বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড)/১৩৩
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মর্নিং নিউজ | ২৭ নভেম্বর, ১৯৭০ |
MUJIBUR RAHMAN WARNS AGAINST BID TO FRUSTRATE
ELECTIONS
Remarks made at a Press Conference at Dacca on November 26, 1970.
The Awami League Chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman told a Press Conference in Dacca yesterday that “if the polls are frustrated, the people of Bangladesh will owe it to the millions who have died to make the supreme sacrifice of another million lives, if need be, so that we can live as a free people and so that Bangladesh can be the master of its own destiny”.
To a query by a foreign correspondent as to whether this could be, interpreted as a call for “independence”, Sheikh Mujib said, “No, Not yet”.
Asked if by referring to the sacrifice of another one million Bengalees he meant to put up physical resistance, the Awami League chief said, “That I do not say now. My party is a constitutional organisation. We will start a constitutional movement. If they follow unconstitutional ways, people will follow their own course”.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was giving his impression of the tour of the cyclone ravaged areas in the coastal belt at the Press Conference which was attended by foreign journalists.
He strongly opposed the postponement of the general elections as a whole because of the disaster. Elections he however said, could be postponed in the eight constituencies ravaged by the catastrophe for a few weeks.
Reply to a question as to what he would do if elections were postponed, the Awami League chief said he would consult his party men to decide the future course of action. “Nothing, however, will go unchallenged”, he added.
When his attention was drawn to the statements of some political leaders who had demanded postponement of the elections because of the catastrophe, he asked. “Who are these leaders”? He said that by asking for postponement of the elections, which he described as a referendum on his Six-Point Programme, these political leaders were only trying to perpetuate the Martial Law regime.
“They want the Martial Law to protect their leadership. The same leaders had raised a hue and cry for postponement of the elections after the last flood. But what did they do to alleviate the sufferings of the flood-stricken people”, he asked.
This time also, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman pointed out, except for Maulana Bhashani and Pir Mohsenuddin and himself no one of these leaders had visited he ravaged areas, particularly the off-shore islands.
On the question of demands of postponement of elections by some Leaders, Sheikh Mujib also said, “You know bad students always ask for postponement of examinations”. He said let the elections be held on December 7 and many of these leaders and their parties would not be there and these leaders would even forfeit their right to issue statements.
Asked if he was giving “Bengal's survival” priority over survival of Pakistan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said: “We are the majority. We are Pakistani, Majority cannot be ignored”.
Replying to another question he said that there could be unity of the country only if the interest of all was recognized. “If they neglect and ignore our interest and treat us as a colony and market how can there be unity. We feel we are being treated as a market”, he said.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was asked if the Six-Point Programme was not a call for secession as has been alleged by some West Pakistani leaders. He said, “We are demanding regional autonomy and not independence”.
Asked if regional autonomy on the basis of the Six-Points could be achieved through elections, he said if the people give the verdict in favour of Six-Points, it would be achieved.
The Awami League Chief was asked if he had any information about the “attempt to frustrate the elections”, he said: “I can make a guess. I am a political being”. Elaborating, he said, “a conspiracy has been going on against the people of Bangladesh by the bureaucrats, the vested interest, the ruling cliques and a coterie for the last 22 years. If they are playing their old game now, they should know that they were playing with fire”.
The Awami League Chief who repeatedly referred to the coming elections as “referendum on the Six-Point Programme”, said that he did not think that the holding of the elections on schedule would hamper relief work in the Cyclone affected areas.
He said there could be thousands of volunteers for relief work and even from the affected areas ten thousand volunteers could be mobilized for relief work.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demanded release of all political prisoners, withdrawal of political cases to ensure a fair and free election. He, however, said that even if that was not done (by the Government) his party would take part in the elections. He referred to the 1954 elections when, he said, 3,500 political workers were in jail.