administrative services had an overwhelming majority from West Pakistan. The benefits of development have by and large gone to West Pakistan. East Bengal remained poor and even today they are the poorest people in the entire subcontinent. In the elections, Mujib’s Awami League got 98 per cent of votes and won a majority in the National Assembly of Pakistan. But they were deceived and denied a democratic rule.
When Ghaffar Khan came here, I asked him: Pakhtoonistan is being suppressed by the military regime. Do you want India to raise this issue at the UN? He replied, “It will be untimely. Democracy is coming to Pakistan and we will see what we can do ourselves”. He had absolute faith in the restoration of democracy. Now that democracy has been buried in East Bengal, why is he keeping mum?
DKG: But how can we force the aggressor to sit across the table to seek a peaceful solution?
Vinoba: Moral pressure will work. You must mobilize would opinion to bring pressure on the military regime of West Pakistan.
DKG: Can the two wings of Pakistan remain together now?
Vinoba: This would happen only when the ABC Triangle comes into being (ABC Triangle is Vinoba’s idea of a confederation constituting the triangle of Afghanistan, Burma and Ceylon with the Sub-continent of India and Pakistan). But today even an Indo-Pak confederation is not possible. The wars of 48 and 65 have blinded the people to think along these lines. If there is any wisdom left in Bangla Desh, they will never remain with West Pakistan after what they have suffered at the hands of the military regime. Moreover, there are no common factors between the two wings. Islam has failed to weld them together. Entire Europe is Christian, but Christianity has not united them into a nation. Religion is outdated now. Hunger is the main issue. Who is hungry? Of course, Bangla Desh, and hungry people have no religion.
DKG: Should we call an Asian conference to mobilize world opinion?
Vinoba: Yes, this can be done. And it will be easier to organise it.
During my walking tours all over the country, I was in East Bengal for 18 days. I saw that people of Bangla Desh are very proud of their language. They used to say that the Bengal spoken in Calcutta is not pure Bangali. Their Bengali is pure ‘gold’. And their Bengali has more Sanskrit words than any Indian language. Malayalam, among Indian languages, has the highest number of Sanskrit words but the Bengali of East Bengal has a still higher number of Sanskrit words.
I used to ask them: “Who are responsible for making the Bangla mind?” and they always gave four names: Buddha, Mohammed, Chaitanya and Tagore. These are the four great personalities who have shaped the Bangla mind. They have adopted Tagore’s song Amar Sonar Bangla Desh as their national anthem. They love Tagore’s poetry so much. But the rulers of Pakistan had banned Tagore’s poetry on their radio.
