June 7: Manu Mia’s sacrifice and 6-point day

Nure Alam Siddique

June 7, 1966 is not only the day of Manu Mia’s sacrifice, but also the day of transition from the movement of self-rights to independence for the Bengali nation. In this context, I would like to say something about the topic of June 7 at the beginning. In that time ‘Mujib Bhai’ called Syed Mazharul Haque Baki, the president of Chhatra League (BCL) and the general secretary Abdur Razzak and handed over a draft of 6-points and said, “It is basically the freedom-charter of the nation. I handover this to the Chhatra League.” If the Chhatra League leaders had not taken the responsibility of implementing that program out of fear, 6-points would die in the dormitory and would never see the light. The BCL leaders organized the BCL members to run the program with relentless efforts.

Before it, in the war of 1965, Ayub Khan had to pay a heavy price to India and secured him under the Tashkent Agreement. In this context, the PDM called a roundtable meeting to convene all opposition parties. ‘Mujib Bhai’ (General Secretary of Awami League at that time) presented the 6-point proposal in that meeting with a view to save the existence of East Pakistan. In that Round Table Meeting all the participant parties not only expressed their inability to include it as a movement schedule, but also started propaganda loudly against Sheikh Mujib and started to spread out that, to represent the 6-points Mujib made the government-overthrown movement lengthy. ‘Mujib Bhai’ (that time he was the General Secretary and Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkbagish was the President of Awami League) returned from West Pakistan and presented 6 points in the extended meeting of the party for approval of it as a party program. It is a matter of sorrow but real, it did not approve in that extended meeting.

After giving 6 points, Mujib Bhai called the council of Awami League. The council approved 6 points and Mujib Bhai was unanimously elected president. Nevertheless, Chhatra League was the main force and conviction in scattering the 6 points in the mindset of the people of Bengal. But Mujib Bhai decided to visit every subdivision of Bangladesh; Chhatra League took the responsibility to make it successful. He was arrested in Jessore after holding a district-wise meeting after holding meetings in several sub-divisional towns. After getting bail, he was arrested again in Khulna and released again. Thus, in the midst of a light-and-dark game of arrest and bail, the government decided to imprison him under the Defense of Pakistan Rules, where there was no bail. A full-day strike was called across East Pakistan on June 6 in a bid to secure the release of political prisoners, including Mujib Bhai and his colleagues, and to transform the six-point plan into a national program. Mr. Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury and Amena Begum somehow kept the Awami League as an organization as part of the main leadership did not support the 6 points and part of them were in jail. In the meantime, Manik Bhai also expressed his support and conviction towards the 6 points (I was also involved in the relentless efforts of the martyred journalists Sirajuddin Hossain and Syed Mazharul Haque Baki in gaining this support). Ittefaq on the one hand, and Chhatra League on the other (even then most of the Awami League leadership did not have the conviction and conviction for the 6 points) took a strong stand for the June 6 strike. Among the former leadership of Chhatra League, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni, Sirajul Alam Khan and many other former leaders of Chhatra League took position in different halls of Dhaka University to make it successful on 7th June. Then Amanisha in front of us. Starting from NSF, all right and left organizations including student unions are strongly opposed to Chhatra League centering on 6 points. When we live in the dream of independence through the 6 points of the mindset of the Bengalis, then the rightists and the leftists are shouting loudly, Sheikh Mujib is a traitor, a CIA agent, a follower of India. His execution became the main theme of their campaign.

Even then the Labor League was not born. But the strike on June 7 was impossible and unrealistic if the workers could not be associated with the movement. Mr Khaled Mohammad Ali, Mr Kamruzzaman Tuku, Mr Firoz Noon and I have the responsibility to organize the Tejgaon area for the strike. Rahmat Ullah, Vice-President of Student Parliament of Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute joined us. Our senior leaders were able to garner some support from local influential labor leader Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan (his home in Noakhali). Although he gave indirect support, he never came directly to any meeting or procession with us.

On June 3, Mr. Kamruzzaman Tuku and I were sent to give a speech at a huge (!) Rally in a square in Tejgaon. Arriving on time, I saw that there is a huge distance away, there are no crowds of people present. Standing in shock, suddenly a young man came and introduced himself: “My name is Shahidullah, I am the general secretary of Tejgaon Thana Awami League.” My whole body was trembling with anger. I immediately decided to buy 4/5 kg lozenge. Even if the street children gather as much as possible in a procession, they will have to inform about the strike on June 7. At first 15/20 boys gathered. In the meantime, a quick boy was given the responsibility. She would distribute lozenges and involve as many street and neighborhood boys as possible in the procession. I was amazed when I stood up for the meeting in the Tejgaon station area, about two and a half thousand people had joined the procession. A hand mic was also collected from somewhere. For more than an hour, I spoke with great excitement. I cried myself in that meeting that day, I saw the awakened crowd present sobbing and crying. On the night of June 6, we shared the responsibilities and went to the mess halls of the workers of Tejgaon to make requests. From the 3rd to the morning of the 8th, about three or four hundred people promised to help. We did not know Manu Mia then. Despite hundreds of attempts since the morning of June 6, it has not been possible to produce an effective procession. What happened should be called a sudden procession. Failing to march in public, some of us decided that we would stop the Chittagong-bound express train from Dhaka on the morning of June 7. Then I had an addiction in myself, I have to build a resistance by any means. We will be 25/30 in number. With great emotion we lay down on the railway line and decided to stop the train. I was standing on a relatively high place, leaning on the shoulders of the other two and giving provocative speeches. As the news reached the police somehow, they were piloting 10/15 policemen with the engine of a separate train to cross the area. A policeman approached us and fired a shot from the engine (shots were also fired at Narayanganj and Sadarghat that day). One of the two men I was leaning on fell to the ground; He is Manu Mia. I immediately took him to a clinic in Tejgaon. He is still alive and well. He did not start treatment at all. Manu Mia put his head on my lap and muttered, “When you meet Mujib Bhai, you will say, I have given my life for 6 points.” Police snatched the body from us near Tejgaon railway gate. My shirt was torn in the scuffle; my body was soaked in Manu Mia’s blood. I did not let go of Manu Mia’s bloody vest.

I tied the vest to the head of a stick, kept it flying and marched towards the university. If the police had charged the baton, the procession would have been dispersed, but at once the people scattered around would have gathered and marched with slogans. Surprisingly, after the death of Manu Mia, there was extreme tension and severe insanity in the entire Tejgaon area. The shops on the side of the road immediately started closing their doors. I am sure that the shop is not in danger of being looted by the procession. Because, I saw that they did not fall into the trap by closing the shop, did not try to defend themselves in silence. On the contrary, he took part in the procession in a strong position without any fear. They roared the whole procession in a strange excitement with slogans in sky-scraping voices. That scene is indescribable. In today’s context, it is unimaginable. Today, if there are bloody corpses lying on the back road in the firing of police or in the firing of a brutal terrorist, people walk away with impassive heart. Stay away from chanting thunderous slogans in processions, they are in a hurry to save their lives or save their lives. The reality behind this is that no matter how angry the people are against the government, they do not have confidence and conviction in the opposition. Because, today’s main opposition party the oppression and torture of their rule is still burning in the memory of the people.

Whatever it is, the spontaneous participation of roadside people greatly increases the size of the procession. When the procession reached the corner of Shahbag, I saw Ittefaq news editor Shahid Sirajuddin Hossain standing on the pavement holding the hand of his son Shaheen Reza Noor and congratulating the procession with a proud hand. Seeing this scene, our excitement increased so much that I stood on the pedestal of Shahbagh Square and started giving inflammatory speeches. I was chanting slogans in the middle of the speech – ‘Bangladesh is independent in the blood of Manu Mia’, ‘P or Dhaka? Dhaka Dhaka ‘,’ Ayub or Mujib? Mujib Mujib ‘. When I reached Curzon Hall with the procession, I saw many outgoing senior leaders of Chhatra League including Moni Bhai, Siraj Bhai (Sirajul Alam Khan), Baki Bhai, Razzak Bhai, Sachchu Bhai, Shahidul Haque Munshi Bhai, Asmat Ali Sikder Bhai, Bashar Bhai waiting for us. There are. Maybe they were already aware of our procession. Not only did the procession with Manu Mia’s blood-soaked genji present me differently overnight, I am still thrilled to have come to this life in the context of my direct involvement in the historical activities of June 7, 1986. Pride, joy still shakes my whole being.

Mujib Bhai came out of the Agartala conspiracy case and stood at the racecourse and said, “Manu Mia has told my Alam that he has given blood for 6 points, he has given blood for the liberation of Bengal. I stood in this sea of people and took an oath that Sheikh Mujib will never be unfaithful with his blood. ”

After all, our senior leaders sent notes from the jail congratulating Mujib Bhai. A few days after June 7, I was arrested under the DPR Act and went to Dhaka Central Jail. Fortunately, I was kept in the cell next to ‘Mujib Bhai’. At the first opportunity, I narrated the words of the dying Manu Mia to ‘Mujib Bhai’ with a deep emotional heart. Mujib made his appearance on the racecourse ground. As I sat on the stage, I cried again.

I vividly remember Mujib Bhai lying on his bed one evening. Bhabhi is making drinks while sitting at the corner. At another turn, I was sitting next to Bangabandhu’s sheer. Bangabandhu was saying something experienced and emotional in his past life. Suddenly Bhabhi said to make me unprepared- Bhai Manu Mia’s mother is an ordinary woman who is illiterate. Standing on the stage, you quote Manu Mia’s mother and say with tears in your eyes, Manu Mia’s mother may also be among the spectators in that platoon ground. It cannot be said, if he ever stood up and shouted, “No, I have never told you so much about Manu!” You didn’t say it before you went to jail, you didn’t say it after you got out of jail. Where did you get so much talk from? I was not at all surprised and replied very slowly – Bhabhi, I will never face such a situation. The reason is that none of what I say about Manu Mia in my speech at Paltan Maidan is a lie at all. It is true that Manu Mia is dead. It is also true that he was standing on my left side. Only the bullet of death did not tear my chest but killed Manu Mia with a cruel blow. Truly Manu Mia will never be able to call his mother again & again. While cherishing this solid truth in my heart, while addressing the awakened, uplifting, arrogant people of the platoon, I used to express the event of Manu Mia’s death with the touch of my passionate heart, I would weep with the pain of memory, the tears of the people. In my words, the incident of Manu Mia’s death, the incident of meeting his mother immediately after his death, the incident of being released from prison after almost three years and going back to his mother – when I was presenting these realities, there was nothing wrong with it. Only with the truth, my emotions and overflowing heart would have been smeared. I didn’t just make people cry that day, no political motive affected me. Emotions drove me so much that I almost went insane. All my beings, thoughts-consciousness, desires-everything যে everything would have merged with Manu Mia’s incarnate soul without my knowledge. I would not speak, but I would express my feelings like crazy. What Manu Mia’s mother used to say while embracing me with her motherly affection is really her own expression. I used to paint a picture of Manu Mia’s mother’s tears with the brush of my heart to color that feeling. This is my heart-wrenching solid truth. Here my language, my expression was undoubtedly different from Manu Mia’s mother’s expression but was no exception.

The bullet fired by the police that pierced Manu Mia’s chest could have pierced my chest as well. Like Manu Mia, I too could have been a martyr. I don’t know if if I had been martyred, someone else would have stood in front of millions of people in the platoon like me with tears in his eyes or tears in his eyes. I did. Here in this article I want to highlight one truth; The sequence of events depends on one’s own thinking, one’s own mentality, one’s language and one’s emotions. Although he did not say so many details, if he said the essence and the essence, then it was Mujib’s brother. Mujib’s brother became emotional and said, “Bravo boy. Bapka beta sepaika horse, if there is no match then there is little match. ”

Millions of platoon people were not in front of me then but their huge presence was on the canvas of my heart. I would go insane to describe the vast expanse of exploitation and deprivation in Pakistan. Now in the evening of life, the emotions are very much stagnant, yet those bloody memories of that day still flood my heart, so I am satisfied even though I didn’t get any post and title later.

Author: Convener of Swadhin Bangla Kendriya Chhatra Sangram Parishad and former president of Chhatra League