The Odyssey of self determination and equality

WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

So begins the American Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. After almost 195 years, Bangladesh was born. The strongest moral foundation to this new nation was provided in the Proclamation of Independence Order issued on April 10, 1971. The Proclamation was greatly inspired by the American Declaration [BarristerAmirul Islam' account in Muktijuddher Dalilpotro]. 

Following the Proclamation of Independence Order, the exiled government took oath at the Baidyanathtala mango grove of Meherpur on April 17, 1971. The Proclamation was formally read out by Professor Mohammad Yusuf Ali on this very occasion. The oath taking was witnessed by hundreds of foreign journalists who had assembled there to hail the birth of a new nation. Tajuddin Ahmed named the place Mujibnagar after the indisputable leader of the Liberation War, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib. It was the capital of the exiled government till December 16, 1971. The formation of the Mujibnagar government gave life and legitimacy to our liberation struggle both internally and internationally.
On the dreadful night of March 25, Bangabandhu, before being arrested, declared the independence of Bangladesh. Top political leaders of the non-cooperation movement, preceding Pakistani crackdown, had to cross into India. Though spontaneous resistance took place in various parts of the country, it was too weak to counter the well equipped Pakistani force. It lacked any clear war strategy as well as proper political guidance. The exiled political leaders felt the urge to form a government to continue the resistance and turn it into a national liberation struggle. On April 4, military leaders who revolted against the Pakistani Junta met at Teliapara, Sylhet. They also emphasised on the formation of a government to procure arms and aid to conduct the national Liberation War. With the able leadership of Tajuddin Ahmed, a government came into being on April 10 
with the Proclamation of Independence.  

The logic behind the formation of a government was clearly delineated in the Proclamation Document: " Whereas the Government by levying an unjust war and committing  genocide and by other repressive measures made it impossible for the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh to meet and frame a Constitution, and give to themselves a Government, And whereas the people of Bangladesh by their heroism, bravery and revolutionary fervour have established effective control over the territories of Bangladesh, We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh as honour bound by the mandate given to us by the people of Bangladesh whose will is supreme duly constituted ourselves into a Constituent Assembly, And having held mutual consultations, And in order to ensure for the people of Bangladesh equality, human dignity and social justice, declare and constitute Bangladesh to be sovereign People's Republic." [Proclamation of Independence Order, Bangladesh Documents] 

These lines of the Proclamation Order set the foundation of the birth of Bangladesh which can be an ever remitting source of inspiration in the conduct of political and social life of its citizens.  

The Proclamation substantiates Bangladesh's just cause in the war. It invalidates all the attempts to portray our liberation struggle as a secessionist movement. It delineates the high ideal of self determination that when a majority is denied its democratic right of forming its own government, the revolutionary right of the majority to dismember the country as a means of implementing self-determination, could never be in dispute. This is the inherent right of the people themselves. Since the Liberation War started there have been attempts to demean the liberation struggle as a civil war as the American Civil War of 1861 and Abraham Lincoln has often been quoted as a reference against secession. But they forget what Lincoln had expressed in his first inaugural address: "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."  

The evocation of the principle of self-determination also lays a strong ground for Bangalee nationalism which needs to be venerated to come out of the false debate of Bangalee vs Bangladeshi nationalism. Nationalism based on self-determination does not express superiority of a nation over other nations rather it recognizes equal right of every nation.  So when we see racial discrimination in CHT that is not the consequence of Bangalee nationalism but the violation of the very idea of Bangalee nationalism. 

The Proclamation also eschews the secular ideal of Bangladesh. It's the idea of 'equality' that clearly abolishes the principal of religious difference and give equal rights to every citizen irrespective of their religious identity. That's why religion based politics is a contradiction to the spirit of the Proclamation of Independence. 

The Proclamation suggests that the whole purpose of the government is to secure people's rights and that government gets its power from "the consent of the governed." It discourages the idea of distributive equality where the state distributes equality to its citizens. It is the liberal top-down theory of equality where it starts from the state and asks how people should be treated by it. But the Proclamation approaches the issue of equality as a bottom-up model. It starts from the people who engage in political action and see changes in the state (or the economy, or the family, etc) as resulting from that. Though the current reality of Bangladesh bears the fact that we are yet to fully realise the potential of our liberation struggle we can take inspiration from the ideals of the Proclamation of Independence and the auspicious history of the Mujibnagar government to fulfill the unfinished revolution. 

Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury BB, who as the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of Meherpur played a critical role in organising the Mujibnagar Ceremony, on his return from the swearing ritual wrote in his diary: "On our way we reflected and realised that a nation had been born out but it will be a long Odyssey before we established this infant Nation in the world forum." 

The writer is Sr. Editorial Assistant, The Daily Star. 
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