Second Revolution (Bangladesh)

Second Revolution (Bengali: দ্বিতীয় বিপ্লব) was a political hypothesis presented by the founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The hypothesis included a series of reforms in the three pillars of a state: administrative, judiciary and legislative system. The reforms were generalized as the Second Revolution and were enacted through the fourth amendment of the constitution of Bangladesh. BAKSAL was formed as the decision making council to carry out the revolution.

The ‘revolution’ as it was called by the Awami League leadership ended with the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15 of 1975.

History

Background

With the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation in 1971, Bangladesh became a people’s republic which enabled both democracy and socialism as state policies with Bangalee nationalism and secularism. And within one of the independence Bangladesh got its constitution.

Bangladesh introduced a parliamentary democracy as the legislative system with 300 constituencies, where every member of parliaments needed to be elected by direct vote by the qualified voters. And in the 1973 general election, Awami League emerged as the single largest party of the country to govern the nation winning 291 seats out of 300.

Amid political success, Bangladesh was facing difficulties with the condition of economy after the independence. In 1974-75 fiscal year, after three years of independence, Bangladesh hardly registered a 2pc growth in GDP while the population grew by 3pc, a much embarrassing statistics for a government. Almost all the private ventures were nationalized according to the state policy and private entrepreneurship was discouraged. Though Bangladesh was seemingly advocating socialist ideologies, one of the prime priorities- the land reforms- seemed a far cry.

The slower progress in economy, dysfunctional production system, smuggling of good through the border and syndication among the traders who had been enjoying substantial support including licenses from the ruling Awami League since independence led the country to a famine in 1974 that claimed at least 1.5 million lives. Estimates from some renowned economists including Dr. Amartya Sen however suggest the death toll much larger. A sudden flood in the same year made the situation much worse leaving hundreds to die of starving.

With the failures, the government started receiving criticism from the opposition parties and the newspapers. The government had decided to deal the political opposition in hard hand. Political figures like Siraj Sikder, Mosharraf Hossain, Badal Khan and almost thirty thousand political activists either extra-judicially killed or disappeared in three years due to Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini excesses and police actions. Opposition parties started protesting the government repressions and some of them opted for arms struggle to defend themselves. At least four members of parliament got killed.

The later events suggest that the government, due to the failures in the first three years of independence and the worsening law and order situation of the country, got convinced that the democracy was no more the salient theme to put the country in order and a series of reforms is needed.

Origin

The considering the Liberation War of Bangladesh as the first revolution, the word “Second Revolution” was first tossed in on the September 24, 1974 edition of Bengali language daily Banglar Bani which was controlled by the nephew of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani as the editor-in-chief.

Sheikh Mani advocated an idea of a one-party state governed by his uncle Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the head of state, in a series of public meetings of Jubo League.

In October 1974, he addressed several meetings of Jubo League and began publicly advocating the view that the parliamentary system had failed in Bangladesh and another “revolution” was inevitable.

Sheikh Mani professed his ideas to Sheikh Mujib in private meeting in 1974 as well. He said:

Leader, it does not look good that the father of the nation will be serving as merely a Prime Minister under a President. We request you to change the parliamentary system to a presidential one and remain the President of the country till death.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, first time pronounced the word in his parliamentary speech after the fourth amendment on January 25 of 1975.

Enactment

The second revolution began with the enactment of the fourth amendment of the constitution on January 25 of 1975. After the fourth amendment of the constitution was passed by majority vote in the parliament Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressed the parliament members. He said:

Only 5pc of the Bangladeshis, the educated ones, are the most corrupt people, and we speak a lot. We write in the newspapers. Today, the day has come to criticize ourselves; this cannot go on too long. Today I have amended the constitution. Today I want to declare, this is our second revolution. The new system we are moving to from now on is also a democracy. This is the democracy of exploited.

Ideology

Though the Second Revolution was a step forward to a Socialist Bangladesh with formidable economic and administrative reforms, it was much different than the other socialist revolutions of the contemporary world. It was aimed at achieving some reformist goals than a social change.

In his emotional speech on January 25 of 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman explaining the revolution, said:

How long will friends continue to give us food and assistance? We must have population control. We must discipline ourselves. I do not want to lead a nation of beggars.

In a meeting with two pioneers of communist movement in Bangladesh, Rashed Khan Menon and Haider Akbar Khan Rano on February 20 of 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said,

I have decided to go for socialism. Come with me. I am the one who had chased away those Punjabi capitalists, now I cannot allow those Marwari capitalists. I will not let the country go capitalist. I will make it a socialist one.

Noted political scientist Rounaq Jahan pointed out the idea of Second Revolution this way:

When he introduced the constitutional changes in Parliament Sheikh Mujib declared that he was changing the “system” because the old system had become a “free style democracy” incapable of solving the country’s real problems. The new system which he called his “second revolution” would ensure democracy of the “have-nots”.

However, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman later mentioned that the parliamentary democracy was degenerating into a “free style”, free-for-all democracy and he had to put a stop to it.

In a public meeting after the declaration of the constitution of BAKSAL, he said:

I cannot recollect that during the last ten to twenty years any of the old leaders left Paltan Maidan after rebuking Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Even then after coming to power… I said if you want to say something good speak out. If it is aimed for the betterment of the country speak out. But what could we see? When we started to proceed in this way foreign agents raised heads in this country and free style started.

The remarks of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman indicate that he was irked by the criticism of the opposition parties which he believed in taking place due to the free style democracy and one of reasons of the Second Revolution was putting an end to that.

Components

The second revolution according to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a reformation of the government and the whole system.

Objectives

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman spelled out four objectives of his Second Revolution on March 26 of 1975 at the public meeting held at Suhrawardy Udyan. He said,

The Second Revolution is not an end in itself. It was only a step forward for increased production, family planning, fighting against corruption and national unity. The ultimate object is the creation of a society free from exploitation where there would be no torture, repression, injustice or corruption and to retain the honour and dignity of Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign state.

The clearly stated four objectives to create a society free from exploitation through Second Revolution were:

• To weed out corruption
• To increase production in agriculture and industry
• To control population growth
• To foster national unity

Features

The basic concept of the reformation included certain features as indicated by the fourth amendment of the constitution and the subsequent government orders were:

Presidential Form of Government

With the fourth amendment of the constitution, through which the revolution had begun in January 1975, Bangladesh converted into a presidential form of government from a parliamentary one.

In the fourth amendment, entire Chapter I relating to the President and Chapter II relating to the Prime Minister and Cabinet under Part IV were substituted by new provisions. Under the new system, the President was to be elected in a direct election (Article 48) and the executive authority of the Republic was vested in him.

One-Party System

See More: BAKSAL

On February 24 of 1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced the formation of the only legal political party of the country BAKSAL. The announcement automatically abolished all other political parties of the country, eventually made the other parties that did not join BAKSAL outlawed.

The constitution of the new party was declared on June 6 of the same year by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The formation of the party was a follow up of the fourth amendment that gave all the power to the President to form the party through his executive order. It was also provided that the government servant would be qualified to be a member of the national party according to the Article 117A(4) of the constitution.

Reorganized Administrative Structure

According to the theories of Second Revolution, the sub-divisions were to become districts with a new administrative council composed of representatives from BAKSAL, members of parliament and government officials. Each administrative council would be headed by a governor who would run the local administration. On June 21 of 1975, by a Presidential Ordinance, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman created 61 districts from the existing 19. The governor-designates for the 61 districts were declared on July 16 of the same year.

An administrative council was announced to be formed for each thana, composed of the local youth, women, workers, farmers and BAKSAL members.

Compulsory Multipurpose Village Level Cooperatives

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Independence Day rally on March 26 of 1975 declared that there should be compulsory multipurpose cooperatives at every villages of the country. The cooperatives would be formed in phases under 5-years plan all the 65000 village would have such cooperatives. Each cooperative would comprise 500-1000 families. These cooperatives would be considered as the economic units of the nation.

Controlled Civil Liberties

The Second Revolution imposed a greater control over the civil liberties including the basic rights of political activities, freedom of speech and the judiciary.

The entire system including the very basis of the judiciary was changed. Contrary to the previous system, the President was given the full authority to appoint or remove any judge including the Chief Justice simply by an order on the ground of ‘misbehavior and incapacity’.

On June 16 of 1975, around 20 dailies in the four major cities were closed down and only four survived: The Bangladesh Observer, The Bangladesh Times, Dainik Bangla, and Ittefaq.

The government took over the four newspapers and appointed the Editors as well. Anwar Hossain Manju the editor of Ittefaq, which was one of the most popular dailies of the country, was substituted with Nurul Islam Patwari. Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, also the nephew of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was appointed as the Editor of The Bangladesh Times.

Timeline

• September 24, 1974:

Sheikh Mani first used the term Second Revolution in his Bengali language daily Banglar Bani

• October 11, 1974:

Sheikh Mani used the term in a public meeting with Jubo League and professed that the revolution is inevitable

• December 28, 1974:

The President of Bangladesh declared state of emergency in Bangladesh

• January 6, 1975:

Public meetings, strike and any such activities were declared illegal under the emergency rule

• January 21, 1975:

The parliamentary committee of Awami League gave Sheikh Mujibur Rahman absolute authority to take any step necessary for the national interest

• January 25, 1975:

Fourth amendment bill was passed by the parliament and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his speech about the fourth amendment of the Constitution claimed that this is his Second Revolution

• February 24, 1975:

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced the formation of the new national party BAKSAL and therefore banned all other political parties and organization

• March 8, 1975:

Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani expressed his support to the Second Revolution in a joint declaration with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tangail although he refrained from joining BAKSAL

• March 26, 1975:

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman detailed his Second Revolution plan, spelled out four objectives of the revolution and declared to form multipurpose cooperatives as economic units

• April 25, 1975:

Pro-Pakistan politician and the opposition leader Ataur Rahman Khan joined BAKSAL and pledged to be a part of the revolution

• June 6, 1975:

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the constitution and the five fronts of national party

• June 16, 1975:

All but four newspapers declared banned

• June 21, 1975:

61 sub-divisions were promoted to districts

• July 16, 1975:

Names of 61 Governor-designates were released, a month-long political training for the governors was yet to begin and end by August 16 of the same year

• August 15, 1975:

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated with most of his family members by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel and with the brutal death of the leader, the revolution failed

Outcomes

With the reforms under the revolutionary program, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was made the President for an infinite time since the possible ways to impeach a President were made much harder. The minimum number of votes required to impeach a President was increased to three fourths from two thirds of the total number of the Members of Parliament.

Though the revolution was thwarted before putting it in operation it had infuriated a huge population of the country. Bangladeshis amid their sorrow state due to a famine could not take it by far.

Many journalists became unemployed due to the sudden closure of almost all the newspapers though the government arranged a token stipend for some of them. Political parties like Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, National Awami Party, United People’s Party and some other parties had to go underground in the changed system. Ganabahini, the armed section of Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal was made more active after the party opted for going underground.

Though the chief of Bangladesh Army was made a member of the central committee of BAKSAL, a section of the force was agitated by the reforms. In a pre-dawn coup in 1975, the President of the country and the leader of the revolution was assassinated by a group of military personnel of the Bangladesh Army.

Criticism

The Second Revolution had drawn much flak though it had never taken place due the policies and hidden objectives.

Rounaq Jahan, the renowned political scientist pointing out the goals of the revolution wrote, “It is hard to explain why one would need a revolution to achieve such reformist goals!”

On the other hand, though the revolution was aimed to foster national unity, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been criticized for not making any visible step to achieve the objective. Only eight out of hundred fifteen posts of the central committee was given to the leaders of those parties who joined the platform of national unity, BAKSAL. In the highest decision making council of BAKSAL there was no participation of any parties other than Awami League.

Salahuddin Ahmed, a historian termed the revolution as in truth a political death for Bangladesh.