In March 1971, the visual modality of independent national sovereignty for people of this land became politically dominant allele. So, the 7 March in that year was a defining moment for Bangladesh’s people and for Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well. By this time people knew there were overwhelming and special situation happening…it was definitely a defining moment in Bangladesh’s history.
The whole Pakistan based National Election in 1970 caused to bechance a landslide victory for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s political party, Awami League, under his able and potent leadership and he turned out being the majority party leader in Pakistan. He could best help harness grass-roots outpouring of protest of anti-Pakistani establishment and anger into Bengali nationalism’s resurgence at the ballot box in that national poll.
The Bengali nation needed a chair who could not only take the fight to the Pakistani monsters. We also needed a chair that could lead a turnaround and change the culture of this land. And Mujib successfully steered that chair.
Bangabandhu’s remarkable speech on 7 March, 1971 at Dhaka’s Race Corse Ground (now Suhrawardy Uddan) spoke of a delimitating moment of our history in mien of more than a million people with their earsplitting applause. The world of Bangladesh had changed after his speechification. It was the unmasking of an underlying evil that took an ugly shape in the 1971 War by the Pakistani oppressors.
Only as the truth of the massacres, plots, and campaigns have revealed themselves as the Bangladesh’s provisional government truly begun to heal by defeating the savage Pakistani forces. Mujib’s address on that day was the demarking moment in the history of Bangladesh. A great man once said, “He was a man of his times.
He was a man of courage, decency, moderation and vision – characteristics which should and usually do mark the nation he helped to find. Yes, he was a man of his times, he was a man who embodied the best of his times and may this country embody the very best” and he is our Bangabandhu Mujib.
In any sense of datum, 7 March address to the Bengali nation is one of the most memorable speeches of all time. It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speech delivering skills from Mujib’s historic masterpiece; and it is recognised as one of the best speeches ever given. If we look at what makes it so memorable: It is dramatically delivered ad-lib under the open sky amid more than a million of people. His words proved to be a touchstone for understanding the social and political upheaval of the time and gave the nation a vocabulary to express what was happening. He argued passionately and powerfully.
Stylistically the speech has been described as a political treatise, a work of poetry, and a masterfully delivered and improvised sermon, bursting with revolutionary language and imagery. As well as rhythm and alliteration are a hallmark device, he used to bang home key points. The format is simple – always an aid to memorability! This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilising drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of independence and democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of Bangladesh’s people. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick-sands of injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Sheikh Mujib’s life really then began to ripple out around the globe. He set off an atomic political bomb on 7 March in 1971 and that will be felt in the thousand years to come. It was like tearing down a wall that might seem very heavy, but when you realise what all else came down with that wall, you begin to see it in a whole new light. When the wall came down on that day, it signified the final beginning to end the Pakistani oppressiveness and birth of the voice of the people en- bloc to liberate the country.
While the address has a very impregnable message for our people and hints at revolution, his words are mostly about peace, offering a vision everyone could buy into.
At the end of the speech, he brings in a unifying passage themed around freedom with singing with a new meaning of a land of the people’s pride, from everywhere, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every corner of the country, we will be able to speed up that day when all of our people, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of Bangabandhu.
The speech was the remarkable emotion of Mujib’s delivery in terms of both voice and body; it was a fervent emotional sermon, forged out of the language and spirit of independence and democracy. Bangabandhu’s mastery of the spoken word, his magnetism, and his sincerity raised familiar platitudes from cliché to commandment.
It was a hectic afternoon for Sheikh Mujib. When he eventually walked to the podium, his thunderous voice spread like an electrifying speed among the people. We can tell today; all people could see was a speck and they listened to it. A smattering of applause filled a pause more pregnant than most. The speech's appeal lies in the fact that, whatever the interpretation, it remains the most eloquent, poetic, unapologetic and public articulation of that victory.
The tone is both informative and argumentative. Moreover, it is descriptive. The ideas are very sincere. His style is unique, but very easy to discuss. His use of ornamentation or embellishment is made possible through heavy uses of the anaphora. His words are very hopeful and deliberate. He is very conscious of his audience, and he is very commanding of his wording to avoid hurting his credibility with this audience.
However, he takes the right kinds of chances rhetorically. I believe that this speech is one of the best works that I have had the chance to personally hear and read. More importantly, he finishes the speech with a powerful metaphor of a bell ringing, pronouncing "every house to turn into a fortress. Face the enemy with whatever you have...” In the song, and in his speech, the ringing of the bells is meant to signify the echoing of the sounds all across the country.
The Bangabandhu’s address is one of the greatest. He took his audience on a journey that began with the preparation for founding of Bangladesh. We were at the crossroads at which the country found itself at that moment. He wanted to make sure that Bengalis chose the right path. And people took the right course of their conduct. It would seem that the historical essence of his speech was much more of great significance or value.
The address is rich with allusions to the Declaration of Independence and filled with poetic and rhetorical constructs so that it is more of a political speech. While the address contains a political aim mainly that of achieving Bangladesh, it served as a stirring and moving speech that could metaphorically speak for all the people to be in the war. The speech on 7 March convinced the freedom-loving people of Bangladesh by raising their emotion through the historical facts of political deprivation and persecution, as well as building the credibility of Bangabandhu in order to prepare the Bangladesh’s people for the Liberation War.
The revolution of our people in 1971 was one of the greatest events in the world history. The history of the birth of Bangladesh as an independent country is the best example of the success of Bangabandhu’s speech. In 1971, fervent choruses of "Joy Bangla" and "Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami Tumai Bhalobashi" rang out together to evoke the beauty and strength of another Bengal, a new Bengal, whose people fought for freedom from Pakistan and established Bangladesh valiantly with all patriotism.
This speech continues to enthrall our people and will continue to inspire succeeding generations. In this blessed event, we also need to understand the freedom struggle and to appreciate the contributions of all its architects, visionaries, beneficiaries and victims.
In fact, Bangabandhu’s 7 March address in 1971 made a country - Bangladesh. The torrid month of March 1971 and his delimitating speech remind me the words of William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet): “thus with a kiss I die” ―, On this great moment, we remember Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with due laurel wreath. Joy Bangla. Joy Bangabandhu. Joy Bangladesh.
Anwar A. Khan is an
independent political analyst who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs