab, Nure Alam Siddiqui, Shahjahan Siraj, Sirajul Alam Khan, Abdul Quddus Makhan and lots more -- that reconnect us with history. These were the young who informed us, through the 1960s and the early 1970s, that nothing could be more dynamic in a transformation of history than the belief of youth in its ability to cause miracles.
That belief was to undergo change among quite a few of these young and not always for the better. But, again, it is all a matter of perception. You could argue that the formation of the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) in the early 1970s was quite an adventuristic enterprise, that Rab and Siraj ought to have stayed with Bangabandhu and contributed to a firming up of his leadership in the difficult times following the liberation of Bangladesh. But there is too the equally strong argument that had the Father of the Nation not opted to attend the conference of the Siddiqui-Makhan faction of the Chhatra League in July 1972, had he not sided with either the Siddiqui-Makhan group or the Rab-Siraj group, had he indeed sought to unify them on a single platform, Bangladesh's history post-1971 would be a lot easier for us to handle.
Speaking of which one is reminded of the conflict which at a point threatened to undermine the Mujibnagar government itself during the War of Liberation. Moni, Razzak and a good number of Young Turks during the war proved instrumental in giving shape to the Mujib Bahini, a force that clearly ran counter to the larger, more authentic Mukti Bahini. And the Mukti Bahini, operating under the authority of the government led by Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed, sought to bring into its fold all classes of Bengalis irrespective of their political affiliations and convinced that a comprehensive guerrilla war was called for if Pakistan was to be defeated.
It remains a question as to what extent the Mujib Bahini undermined the Mukti Bahini and thereby helped to draw a clear line between fanatical Awami Leaguers and those Bengalis who believed that the struggle for liberation needed to draw into it every citizen and not merely those who had voted for the Awami League at the December 1970 elections.
Abdur Razzak, as one whose devotion to Bangabandhu's ideals was beyond question, was part of the Mujib Bahini. After the war, he was again part of the young group which Bangabandhu did not or could not ignore. Which begs the question: was the rift caused between Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Tajuddin Ahmed a consequence of the closeness these young maintained with the Father of the Nation?
Go back to the war. It was a time when Moni and his loyalists fought pitched battles with Tajuddin Ahmed and even sought to have him removed from the office of wartime prime minister. To his credit, Tajuddin survived. More crucially, it was under his intellectual leadership that the war was eventually won. If Tajuddin had not been around or if he had been pushed from the leadership of the Mujibnagar government, our history would be different -- and not necessarily for the better.
Bangladesh's tragedy is that where Tajuddin Ahmed overcame the odds against him in 1971, he fell prey to the second phase of the intrigue against him in 1974 when Bangabandhu asked him to leave the cabinet. Tajuddin obliged. His self-esteem only rose higher. Today you raise the question: could those young politicians, Razzak among them, not have coalesced into a force to prevent Bangabandhu and Tajuddin from drifting apart? Should Bangabandhu not have maintained with the nation's wartime leader the camaraderie that had led them to the peaks between 1966 and 1971? You could certainly shoot back your response, that history is never a matter of what might have been. Of course it is not, but think of the shadows which came over us when Bangabandhu and Tajuddin parted ways. Both of them were murdered, together with others, and all within a matter of months. And we have lived in infamy ever since.
You could be reasonably certain that these questions might also have vexed Abdur Razzak, for like the seasons and through the seasons he matured into a well-meaning, more tolerant leader. When he had his Baksal, again his own way of upholding Bangabandhu's legacy, merge with Sheikh Hasina's more powerful Awami League, he informed us as much that realism was what defined him in his forties. He did well as Awami League general secretary, did well in ministerial office.
In Razzak was manifested a true sign of political evolution. Always a decent man, it was his increasing sense of tolerance, his respect for other opinions, which helped expand his political landscape. He should have risen higher. In a system where political dynasties are alien concepts, he might have been prime minister. In Sheikh Hasina's second government, he could have, along with Tofail Ahmed, made a difference for the country. That he was ignored, that politics was rapidly being pushed aside by the growth of a cult of personality are facts you cannot turn away from.
As Abdur Razzak prepares to meet his Maker, it is an arid landscape of politics we turn our gaze to. Our world is so much the poorer now that he is gone. The others will go too. That brave generation of freedom fighters will pass into the ages. And then what?

The writer is Executive Editor, The Daily Star.
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