Today is the death anniversary of prominent politician and public leader AK Fazlul Haque. He held many high political posts including Mayor of Calcutta, Chief Minister of undivided Bengal, Chief Minister of East Bengal, Home Minister of Pakistan and Governor of East Pakistan. Popularly known as ‘Shere Bangla’ or Haq Sahib, Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq was born on 26th October 1873 in Bardhishnu village of Saturia in the southern part of Bakerganj district. But his ancestral home was in Chakhar village, fourteen miles away from Barisal city. He was the only son of Muhammad Wajid and Syedunnisa Khatun. Fazlul Haque’s father was a civil and criminal advocate of the Barisal court and his grandfather Kazi Akram Ali was a scholar skilled in Arabic and Persian and a prominent moktar of Barisal.
After receiving traditional Islamic education in Arabic and Persian at home, Fazlul Haque passed entrance from Barisal Zilla School in 1890, FA from Presidency College in 1892 and BA in 1894 (with honors in chemistry, mathematics and physics). In 1896, he received his MA degree in Mathematics from Calcutta University.
Fazlul Haque started law practice as an apprentice under Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee after receiving his BL degree from Calcutta’s ‘University Law College’ in 1897. Fazlul Haque had the good fortune of being loved by Ashwinikumar Dutta and Prafulla Chandra Roy in many ways. After his father’s death, Haque started law practice in Barisal city. During 1903-1904, he also worked as a part-time lecturer at Rajchandra College in this city. In 1906, Fazlul Haque joined the government service as a Deputy Magistrate. He also took an active part in the establishment of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka on 30 December 1906. From 1908 to 1912, Haque was the Assistant Registrar of Cooperatives. Resigning from government service, he opted for public service work and the practice of law. On the advice of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, he started practicing law in Calcutta High Court.
Sir Khwaja Salimullah and Nawab Nawab Ali Chowdhury got involved in politics. With their help, in 1913, he defeated his strong rival, Rai Bahadur Kumar Mahendranath Mitra, and was elected as a member of the Bengal Legislature from Dhaka Division. He was involved with the Bengal Legislative Assembly till partition in 1947, except for two years as a member of the Central Legislative Council. In 1913, Sher Bangla Fazlul Haque became the Secretary of the Provincial Muslim League of Bengal and remained in this position till 1916. He also served as the Joint Secretary of the All India Muslim League. He was the President of the All India Muslim League from 1916 to 1921 AD. He was also actively associated with that organization as a member of the Indian National Congress.
AK Fazlul Haque’s political strategy was to build the rural elite as his power base. This is evidenced by his initiative in founding the short-lived Calcutta Krishi Samiti and another short-lived organization called the Bengal Praja Party. This party was later transformed into a regular quasi-political organization called Nikhilbanga Praja Samiti. Sir Abdur Rahim became its president and he himself and Khan Bahadur Abdul Momin became vice-presidents. Within a short time, a personality conflict arose between the duo. Haque’s faction in the association changed its name to Krishak Praja Party (K.P.P.) in 1935. The KPP started a mass movement under the leadership of Haque. The aim of this movement was to restore the rights of the peasants, emancipate the peasants from the tyranny of the moneylenders and zamindars and abolish the zamindari system and establish the ryots as the owners of the land. All these slogans made the KPP popular among the agrarian middle class who were enfranchised by the 1935 Act.
In order to remove the backwardness of the Muslim community, Fazlul Haque as the Chief Minister of Bengal ordered to reserve 50% of jobs for Muslims and strictly enforced this ratio in the offices of the Bengal government. The Government accepts the policy that 15% of the job vacancies in direct recruitment will be reserved for the scheduled community, provided that the reservation will not exceed 30% of the non-Muslims directly recruited. However, there was no reservation of posts as a percentage for Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians and Buddhists. However, the government assured special consideration to these communities if qualified candidates are found.
During his first ministry as Education Minister, Haque took steps to accelerate the pace of education among Muslims. However, he considered it his duty to spread education among all the communities living in the province. With this aim he introduced the ‘Primary Education Bill’ in the Bengal Legislative Assembly which was passed as a law making primary education free and compulsory.
Communal riots broke out in Calcutta on August 16, 1946. At that time Haque tried to restore communal harmony and protect his Hindu neighbors in Park Circus, Calcutta. He was very frustrated by the deterioration of law and order in the city. On the request of the League-leaders, Haque joined the Muslim League in September 1946.
In 1947, Haque was deeply saddened by the situation that arose as a result of the partition of the country. He settled permanently in Dhaka and served as the Advocate General of East Pakistan from 1947 to 1952. Within a short time he got involved in the politics of East Pakistan. In February 1948, the students of East Pakistan started a movement demanding the recognition of Bengali as one of the state languages. Fazlul Haque was injured when the police lathi-charged the protesting students. Haque emerged as a prominent leader of the anti-Muslim League movement. On February 21, 1952, the mass uprising centered around the language movement gave a new direction to the politics of East Pakistan. On July 27, 1953, Fazlul Haque founded the ‘Shramik-Krishak Dal’. Haque, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani and Suhrawardy formed the United Front to participate in the 1954 elections. Haque was elected as the leader of the alliance. His personal popularity helped a lot in mobilizing people for the United Front’s election campaign. Sher Bengal’s ability to garner devotion and enthusiasm was one of the main reasons for the front’s landslide victory. After the 1954 elections, AK Fazlul Haque became the Chief Minister of East Bengal, although his party won far fewer seats in the legislature than the Awami Muslim League. Politically, it is interesting that Haque managed to become the Chief Minister of Bengal twice and once more of East Bengal without being the leader of the majority in the legislature. It is indicative of his statecraft and political management. He could always maintain inter-party conduct. However, Haque’s cabinet was short-lived.
Haque had considerable support in the newly formed Constituent Assembly in Pakistan. They acted as a pressure group which led to Haque being invited to join the Union Cabinet as Home Minister in August 1955. He became the Governor of East Pakistan in 1956 AD and was removed from the post in 1958 AD. Since then he retired from politics. He died in Dhaka on this day in 1962 AD. His tomb is one of the three leader’s shrines on the west side of Shishu Academy at the southern end of Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue.
Fazlul Haque was a prominent political figure of the subcontinent for almost half a century. He was a great orator. He could speak fluently in English, Bengali and Urdu. At the same time, Islamic, Bengali and Indian identities influence his psyche, revealing contradictory elements in his thoughts and actions. He had to think about the development of the backward Muslim community, he was engrossed in the thought of the progress of the entire Bengali nation and at the same time he carefully cherished the dream of a united independent India. Naturally, it was not possible for him to follow a coherent policy during his long political career. As a result, he remained a confused political figure.
