Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), often shortened as Maulana Bhashani, was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

politician. His political tenure spanned the British colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh periods. Maulana Bhashani was popularly known by the honorary title Mozlum Jananeta (Leader of the Oppressed) for his lifelong stance advocating for the poor. He gained nationwide mass popularity among the peasants and helped to build the East Pakistan Peasant Association. Owing to his political leaning to the left, often dubbed

Islamic Socialism Islamic socialism is a political philosophy that incorporates Islamic principles into socialism. As a term, it was coined by various Muslim leaders to describe a more spiritual form of socialism. Islamic socialists believe that the teachings ...

, he was also called 'The Red Maulana'. An alumnus of

Darul Uloom Deoband The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic seminary (darul uloom) in India at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. It is located in Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The seminary was established by Muhammad Qasim ...

, and participant in the

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajma ...

protesting the

dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) began with the Young Turk Revolution which restored the constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system for the Ottoman parliament. At the same tim ...

, he led the Muslims of Assam in a successful campaign during the 1947 Sylhet Referendum, through which Sylhet chose to become part of the Pakistan national project. He was the founder and President of the Pakistan Awami Muslim League (AML) which later became the

Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people. The adjective appears in the following proper names: *Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan *Awami Front, wa ...

(AL). Later however, owing to differences with the right-leaning leaders in the AML, such as Shaheed Suhrawardy, on the issue of

autonomy for East Pakistan The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

, he formed a new progressive party called the

National Awami Party The National Awami Party (NAP), translated from Urdu to English as National People's Party, was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by A ...

(NAP). Bhashani also differed with Suhrawardy when the latter, as Prime Minister of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, decided to join the US-led defence pacts

CENTO The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Tur ...

and

SEATO The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...

. He disagreed with Pakistan's growing ties with the United States. The split of the left-wing camp into pro-Moscow and pro-Beijing factions eventually led to the break-up of NAP into two separate parties; the pro-Moscow faction being led by Muzaffar Ahmed. After Pakistan's 1965 war with India, he showed some support for Field Marshal

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

's regime for its China-leaning foreign policy; but later he provided leadership to a mass uprising against the regime in 1968–69 with support from Fatima Jinnah. American journalist Dan Coggin, writing for ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', credited Bhashani, "as much as any one man", for instigating the

1969 Mass uprising in East Pakistan The 1969 mass uprising in East Pakistan ( bn, ঊনসত্তরের গণঅভ্যুত্থান, lit=69’s Mass uprising) was a democratic political movement in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The uprising consisted of a series of m ...

that culminated in the collapse of the Ayub Khan regime and the release of

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...

and the others accused in the

Agartala conspiracy case The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a sedition case in Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan against Awami League, brought by the government of Pakistan in 1968 against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then leader of the Awami League and East Pakistan ...

. According to lay author S. Akhtar Ehtisham, Bhashani's decision to boycott the

1970 Pakistan general elections General elections were held in Pakistan on 7 December 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly. They were the first general elections since the Partition of India, independence of Pakistan and ultimately the ...

effectively led to the electoral landslide by his erstwhile opponent Mujibur Rahman. The Awami League, without any viable opposition in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

, won 160 of the 162 seats in the province and thus gained a majority in the Pakistan national assembly.

Early life

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was born in Dhangara village in

Sirajganj Sirajganj ( bn, সিরাজগঞ্জ) is a city in north-western Bangladesh on the right bank of the Jamuna River. It is the administrative headquarters of Sirajganj District, and with a population of 167,200 is the fourteenth most populo ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

in 1880. He was the son of Sharafat Ali Khan. Between 1907 and 1909 he received a religious education at the

. His association with

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known as Shaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia university and launched the Silk Letter Movement for t ...

and other progressive Islamic thinkers inspired Bhashani to oppose

British imperialism The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. In 1909 he started teaching in a primary school at Kagmaree,

Tangail Tangail ( bn, টাঙ্গাইল, ), is a major city within the Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh. It sits on the bank of the Louhajang River, north-west of Dhaka, the nation's capital. It is considered to be the main urban area of ...

Political career

British period

In 1917, Bhashani became politically active and joined the Nationalist party led by

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-leader of the Swar ...

as an activist. Inspired by

Mohammad Ali Jauhar Muhammad Ali Jauhar (10 December 1878 – 4 January 1931), was an British Raj, Indian Muslim activist, prominent member of the All-India Muslim League, journalist and a poet, a leading figure of the Khilafat Movement and one of the founders of J ...

, he joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

in 1919. In 1920 he was arrested and imprisoned. After being released, he participated in the

Khilafat movement The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajma ...

. In 1921 he participated in Das's

Non-Cooperation Movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

against British imperialism. He suffered imprisonment for some days at that time along with his large numbers of followers. He joined the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

in 1930. He was elected a MLA in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Legislative Assembly for the Dhubri (South) constituency in 1937 and served until 1946. In April 1944 he was elected president of the Muslim League at its

Barpeta Barpeta (Pron: bə(r)ˈpeɪtə / bə(r)ˈpi:tə ) is a town in Barpeta district of the state of Assam in India and is district headquarters. The city is located north west of Guwahati and is one of the major cities in Western Assam. It is also ...

session and thereafter devoted himself to the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the pe ...

Early Pakistan days

After the establishment of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

in 1947, following the exit of the British, Bhashani planned his anti-establishment course of action. On 23 June 1949, he founded East Pakistan Awami Muslim League. Bhasani was elected its president with

Shamsul Huq Shamsul Huq (1918–1965) was a Bengali politician who led a parliamentary committee in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to advocate for the recognition of the Bengali language during the Language movement of the 1950s. He was also the firs ...

as its General Secretary. On 24 July 1949 he organised the first meeting of Awami Muslim League at

Armanitola Armanitola ( bn, আরমানিটোলা) is an area in the old city of Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. The area takes its name from the Armenian settlement that surrounded Armenian church there. First Public Meeting ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

, during which

Yar Mohammad Khan Yar Mohammad Khan (September 9, 1920 – August 29, 1981) was one of the founders of the Bangladesh Awami League. He was the founder treasurer of the Awami League. His residence at 18, Karkun Bari Lane, Dhaka was the first party office of the Ba ...

contributed and finally established the party in Dhaka. 21feb1956 Shaheed Minar Dhaka

On 31 January 1952 he formed the "All Party Language Movement Committee" at the Dhaka Bar Library. He campaigned for the recognition of Bangla as a national language in Pakistan. The National Democratic Front was established under his leadership on 4 December 1953. He renamed the Awami Muslim League as the

by removing "Muslim" from its official name in the council session of Awami League held on 21–23 October 1953. The

Government both in the centre and in the province of East Pakistan lost considerable popularity after the Language Movement of 1952. It was seen as not being capable or interested in protecting the interests of

. With an election to be held in the province in 1954, a new political party emerged to challenge the Muslim League. It was called the

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...

and comprised the party led by Bhashani and the

Krishak Sramik Party The Krishak Sramik Party ( bn, কৃষক শ্রমিক পার্টি, ''Farmer Labourer Party'') was a major anti-feudal political party in the British Indian province of Bengal and later in the Dominion of Pakistan's East Bengal and ...

led by A. K. Fazlul Huq, former Prime Minister of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. The Awami League, under

Shahid Suhrawardy Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy ( bn, হাসান শহীদ সোহরাওয়ার্দী; 24 October 1890 – 3 March 1965), also known as Shahid Suhrawardy was a Bengali diplomat, translator, poet and art critic. Family and educatio ...

also joined the alliance. The United Front won the provincial election in East Pakistan by defeating the Muslim League. In May 1954 Bhashani went to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. He was barred from returning to

by the government of

Iskander Mirza Sahibzada Iskander Ali Mirza ( bn, ইস্কান্দার আলী মির্জা; ur, ; 13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969), , was a Pakistani Bengali general officer and civil servant who was the first President of Pakis ...

and branded a communist. Between 7 and 23 May 1956, Bhashani went on a hunger strike to demand food for famine affected people. During the Kagmaree Conference of Awami League held on 7–8 February 1957, Bhashani left the West Pakistani authority which had acted negatively against East Pakistan. On 24–25 July 1957, Bhashani convened the conference of All Pakistan Democratic Activists. On 25 July he formed the East Pakistan National Awami Party (NAP). Bhashani was elected the President with Mahmudul Huq Osmani, as General Secretary. According to Ehtisham, Bhashani played a crucial role in the opposition decision to nominate Fatima Jinnah as a candidate in the 1965 Pakistani presidential election, instead of Azam Khan. Fatima Jinnah was initially scornful of an opposition attempt to nominate her, however on Bhashani's personal intervention, she agreed to be their joint candidate. Despite this pledged support for Fatima Jinnah, Bhashani was controversially alleged to have become inactive during the Opposition's Presidential campaign ostensibly because of

's pro-China leanings;

Sherbaz Khan Mazari Sherbaz Khan Mazari () (6 October 1930 – 5 December 2020) was a Pakistani politician and a leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. Career Mazari was born in Rojhan Mazari on October 5, 1930. His father, Mir Murad Bakhsh Khan, was ...

later alleged that Bhashani was bribed by

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...

. In 1969 Bhashani launched a movement for the withdrawal of the

Agartala Conspiracy Case The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a sedition case in Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan against Awami League, brought by the government of Pakistan in 1968 against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then leader of the Awami League and East Pakistan ...

and the release of

Sheikh Mujib Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

. American journalist Dan Coggin, writing for ''

'', credited Bhashani, "as much as any one man", for instigating the

that culminated in the collapse of the Ayub Khan regime. In 1970 Bhashani called for the independence of East Pakistan consistent with the 1940

Lahore Resolution The Lahore Resolution ( ur, , ''Qarardad-e-Lahore''; Bengali: লাহোর প্রস্তাব, ''Lahor Prostab''), also called Pakistan resolution, was written and prepared by Muhammad Zafarullah Khan and was presented by A. K. Fazlul ...

. Bhashani, with his National Awami party, had organised an International Kisan conference from 23 to 25 March 1970 in

Toba Tek Singh District Toba Tek Singh District (Punjabi and ur, ) is a district of Faisalabad Division in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located between 30°33' to 31°2' Degree north latitudes and 72°08' to 72°48' Degree longitudes. It became a separate ...

. During the conference he asked the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

to hold a referendum asking the population if they wanted

. He warned that there might be guerrilla warfare if the military government failed to do so.

War of Independence 1971

Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was the Chairman of Sorbodoliyo Songram Parisad in 1971. Bhashani asked China to aid Bangladesh in its liberation war. His request was not answered by China.

Career in independent Bangladesh

Following independence, Bhashani wanted to play the role of a responsible opposition. The progressive forces quickly gathered around him and strengthened the NAP with Kazi Zafar Ahmed as its General Secretary. But soon factional differences among the progressive forces emerged and weakened Bhashani's position. Bhashani was highly critical of the oppressive style of the

and

BAKSAL Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ "Bangladesh Worker-Peasant's People's League"; বাকশাল) was a political front comprising B ...

government. He also warned Sheikh Mujibur Rahman against his move towards a one party state and declaring himself as lifelong president. Bhashani was deeply shocked at the killing of Mujib, for whom he had a lot of fatherly affection, and his family members. The person who conveyed the news of Mujib's demise described how Bhashani cried and then went to his prayer room to offer prayer. In May 1976 he led a massive Long March demanding demolition of the

Farakka Barrage Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganga river located in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh near Shibganj. Farakka Barrage Township is located in Farakka (community developmen ...

constructed by

to divert the flow of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

waters inside its territory, triggering the drying up of river

Padma The Padma ( bn, পদ্মা ''Pôdma'') is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is sit ...

and

desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...

of Bangladesh. At the time, the government of Bangladesh unofficially supported Bhashani's Farakka Long March. Navy Chief Rear Admiral

M. H. Khan Musharraf Husain Khan (known as M H Khan; 1 February 1932 – 12 October 2018) was a Bangladesh Navy Rear Admiral who has served as the chief of the Bangladesh Navy from 7 November 1973 to 3 November 1979. During his tenure, Bangabandhu Sheikh M ...

was in charge of providing logistics. Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life from all over the country gathered in

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi District ...

to participate in the Long March. On the morning of 16 March 1976, Bhashani addressed a gathering of people at the Madrash Maidan in

, from where the Long March commenced. Hundreds of thousands of people walked more than 100 kilometres on foot for days. The March continued to Kansat, a place near the India-Bangladesh border, close to the Farakka barrage. Bhashani's Farakka Long March was the first popular movement against India by Bangladeshi people who demanded a rightful distribution of the Ganges' water. Since then the Farakka Long March Day has been observed on 16 March every year in Bangladesh.

Political philosophy

In the early 1950s he felt that an integrated Pakistan was no longer maintainable due to the hegemony of

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...

. At the Kagmari Conference, he bade farewell to West Pakistan by saying ''Assalamu Alaikum'' which soon became a reference quote. He declined to participate in the national election of 1970 saying that it would only help perpetuate rule by West Pakistan. From 1969 his favourite slogans were ''Swadhin Bangla Zindabad'' and ''Azad Bangla Zindabad''. His dream of an independent Purba Bangla (East Bengal) came true when Bangladesh was established as an independent nation-state in 1971. He advocated for the separation of State and religion. He was a pious Muslim who was in favour of socialism. He spoke out against

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জামায়াতে ইসলামী, Bānglādēsh Jāmāyatē Islāmī, Bangladesh Islamic Assembly), previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, or Jamaat for short, was ...

and its politics.

Journalism

The Daily Ittefaq ''The Daily Ittefaq'' ( bn, দৈনিক ইত্তেফাক, translit. ''Doinik Ittefak'') is a Bengali-language daily newspaper. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest newspaper, and one of the most circulated newspapers in Bangladesh. Thi ...

'' has been the most popular

newspaper of Bangladesh since the early 1970s. However, its precursor was the ''Weekly Ittefaq''. After the British left South Asia in 1947, the

emerged as the governing political party. Soon opposition movements started and a political party named Awami Muslim League was founded with Bhashani as one of the central figures. Against this backdrop Bhashani and

started publishing the ''Weekly Ittefaq'' in 1949. The popular weekly publication was a critique of the Muslim League government. The journalist

Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah ( – 1 June 1969) was a Bengali journalist and politician. He served as the founding editor of ''The Daily Ittefaq''. He wrote the editorial Rajnoitik Moncho (''The Political Stage''). Most of his journalists were con ...

worked as its editor. Manik Miah took over the paper as its editor and publisher from 14 August 1951. On 25 February 1972, Bhashani started publishing a weekly ''Haq Katha'' and it soon achieved wide circulation. It was outspoken about the irregularities and misrule of Awami League government established after independence of Bangladesh. It was a pro-Chinese and socialist weekly. It was edited by Irfanul Bari, Bhashani's subordinate. The weekly was subsequently banned by Sheikh Mujib.

Death

Bhashani died on 17 November 1976 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, aged 96, and was buried at

Santosh Santosh (), also spelled as Santhosh, is a Hindu masculine given name. The name means "Satisfaction" or "Gratification". Notable people with the given name Santosh * Santosh Bagrodia, former MP, politician representing INC * Santosh Bhattachar ...

Legacy

Bhashani is regarded as the proponent of anti-imperialist, non-communal and left-leaning politics by his admirers in present-day Bangladesh and beyond. In 2013, the Awami League Government of Bangladesh reduced his presence in school curricula. In 2004, Bhashani was ranked number 8 in BBC's poll of the

Greatest Bengali of all time Soon after the completion of ''100 Greatest Britons'' poll in 2002, the BBC organized a similar opinion poll to find out the greatest Bengali personalities in the history of Bengali nation. In 2004, the BBC's Bengali Service conducted the opinio ...

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References

External links

Bhasani — Reminiscence of a missing mountain
poem by Al Mahmud {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhashani, Abdul Hamid Khan 1880 births 1976 deaths People from Tangail District People from Dhaka Bangladeshi Muslims Sunni Muslims 20th-century Bengalis Awami League politicians Recipients of the Independence Day Award Pakistan Movement activists from Bengal National Awami Party politicians All India Muslim League members Presidents of the Awami League Assam MLAs 1937–1946 Pakistani MNAs 1955–1958 Bangladeshi political party founders Muslim socialists Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam