The story of the rise and fall of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is one of the most fascinating and tragic of modern times. A towering personality, the undisputed leader of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) ‘Bangabandhu’ Mujibur Rahman had all the ma kings and charisma of a world leader ~ a dream which unfortunately remained unfulfilled. Sheikh Mujib galvanised the entire Bengali speaking people of Pakistan to launch a move ment for autonomy for East Bengal (then East Pakistan) and restoration of Bengali pride by making Bengali the official language of East Bengal in place of Urdu (which was not in any case, understood by the common people).

The ‘Language Movement’ started by students in Dacca University (now Dhaka), which had seen many bloody battles and brute suppressions, culminated into a full-scale autonomy movement. Sheikh Mujib became the unchallenged hero of the masses and his party, Awami League based on secular and democratic principles became the most popular political front. General Elections based on guided democracy were held for both the wings of Pakistan ~ Z.A. Bhutto of Pakistan Peoples’ Party leading the West and Sheikh Mujib of Awami Party leading the East ~ as part of a deal struck between the military junta and the political parties for restoration of democracy and popular governments in Pakistan.

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The results of the general elections were spectacular and most unexpected by the West Pakistan rulers. Mujib Rahman’s Awami League Party won more than 90 per cent of seats of East Pakistan and secured an absolute majority in the National Assembly of Pakistan at Islamabad. The results were not acceptable either to the military regime or to Bhutto who was assured by the Army top brass and was himself certain about becoming the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The possibility of Mujibur Rahman becoming the Prime Minister of the united Pakistan had to be eliminated because the administrators of West Pakistan and the military leaders hated Bengali Muslims as ‘inferior’ to them and could never accept such a situation. West Pakistan was in a serious dilemma and opted for the easy option that its leaders only knew well ~ ‘crackdown’, by sending the troops. So, there was an allout military cra ckdown in East Pakistan followed by genocide in which an estimated three million people, especially intellectuals and minorities were killed. Martial Law was imposed and the election results for the East were declared null and void. The top leadership of Awami League was put behind bars and Mujib was arrested and deported to an unknown destination somewhere in West Pakistan on charges of sedition.

An era of sup pression, ar – rests and torture targeting Hindus and the supporters of Awami Party began. The Army also resorted to the dastardly act of wiping out the entire top leadership and intellectuals after they were arrested and lodged in jails. Bhutto and the military jun ta completely misread the situation after the elections. Had only Bhutto agreed to share power with the Awami League and made Mujib the Prime Minister of Pakistan, even by rotation, the demand for autonomy for East Bengal may have slowly died out.

Or perhaps, Mujib himself could have been persuaded to remain in East Bengal ruling the eastern part of the country (later re-named as Bangladesh) as its President with maximum possible autonomy within a new federal structure of Pakistan. In that case, Bhutto could have ruled Pakistan as its Prime Minister with the support of Mujib’s Party. Instead of working out a political solution which would satisfy the aspirations of Bengalis, the leadership chose the path of extreme suppression, torture and bloodshed, which the Bengalis reb elled against.

The genocide transformed every Bengali’s resolve for autonomy into a de mand for full independence from West Pakistan’s rule. This, as mentioned, originated from a simple and justifiable demand to make Bengali the official language of East Bengal, but was mishandled by the West Pakistan rulers with all military brutalities. A simple Bengali language movement led to demands for autonomy which gradually escalated into a movement for independence. It is a sad reflection on the attitudes of the then administrators who were naive to believe that it all could be suppressed with brutal force.

It could be safely argued that the West Pakistan-anointed administrators of East Bengal, with their arrogance, lack of humane approach, lack of foresight and total lack of understanding of the feelings of the local people precipitated the demise of Pakistan in East Bengal. Had they adopted a three language formula and evoked an impartial administration and independent judiciary and allowed a popular government to function, there would probably have been no demand for independence from Pakistan. It is an irony of history (history never forgives!) that Bhutto who played into the hands of military rulers and was indirectly responsible for the holocaust in East Bengal himself became a victim of his own actions and designs.

He was first condemned by the military for dismembering Pakistan, then sent to prison and later executed on a murder charge, without a fair trial. His overthrow by a military regime left a trail of suppression, destruction of all democratic institutions, violence and lack of freedom in West Pakistan. Coming back to Mujib, no – body knew where he had been taken by the military junta after his arrest and deportation. There were floating rumours including that he had been killed; and no authentic information was forthcoming because all news about Mujib was blacked out by the military junta. It was certain that Mujib had been flown out of Bengal.

One speculation was that he had been confined to a remote jail in Baluchistan. Ano – ther speculation was that he had been killed and secretly buried in West Pakistan. The Indian intelligence agencies and for that matter no international agency including the KGB had any clue about his disappearance. Probably, the CIA knew about his where abouts and it was subsequently rumoured that the American President might have asked the military rulers to spare Mujib’s life. I have always considered astrological predictions as inane probabilities. Nonetheless, certain predictions approximate the truth with such accuracy that one is sometimes astounded to believe: ‘yes, there is something in it’.

One such rare prediction coming true concerned Mujib. One day, a colleague of mine brought a copy of B.V. Raman’s Astrological Magazine and asked me to read the leading article dealing with Mujib’s future. I still vividly remember the predictions made on Mujib’s life by Raman: the horoscope of Mujib shows he is very much alive; he will come out of the prison unharmed and he will be the head of state of a new nation. The accuracy of predictions like this leads people to develop faith in astrology.

(The writer is a former Dy. Comptroller & Auditor General of India and a former Ombudsman of Reserve Bank of India. He is also a writer of several books and can be reached at brahmas@gmail.com This article is excerpted from his book Confessions of a Bureaucrat)