East Bengal rejected BPC report
The report of the Basic Principles Committee, which clearly stated that Urdu would be the language of the state of Pakistan, was submitted to the constituent assembly on September 28, 1950.
It came under fire almost immediately in East Bengal and for the first time demands began to be made in the province that Pakistan be refashioned as a confederation in line with the original Lahore Resolution of March 1940. A group of individuals, rejecting the contents of the BPC report, in fact began distributing leaflets espousing a confederation. It even organised a public meeting, presided over by Ataur Rahman Khan, on the issue at Armanitola Maidan in Dhaka on October 13, 1950.
A more interesting aspect of the post-BPC report situation was that even important figures within the ruling Muslim League in East Bengal publicly made their opposition to the report known. In this they were joined by the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam. Shah Azizur Rahman, at the time acting general secretary of the provincial Muslim League, called for protest meetings all over the province over the BPC report.
He was, however, swiftly put down by Maulana Akram Khan, who thought that the anti-BPC agitation was being conducted by people with a motive of personal aggrandisement. He described Shah Aziz's position as illegal and called upon on people to stay away from any protest over the report. For his part, Shah Aziz withdrew his protest call but not before he had made it clear that the members of the Muslim League must be allowed to have their individual say on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Action Committee for a Democratic Federation met from October 17 to 28, 1950 to chalk out a politically coherent response to the report. Those who attended the meetings on a regular basis were Ataur Rahman Khan, Tajuddin Ahmed, Kamruddin Ahmed, Mohammad Toaha, Oli Ahad and Abdus Salam. Among those who frequently turned up at the meetings were Kafiluddin Chowdhury, Shamsuzzoha and Mirza Golam Hafiz.
The committee eventually decided to hold a convention on November 4 and 5 and to that end a list of nine questions to be placed before prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan was prepared. The key point in the questions was that the two wings of Pakistan should be empowered to exercise autonomy to the fullest extent and to the benefit of their people.
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