The main thought of the life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independent Bangladesh, was the welfare of the common people, the improvement of their quality of life. He started it at the very beginning of his political career. If we see, from the beginning of his student life he worked for the welfare of farmers and common people. Even in his student days, he used to collect fistfuls from people's houses and give the children of common people an opportunity to study.
Later, we have seen that he stood by the side of the common people again and again in various crises. During the 1974 famine, Bangabandhu tried to save the starving people by opening the anchorage to ease their suffering. Similarly, when the migration of people from both sides of the border started during the partition of the country in 1947, he went to Asansol to manage the relief camps to alleviate the sufferings of the people. So the main goal of his life and the main theme of his movement were to remove the suffering of the common people. In that sense, he was greatly moved by the liberation of the economy.
We noticed that in the early phase of his politics in Bangladesh, i.e. when he came to East Bengal from Kolkata and became a law student at Dhaka University, he joined and led the early phase of the language movement. He was associated with the language movement of 1952 from jail and also joined the hunger strike. We also noticed that Bangabandhu said on the first anniversary of the language movement on February 1, 1953 in Dhaka's Armanitola Maidan, "The fight for language is not only for language, this fight is a fight for total liberation." Struggle for political, social and economic liberation.
We saw that struggle in his political life as well. At that time he did a hunger strike. He raised the demand for food for the people. Especially when there was a cyclone or any natural disaster; Then he ran to the side of the criminals. He pressured the central government to give them relief. Immediately after the disastrous cyclone of November 1970, he rushed to the affected areas with an election campaign to serve the distressed people. Similarly, he made strong speeches in various political meetings to look after the interests of the farmers. Especially in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, he raised the question, 'A governor is paid Tk. 6 thousand and how much money does a farmer-labourer of mine get?'
He also said that the system of zamindari should be abolished. Land should be given to the subjects. As a farmer-loving true public leader, he was strongly in favor of eliminating inequality in the society. That is why he participated in the general elections of 1954, went to their homes and heard their grief. Later, when he became the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, he tried his best to remove that sorrow. When he became the Chairman of the Tea Board, he did a lot to look after the interests of the tea workers.
When Bangabandhu again became the Central Minister of Commerce and Industry of Pakistan then the small entrepreneurs of East Pakistan negotiated with the central government on how to help them. He arranged to get a fund from the central government and give it to these entrepreneurs. Besides, what he did as the Central Commerce Minister was that everyone had to go to Karachi to get a commercial license for import or export. He brought that commercial office to East Pakistan.
This is how he worked for the common man, bringing up the issue of two economies. He worked with the economists. Bangabandhu spoke about the economic inequality of the two regions. Bangabandhu insisted on balancing the trade of this region within six steps to remove the economic disparity. It was he who proposed the establishment of a Central bank here to keep jute export money in East Pakistan and various initiatives to bring East Pakistan into West Pakistan's trade with East Pakistan. From all these, it seems that Bangabandhu was completely talking about economic liberation.
Needless to say, his historical six- points stood for economic liberation. Although the six points finally stood at one point, the liberation of Bangladesh. At that time also he wanted to make a six-point constitution after winning the election. There, Professor Nurul Islam, Professor Rehman Sobhan and other economists tried to make a draft constitution. Later, he started the development journey in the independent country, where he gave the most importance to agriculture. He used to say, 'If my farmer lives, the country will live.'
He waived rent for farmers up to 25 bighas, he freed about 10 lakh farmers from certificate cases. After that Bangabandhu emphasized on green revolution. He arranged to bring high-quality seeds, fertilizers and irrigation equipment from abroad. To protect flood affected people he took steps for flood prevention project. On the other hand, he tried to nationalize and manage the abandoned factories left behind by the Pakistanis to protect the interests of the workers. That does not mean that he was against the private sector. In 1975, as we will see, Bangabandhu raised the private sector investment limit from Tk. 25 lakhs to Tk. 3 crores and handed over many confiscated units of Pakistanis in the private sector to the private sector of independent Bangladesh. Gradually, he might have been in favor of creating a welfare approach by combining the public-private sector. In the constitution given by him, the guarantee of survival of the people is promised
That proves his strong stand on the issue of equality and inequality.
However, the reality is that even if Bangabandhu wanted it with all his heart, the state's structural limitations, bureaucracy; especially with the violence of the hoarders (whom we now call syndicates) - he was not coping. Addressing them, he said in a strong voice, "I want to give the last blow to this corrupt social system." Bangabandhu declared war against the profiteers and hoarders. He was adamant about a uniform system, in which the common man would be the most important. That is why he was moving towards cooperatives under the Second Revolution. He announced that the farmer would get one share, the distributor would get one share and the landowner would get one share. The main objective was to empower common people giving them total power. Similarly, Bangabandhu placed the greatest emphasis on food security in the newly independent country. He used to say, 'It is very shameful for the President or Prime Minister of an independent country to beg for food from outside countries. We want to move away from it. We have to produce our own food.
Bangabandhu was very keen on self-sufficiency in food. He also paid equal attention to education and health. He always considered common people as participants in development. He used to say, 'I have land, I have people. Why can't I, surely I can.' In fact, he brought forward a philosophy of development in Swadeshi style. In this development thought of Bangabandhu, people are the main thing, people are the first. That is why he has come a long way in just three and a half years. The economy of the country had advanced a lot. Per capita income increased three and a half times. The size of the economy increased two and a half times.
On January 10, 1972, an emotional Bangabandhu spoke about his deep love for the common people at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan after stepping out of the Pakistani jail into the free country. Bangabandhu said, 'This freedom will not be fulfilled if the people of Bengal do not get enough rice, this freedom will not be fulfilled if the mothers and sisters of Bengal do not get clothes, this freedom will not be fulfilled if the youth of this country do not get jobs. This was Bangabandhu's message of equality in Bangladesh.
Bangabandhu not only effectively transformed a provincial government into a central government, but also strengthened the banking system, giving a lot of power to the central bank. He was taking Bangladesh forward with everyone, where people's liberation will come. This freedom is freedom from poverty. It can be said unequivocally that Bangabandhu's efforts were progressing well. He started with an 80 percent poverty rate. Due to the tragic killing of Bangabandhu and his family in 1975, that progress was set back.
Currently, we are moving forward under the leadership of Bangabandhu's daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At this time, it can be said that Bangladesh has achieved extraordinary success in poverty alleviation. We can see that in 1991-92, our poverty rate was about 57 percent, but by 2010, it has become 31.5 percent. 24.3 percent in 2016, 18.6 percent in 2022. Extreme prowess was 41 per cent in 1991-92, down to 5.6 per cent in 2022, meaning we are talking and working on economic liberation.
But what has become the problem, which Bangabandhu disliked so much, is discrimination. Economic disparity has increased. We can see that the 'Gini' index of inequality has now reached point 5. That means we have reached the danger zone. But it was point 39 in 1991. Now I notice, overall inequality has increased a lot. The top 10 percent had 29 percent of the income or wealth in 1991-92. That has now increased to 41 percent. And the bottom 10 percent of the poor, whose disposable income was about 2.5 percent, has dropped to 1.3 percent.
It means that the income of the people at the bottom is going to the top. This is in conflict with Bangabandhu's dream of economic liberation. This is why we need to make our entire taxation system much more direct in this area. The rich will also have to pay much higher wealth taxes. Social protection programs for the poor should be increased. Investment in education and health should be increased for them. Much work remains to be done in these areas. If we really want to build Bangabandhu's egalitarian Bangladesh, his much talked about 'Golden Bangla' then economic inequality must be reduced. In this struggle, the government as well as the private sector and all the members of the society should come forward. Only then will celebrating Independence or Victory Day be worthwhile.
Author: Emeritus Professor, Department of Development Studies; University of Dhaka and former Governor, Bangladesh Bank.