SIX-POINT PROGRAMME WILL NOT DESTROY
PAKISTAN OR ISLAM

 

SAIDPUR (Rangpur), October 25 : Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Awami League Chief, has said that his party's six-point programme would never destroy Pakistan or Islam but it would only destroy exploiters.

 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressing a large public meeting at Bangla High School ground here yesterday said that one of the demands in the six-point programme was restriction on the flight of capital from Bengal which had frightened the exploiting people of the province. The Awami League Chief complained that Bengal had been made a market for West Wing product for which old industries of the province had been destroyed.

 

In this connection he referred to the provinces textile, sugar and salt industries and its continued dependence on West Wing import. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said that his fight was to realise rights of Bengalees, adding that by Bengalees he meant Bengali Muslim, Bengali Hindus and Bengali refugees.

He complained that successive Central Governments had also deprived refugees of Bengal of their due share in funds collected through refugees tax. He said, only 15 per cent of refugee fund money was used for refugees in East Pakistan while,, the remaining 85 per cent was spent in the West Wing.

 

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He said if he could secure a substantial majority in the election he would show how Bengal's rights could be realised and exploitation stopped. But he said if rights would not be secured through election his party would launch a mass move­ment for which he wanted people to be with him.

 

The Awami League Chief censured the Ayub regime for the exploitation of Bengal and depriving Bengalees of their rights. He said while Ayub Khan after serving; the British claimed to be a patriot, while those who fought for Pakistan were branded traitors.

 

He said that his struggle was against 22 families and exploiters from West Pakistan but nothing against the poor people of the West Wing.

 

He said that he and his party would always support them in their fight against Zamindar, Jagirdar and Sarmayadar.

 

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He said that for the last 23 years Bengalees had suffered a lot but they were this time determined to achieve victory either through election or through struggles.

 

He campaigned for his party candidates for the coming election and said that since he and his party had restored the right of franchise only they were entitled to their vote in the coming election.

 

Addressing another public meeting at Domar in Rangpur, the Awami League Chief said that the persons who had sacrificed the interests of Bengal at the altar of Ayub Khan and acted against the cause of the Bengalees had no claim to be favoured with votes. Sheikh Mujib further said that those who had acted as agents of Ayub Khan and sided with him in denying the right of franchise to the people should not be elected to do more harm to the people. How could those agents­claim votes which were secured through struggle launched by his party and the people. The Sheikh reminded the people that they would have to fight if the rights of Bengalees were not achieved through elections.

 

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He said that Bengalees for long suffered defeats and they would no longer accept any more defeat and this time they were determined to achieve victory. He said that there was nothing wrong or un Islamic in his party's slogan of "Jai Bangla " which meant victory for Bengal. Only those who did not want Bengal's victory would dislike the slogan "Jai Bangla," he said, adding that when he said "Jai Bangla" he would also say "Jai Panjab ", "Jai Sindi ", "Jai Pakistan" as well. He recalled that during the Pakistan movement they used the term ` Zindabad '. The slogan currently being used was of relatively recent origin. He was confident that the slogan of " Jai Bangla " would in near future spread to every nook and corner of Bengal including rural areas.

 

The six-point programme, he said, sought to ensure political and economic autonomy for the people of Bengal and end exploitation. He was critical of those who in the name of Islam wanted to wreck Bengalees' efforts to restore their rights through the six-point programme and those who termed it as unIslamic Sheikh Mujibur Rahman censured the Ayub regime for exploitation of Bengalees and repression on those including himself who protested against such exploitation.

 

He said that Bengalees would prove through coming elections that they wanted to secure their rights by implementing the six-point programme the main theme of which was that Bengalees must be master of their own land and their own resources. Awami League Chief in his campaign for party candidates in the coming election said that Awami League election alliance or united front with (Wali Group) National Awami Party was not possible because of difference in principle. He said that alliance was not possible, as NAP Chief Wali Khan did not support either Awami League's six­point programme or the students' eleven-point programme.

 

NILPHAMARI (Rangpur), October 25: Awami League Chief, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said on Friday that seven crore Bengalees were now determined to put an ,end to their exploitations and become masters of their own destiny.

 

Addressing a huge public meeting at Bangla High School Maidan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said that it was time to put an end to the exploitations of ,the Bengalees and ensure fairplay and justice for them in all spheres of national life. Sounding a note of warning, the Awami League Chief said that if there was any attempt to deprive the seven crore people of Bangla Desh of their rights, those who are responsible for it would have to pay very heavily. He said, "We will not forgive those who have imposed injustice on us."

 

Amidst cheers and slogans, the Awami League Chief declared that the six-point programme of his party aimed at total economic and political emancipation of the people of Bangla Desh. He hoped that the people would support the six-point programme and elect Awami League candidates who would go to the Assemblies to fight for their demands.

 

Quoting facts and figures Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said that a great economic injustice resulting in the wide gulf of disparity between the two regions had been done to East Pakistan, and added that the capitalists and bureaucrats of West Pakistan had exploited the people of East Pakistan and took away all the money from here.

 

He said that the people of Bangla Desh would not allow flight of capital 'from this wing to outside. He said that almost all the money earned by the industrialists and the big business was sent to West Pakistan for development of that wing. In this connection, he also referred to the movement of gold between the two wings. He said that there should be free movement of gold between the two wings.

 

Sheikh Mujib said that some people were raising the slogans of " Islam in ,danger " to divert the attention of the people from the real problems and get their votes. He asked the people to beware of such elements and expose them so that they could not do further harm to the interest of the people of Bangla Desh. Earlier, on arrival here the Awami League Chief was accorded a rousing welcome by the people. He was profusely garlanded.

 

(THE PEOPLE, Dacca-October 26, 1970)

 

 

Source: Bangladesh Documents, vol-I, p.102-104