Bangladeshi nationalism - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bangladeshi nationalism is a political ideology that glorifies and promotes the citizens of the People's Republic of Bangladesh as a distinctive cultural and political nation. In contrast with its rival Bengali nationalism

Bengali nationalism

Bengali nationalism is the political expression of ethno-national consciousness of the Bengali people, who inhabit the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The region's territory is divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal...

, the ideology emphasizes a clear distinction amongst the Bengali people

Bengali people

The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

, that essentially Bangladeshi citizens are different from their linguistic and cultural counterparts in the Indian state of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

which borders Bangladesh. The term also has religious significance and was initially developed by Bangladesh's first military regime in order to politically counter the ideology of the Awami League party, that professed Bengali nationalism

Bengali nationalism

and led the Bangladesh Liberation War

Bangladesh Liberation War

The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....

on the basis of the establishment of a sovereign homeland for the Bengali people

Bengali people

. As opposed to the secular Bengali nationalism, Bangladeshi nationalism stresses the ethnic and Islamic consciousness of the people of Bangladesh, where 89% of the population are Bengali Muslims.

Throughout the late 1970s and then in the 1980s, the concept of Bangladeshi nationalism evolved into the principal ideology for a large section of Bangladesh's political and military establishment. It had been fiercely promoted by President Ziaur Rahman

Ziaur Rahman

President Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam, was a Bangladeshi politician and general, who read the declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971 on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He later became the seventh President of Bangladesh from 1977 until 1981...

and his formation of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Bangladesh Nationalist Party

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party , commonly referred to as the BNP, is the mainstream center-right political party in Bangladesh. BNP ruled Bangladesh total 18 years since her independence, the longest than any other party in Bangladesh...

, now one of two major political parties of the country, had centered around the development of Bangladeshi nationalism. Politically, the concept is today advocated by the center-right and rightist political parties in Bangladesh led by Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Background

The historic region of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

has been renowned for its rich cultural and linguistic heritage. The territorial unity and population growth of the region ran parallel with the development of the Bengali language

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

under the patronage of the Turko-Afghan rulers of the Shah-i-Bangla, or Sultanate of Bengal. Besides developing Bengali, their next most outstanding contribution to the growth of Bengali identity was evolving of a polity based on Hindu-Muslim partnership and cooperation. The trend was further strengthened under the Mughal Empire. During the reign of the Nawabs of Bengal in the eighteenth century, which was a remarkable example of Hindu-Muslim unity, Bengal showed all the marks of the progressive growth towards the formation of a nation state in the European model taking shape after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire.

With the defeat of Siraj-ud-Daula, the last independent Nawab of Bengal

Nawab of Bengal

The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars of the subah of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.-History:...

, by the British East India Company, Bengal

Bengal

lost its independence and its achievements during previous centuries in the fields of arts and crafts, manufactures and industries, education and administration were overturned under the impact of the colonial rule. However, gradually the British began fostering the European model of education in Bengal, the first province they captured in India. This led Bengal and especially Calcutta (present day Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

in West Bengal

West Bengal

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

), the capital of British India during much of the Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, to become the prime centre of modern culture, intellectual and scientific activities, politics and education in the Subcontinent

Subcontinent

A subcontinent is a large, relatively self-contained landmass forming a subdivision of a continent. By dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies "having a certain geographical or political independence" from the rest of the continent, or "a vast and more or less self-contained subdivision...

. In what is described as the Bengal Renaissance

Bengal Renaissance

The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the region of Bengal in Undivided India during the period of British rule...

, the introduction of Western culture, science and education led to a major transformation and development of Bengali society.

However, much of the benefits of the colonial transformation had hardly touched the people of eastern Bengal who were mainly Muslims. Bengali Muslims had resented the British and their education system, especially the English language, because of the defeat of the region's independent Muslim rulers. Many Muslim zamindars were abolished and through the Permanent Settlement of 1793, the British introduced a harsh system of taxation on Bengali peasants who were mainly Muslim. With the resentment of English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

and the marginalization of the Muslim aristocracy, an educated elite of Bengali Hindus emerged. They were seen as affluent and occupied positions in the civil service, judiciary and universities.

1905 Parition of Bengal

In the 1800s, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a legendary Muslim intellectual in the Subcontinent pioneered a movement to educate the Muslims of India and allow them to catch up with other communities. In Bengal, calls were made in 1903 to partition the province in order to allow education and communications to be developed in the proposed Eastern Bengal province. Adding to these calls were movements by Bengali Muslims such as Haji Shariatullah

Haji Shariatullah

Haji Shariatullah was an eminent Islamic reformer of the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal Dynasty. He is known for founding Faraizi movement.-Early life:...

, to resist the Hindu landed aristocrats and their British guardian. These movements, such as the Faraizi movement

Faraizi movement

The Faraizi movement was founded by Haji Shariatullah by Bengali Muslims. After returning from Mecca after a 20 year hiatus Shariatullah, seeing the degraded Muslims of Bengal, called on them to give up un-Islamic practices and act upon their duties as Muslims...

, received widespread support amongst the mainly Muslim population in the eastern parts of the province. The calls for partition were spearheaded by Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah, the Nawab of Dhaka

Nawab of Dhaka

The Nawab of Dhaka was the title of the head of the Dhaka Nawab Estate, the largest and richest Muslim zamindari in Bengal. The first Nawab of Dhaka was Khwaja Alimullah who had been installed by the British Raj as head of the estate, which covered modern day Dhaka city and several of its...

, and other Bengali Muslim aristocrats. Finally in 1905, the Government of India

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, on the pretext of improving the administration's effectiveness and communications in the East, partitioned Bengal and established the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam

Eastern Bengal and Assam

Eastern Bengal and Assam was a province of British India, constituted of the eastern portion of the erstwhile province of Bengal and the Chief Commissioner's province of Assam. The new province came into being on 16th October 1905, following a partition of Bengal. The Bengali Hindu people agitated...

. Subsequently, in West Bengal

West Bengal

, the Swadeshi movement

Swadeshi movement

The Swadeshi movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi , which had some success...

took place to demand the protest the partition on what was believed to done on communal lines. The movement was seen as mainly carried out by Bengali Hindu

Bengali Hindu

Bengali Hindus are an ethno-linguistic group, belonging to the Indo-Aryan family and are native to the Bengal region of the Indian Subcontinent. The Bengali Hindus along with other related ethno-linguistic groups constitute the vast majority of Hindus...

s. With growing violence and tension, the partition was annulled in 1911 and undivided Bengal was established once again. The annulment was however seen by many Bengali Muslims as a betrayal of their demands.

United Bengal Movement

In 1947, as the British colonial rulers agreed to grant India independence, the entire Subcontinent got embroiled in movements advocating either the partition of India (position of the Muslim League which wanted a separate homeland for Indian Muslims) or the independence of undivided India (the position of the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

and Hindu radical groups). In midst of the increasing communal tensions, leading Bengali political leaders and nationalists led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani-Bengali politician and statesman who served as 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 till 1957, and a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime minister of Pakistan...

of the Muslim League and Sarat Chandra Bose

Sarat Chandra Bose

Sarat Chandra Bose was a barrister and Indian freedom fighter. He was the elder brother of Subhash Chandra Bose.-Early life:His forefathers had served the Afghan rulers of pre-Mughal Bengal with great distinction....

of the Congress

Indian National Congress

, demanded the establishment of an independent, sovereign nation-state

Nation-state

The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...

in Bengal. But the Muslim League, the Congress and the Hindu Maha Sabha gave an outright rejection to the proposal. Within months the plan was discarded as Viceroy Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

announced the partition of India along communal lines on June 3, 1947.

1947 Bengal Partition

In 1947, in line with the Partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

, Bengal was partitioned between the Hindu majority west and Muslim majority East. East Bengal

East Bengal

East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....

became part of the Islamic state of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

while West Bengal became part of India. The partition was seen to have seen popular support amongst Bengali Muslims who suffered during the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

from the exploitation of Hindu zamindars.

Resurgence of Bengali nationalism

See Also: Bengali Language Movement

See Also: Six point movement
Six point movement
The 6 Point Movement was a Bengali nationalist movement in East Pakistan spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which eventually led to the liberation of Bangladesh. The movement's main agenda was to realize the six demands put forward by a coalition of Bengali nationalist political parties in 1966,...

Pakistan

was established a country with two wings, one in the east (the province of East Bengal) and one in the west (provinces of Punjab

Punjab (Pakistan)

Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...

, Sindh

Sindh

Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

, Balochistan

Balochistan (Pakistan)

Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

and North West Frontier Province). The two wings were separated by 1500 kilometers. The political, military and economic establishments in Pakistan emerged to be in the West. Many west Pakistanis considered Bengalis as racially inferior and discrimination was rife throughout civil services and the armed forces. Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum ....

had only visited the province once after independence.

During his visit, Jinnah declared that Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

, spoken by the elite of the West and a language that was remote the people of the east, would be the sole national language of Pakistan. This would go down in East Bengal as unacceptable among the Bengalis who were not only fiercely proud of the rich literary heritage of the Bengali language

Bengali language

, but also because Urdu was a language they hardly understood. The boiling discontent ultimately led to the Bengali Language Movement during which many students were killed by Pakistani security forces.

In 1956, Bengali nationalists led the Jukta Front coalition to power in the central government in Pakistan and Awami League leader Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

became the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Prime Minister of Pakistan

The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...

. However within a year and a half of assuming office, Suhrawardy and his government were soon dismissed and eventually the Pakistan Army, led by the then army chief Ayub Khan, usurped power and proclaimed martial law. The most prominent Bengali politicians including A. K. Fazlul Huq

A. K. Fazlul Huq

Not to be confused with the cricket ground in Dhaka Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Sher-e-Bangla Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq was a well-known Bengali statesman in the first half of the 20th century...

, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani

Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was a popular political leader in Pakistan and Bangladesh, a rural based self-educated person.Abdu Hamid Khan Bhashani, born in 1880 in Dhangara, Bangladesh), was the son of Haji Sharafat Ali Khan. He gained immense popularity among peasants...

, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its...

and Yusuf Ali Chowdhury

Yusuf Ali Chowdhury

Yusuf Ali Chowdhury , commonly referred to as Mohan Mia, was a prominent Bengali Muslim politician in South Asia. He played an active role in the Pakistan Movement as a leading figure of the Muslim League in Bengal...

were all banned from political life by the military regime of Ayub Khan. In addition, the regime suppressed the Bengali culture and banned the Rabindra Sangeet

Rabindra Sangeet

Rabindra Sangeet , also known as Tagore Songs in English, is a form of music composed by Rabindranath Tagore who added a new dimension to the musical concept of India in general and Bengal in specific....

, a powerful cultural instrument of the Bengali people.

Faced with the suppression of freedoms for Bengalis, East Bengal

East Bengal

experienced the fiercely rising cultural and linguistic nationalism amongst the Bengalis of Pakistan. The emergent Bengali nationalism

Bengali nationalism

was further fueled by the immense economic exploitation of the people of East Pakistan by the West Pakistani elite. Although East accounted for 80 percent of Pakistan export earnings, mainly due to the export of jute from East Pakistan, 60 percent of the earnings were spent on West Pakistan, especially on the military. With the growing discontent, Bengalis in Pakistan, led by the Awami League and its charismatic leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, launched massive civil disobedience and autonomy movements, notably the Six point movement

Six point movement

The 6 Point Movement was a Bengali nationalist movement in East Pakistan spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which eventually led to the liberation of Bangladesh. The movement's main agenda was to realize the six demands put forward by a coalition of Bengali nationalist political parties in 1966,...

. These movements are essentially seen as having played pivotal in promoting the already resurgent Bengali nationalism.

Independence of Bangladesh

President Ayub Khan resigned in the face of popular agitation across Pakistan in 1969. He handed over power to army chief Yahya Khan

Yahya Khan

General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the third President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan...

and martial law was once again proclaimed. In November 1970, the devastating Bhola cyclone

1970 Bhola cyclone

The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan and India's West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times...

crashed into the southern part of East Pakistan killing 500,000 people, making it the worst natural disaster of the 20th Century. The Pakistani government was very slow to respond to the disaster and the relief was mainly provided by foreign assistance, especially by the US Army.

Coupled with immense anger causes by this slow response to the cyclone and the already boiling nationalistic fervour in the province, the Awam League won a decisive victory in national elections held in December, 1970. The victory was on such a scale that it gave them the power to form government on their own. But the Pakistani political and military establishment led Yahya Khan

Yahya Khan

General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the third President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan...

and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party — the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served as its chairman until his...

refused to allow the party to form a government on its own and Sheikh Mujib to become prime minister.

With the rapidly growing tensions, Bengalis across the province united to resist the Pakistani establishment. On 25 March 1971, the Pakistan Army launched the deadly Operation Searchlight which was followed by the nine month long Bangladesh Liberation War

Bangladesh Liberation War

. The Pakistani forces committed atrocities across the province and 10 million Bengalis fled across the border to India were the sympathetic Bengalis in West Bengal gave them refuge. An estimated 1 to 3 million people had been killed in the war.

The war ended with the eventual intervention of India and the subsequent defeat of Pakistan. On 16 December 1971, the Pakistani forces surrendered to the Mitro Bahini

Mitro Bahini

Mitro Bahini was the alliance of the Indian Army and the then-East Pakistani Mukti Bahini that engaged the Pakistani forces in December 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The alliance provided the final blow to the already weakened Pakistan Army which surrendered thirteen days after the...

, the Indian armed forces and the Bengali rebels

Mukti Bahini

Mukti Bahini , also termed as the "Freedom Fighters" or FFs, collectively refers to the armed organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by Bengali regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on...

.

The Bangladesh Liberation War is seen as a defining point for Bengali nationalism as it united the people across the region.

1975 military coup

See Also: Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
The assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took place in the early hours of August 15, 1975, when a group of junior Bangladesh Army officers invaded Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence with tanks...

Post independence Bangladesh would have to suffer from rising corruption, crime and lack of the most basic essentials which even led to a famine in 1974. The situation was further aggravated by the increasing closeness of the India

India

n and Soviet governments to Bangladesh's administration led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

. Many in Bangladesh traditionally view India as well as well as communists and socialists with a large degree of mistrust, despite the unity achieved during the liberation war. Many Bangladeshis questioned India's sincerity in respecting the sovereignty of the new country and feared it would become a satellite state for the Indians and Soviets because the strong relationships the Awami League fostered with India and the Soviet Union. The presence of Indian troops in Bangladesh for the first three months of independence and the signing of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Treaty gave many in Bangladesh the view that their hard earned independent country would become a protectorate of India.

Amidst the rising discontent against Indian influence in Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's charismatic founder was assassinated in August, 1975

Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

The assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took place in the early hours of August 15, 1975, when a group of junior Bangladesh Army officers invaded Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence with tanks...

by a section of the military. The military soon proclaimed martial law and appointed the pro-western politician Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad

Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad

Khondaker Moshtaq Ahmad was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 15 August to 6 November 1975 after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh...

as President. He proclaimed in his maiden radio address, that Bangladesh would be known as the Islamic Republic

Islamic republic

Islamic republic is the name given to several states in the Muslim world including the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Mauritania. Pakistan adopted the title under the constitution of 1956. Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958. Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian...

of Bangladesh as opposed to a People's Republic

People's Republic

People's Republic is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with the interests of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist...

. However country would not change its founding name as Moshtaque was soon overthrown in a counter coup led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf

Khaled Mosharraf

Khaled Mosharraf was a Bangladeshi military officer who was a the Sector Commander of BDF Sector 2 and K-Force Brigade Commander during the Bangladesh War of Liberation. He was awarded Bir Uttam for his gallantry actions during the war...

in November, 1975. The counter coup, although not having any direct influence from India, was seen by many in Bangladesh as sponsored by India.

The construction of the Farakka Barrage

Farakka Barrage

Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganges River, located in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh near Chapai Nawabganj District. Construction was started in 1961 and completed in 1975. Operations began on April 21, 1975. The barrage is about long...

would aggravate anti-India sentiment further as the dam built in West Bengal

West Bengal

had a devastating impact on the ecology of Bangladesh. Soon Khaled Mosharraf would be killed in a counter coup and be replaced again with General Ziaur Rahman

Ziaur Rahman

. The killing of Mosharraf, seen as pro-India, and the assumption of Zia during the Sepoy Mutiny, was widely welcomed by many in Bangladesh. General Zia was widely accredited for bringing stability to the country after the volatility following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He soon allied himself anti-Awami League forces in Bangladesh, many of whom opposed the liberation of the country and sided with Pakistan in 1971. For the war hero Zia, the move of associating with his former enemies was seen as crucial in countering the rival Awami League of Sheikh Mujib. The military regime soon began developing a more "inclusive and realistic" brand of nationalism.

Concept

Islamic traditions have been practiced in this part of the world for thousands of years and Bengali Muslims nationalism is deep rooted in pride for a religion, which in other parts of the world came through conquests but in Bengal came through peaceful Sufi preachings. Zia began promoting the term Bangladeshi nationalism in order to emphasize the vibrant history of Bengali Muslim people as distinct separate nation. 89 percent of the country's population are Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

and Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, although remarkably progressive and moderate in the country compared to much of the Muslim world, plays a central role in Bangladeshi society. The proponents of Bangladeshi nationalism have argued the concepts of secularism

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

and socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

, preached by the Awami League, was "alien to Muslim majority Bangladesh".

Bangladeshi nationalism is also seen as realistic as opposed to Bengali nationalism which fails to see the establishment of its goal of a sovereign Bengali nation-state

Nation-state

due to geo political factors and realities. Moreover, Bangladeshi nationalism is also seen as more inclusive as it gives an opputunity to the various indigenous minorities in the country, especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Chittagong Hill Tracts

The Chittagong Hill Tracts comprise an area of 13,295 km2 in south-eastern Bangladesh, and borders India and Myanmar . It was a single district of Bangladesh until 1984. In that year it was divided into three separate districts: Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban. Topographically, this is the...

, to feel a compatibility between their ethnic and national identity.

Anti-India sentiment

The promotion of Bangladeshi nationalism was heavily politicised as many politicians in the country who allied with Zia were traditionally opposed to Indian influences and also opposed the Bangladesh Liberation War as they sided with Pakistan

Pakistan

owing to ideological convictions, had taken part actively in promoting the concept. India

India

surrounds Bangladesh on almost all sides of its borders, with the exception of a small border with Burma in the south-east. Many view engagement and cooperation with India as fundamental in developing and strengthening Bangladesh's economy through trade, investment and communications. Critics argue that the anti-India sentiment fueled by Bangladeshi nationalism is often seen to politically exploit the sentiments of Bangladeshis towards an opposition to India.

Islamic Fundamentalism

In recent years, the leading political propagators of Bangladeshi nationalism led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Bangladesh Nationalist Party

allied themselves in a coalition with two radical Islamic political parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and the Islamic National Unity Front. Jamaat had also actively opposed Bangladesh's independence and sided with Pakistan in the liberation war. In recent years, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has come under heavy criticism for its alliance with the two parties which have also begun to profess Bangladeshi nationalism in order to give themselves a more moderate outlook. However both Jamaat and the Islamic Front are seen as active supporters of Bangladeshi extremist and terrorist organizations including Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami is an Islamic fundamentalist organization most active in South Asian countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India since the early 1990s. It was banned in Bangladesh in 2005. The operational commander of HuJI, Ilyas Kashmiri, was reportedly killed in a U.S. Predator drone...

(Huji) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh

Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh

Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen was a Islamist organisation operating in Bangladesh...

(JMB). Many of the cadres of these terrorist organizations are also members of the student wing of Jamaat which nowadays professes Bangladeshi nationalism.

Background

1905 Parition of Bengal

United Bengal Movement

1947 Bengal Partition

Resurgence of Bengali nationalism

Independence of Bangladesh

1975 military coup

Concept

Anti-India sentiment

Islamic Fundamentalism

See also