The New Nation - Internet Edition

M.T.Hussain

Nawab Khawja Salimullah born in 1871 on the 7th June in Dhaka (then spelled Dacca) being the offspring of Nawab Ahsanullah in the illustrious Nawab family with silver spoon in his mouth and passed away quite mysteriously prematurely in 1915 January 16th at only 44 had a life of historic importance and heavy weight for the people of Bangladesh.

Having had the best Muslim and English education, he took not long to realize the misfortune of the people of this region along with the Muslims of the British Indian subcontinent. Worries he had in elevating from the miseries and misfortunes of the average people that he need not have had to care for being born into one of the richest families in the region, he left off soon not only his own job of the British colonial government of Deputy Magistrate but also similarly inspired a well educated British job holder Maulvi Fazlul Haq to quit his job as well and join works for liberation and emancipation of the people having had no leadership in the field to do the difficult task in the Indian British Empire, particularly in Bengal almost solely dominated by the high caste Hindus mainly based in Calcutta ( now Kolkata).

At only 35 he ventured to undertake a uphill task in recreating awareness lost by then for the step-motherly treatment of the Muslims by the British Raj through colonial oppression in forming and organizing the All India Muslim League having initial base at Dacca, the historic Muslim city though but by then nearly 250 years old and had already lost the past shine and glamour.

One may wonder that Nawab Salimullah alone all on his own borne all expenses of the 1955 member delegates and observers assembled in late December 1906 at Dacca from all over the Indian subcontinent including some from the princely states for founding of the All India Muslim League. The pioneering task had not only been conceived by him to maintain the new province of East Bengal and Assam created in late 1905 but also to raise the awareness level from backwardness and relieving out from century old frustration of all people in the region.

His philanthropy did not end in founding the Muslim League alone but went into many other human welfare areas including establishing Madrassahs, schools, Yatimkhanas, social welfare organizations etc. so much so that he died in huge debt.

He was failed by the Reactionaries of the high caste Hindu community

The new province that indicated some window of opportunity for the backward people of the region was bitterly opposed by the reactionaries based in Calcutta. He was thus failed by the reactionaries much superior in strength and supported by the older and mature Congress party than the newly established Muslim League in their annulment of the 1905 partition and doing away with the new province of East Bengal and Assam in about five years in 1911 thus once again relegating the millions of backward Muslims and other disadvantaged people of East Bengal and Assam to utter frustration.

Salimullah's defeat and frustration and of the Muslim League's inability in preserving the new province had a consolation prize by the British Government in making a promise to establish a residential university in Dacca that was though realized in 1921 not until six years of his passing away.

The other consolation and possibly the still bigger one, not seen during his life time but 32 years after was the re-emergence of the provincial entity lost in 1911, but in the different framework of independent Pakistan in 1947. For the Muslim League founded by Salimullah spearheaded the founding of the new country, possibly, not exactly foreseen in geographical terms by the Nawab when he initiated the Muslim League but realized in essence for uplift and welfare of the backward Muslims and other disadvantaged people of this region. The post 1971 independent Bangladesh is in fact what the idea had been in 1905 in the shape of a different entity of the province of East Bengal and Assam.

It is pity that the present progeny of Bangladesh hardly know that short of the struggle initiated by the Nawab 102 years ago in Dacca for upholding identity and entity of the people of the geographical area, there would have been nothing what is now known as Bangladesh. Instead it would have certainly been the integral part and parcel of the Kolkata based province of Bangla or Banga Pradesh of Indian union. Bangladesh could have independence in 1971 as because it could have had broken away from Pakistan with India's armed help. Who would come to help Bangladesh to become independent had it gone in 1947 as the integral part of the Indian Union following the end of the British rule in the sub-continent?

The Bangladesh progeny should be told and taught well that if there would be anyone to be placed as the fatherly figure of Bangladesh, it must only be Nawab Salimullah and none else. That is how the learning contents in school and college textbooks of this country should be planned and implemented in classroom situation without fail for setting the past history right.