Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
}} (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), popularly known by the honorific prefix Bangabandhu }} (), was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist. As a politician, Mujib had held continuous positions either as Bangladesh's president or as its prime minister from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975.}} Mujib successfully led the Bangladeshi independence movement and restored Bengali sovereignty after over two centuries following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, for which he is honoured as the "Father of the Nation" in Bangladesh who declared independence. In the 2004 BBC opinion poll, Mujib was voted as the ''Greatest Bengali of all time.''

Mujib emerged as a student activist in the province of Bengal during the final years of the British Raj. He was a member of the All India Muslim League. In 1949, Mujib was part of a liberal, secular and leftwing faction which later became the Awami League. In the 1950s, Mujib was elected to Pakistan's parliament where he defended the rights of East Bengal; wore suits and bowties; and was described as urbane and charming. By the 1960s, Mujib was transformed into the nationalist leader of East Pakistan, with his trademark Mujib coat and forceful oratory. He became popular for opposing political, ethnic and institutional discrimination; leading the six-point autonomy movement; and challenging the regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. In 1970, Mujib led the Awami League to win Pakistan's first general election. When the Pakistani military junta refused to transfer power, he gave the 7th March speech and announced an independence movement. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Mujib declared Bangladesh's independence. Bengali nationalists declared Mujib as the head of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, while he was confined in a jail in West Pakistan. He returned to Bangladesh in January 1972 as a hero.

A populist of the 20th century, Sheikh Mujib was one of the most charismatic leaders of the Third World in the early 1970s. Mujib served almost 13 years of his political life in prison during the British Raj and Pakistani rule. He succeeded in normalizing diplomatic ties with most of the world, with a policy of friendship to all and malice to none. He signed a friendship treaty with India, joined the Commonwealth, NAM and the OIC, opposed apartheid and dispatched an army medical unit during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Mujib's legacies include the secularist Constitution of Bangladesh and the transformation of East Pakistan's state apparatus, bureaucracy, armed forces, and judiciary into an independent Bangladeshi state. He gave the first Bengali speech to the UN General Assembly in 1974. Mujib's five-year regime was also the only socialist period in Bangladesh's history. In 1975, Mujib installed a one party state which lasted for seven months until his assassination.

Mujib's legacy remains divisive among Bangladeshis due to his economic mismanagement, the Bangladesh famine of 1974, human rights violations, and authoritarianism. The Awami League has been accused of promoting a personality cult around Mujib. But most Bangladeshis credit Mujib for leading the country to independence in 1971. Mujib's 7 March speech in 1971 is recognized by UNESCO for its historic value, and was listed in the Memory of the World Register. His diaries and travelogues were published many years after his death and have been translated into several languages. His Bengali nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are sometimes called Mujibism. Provided by Wikipedia