The interim government of Bangladesh, led by ‘Nobel laureate’ Muhammad Yunus, is distorting the country’s history to suit the agenda of radical Islamic groups and political parties.
Following the undemocratic ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister of Bangladesh, a concerted attempt is being made to re-write the independence movement of the country.
As part of that mission, the academic curriculum is being manipulated to lower the stature of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.
The Yunus regime has introduced new textbooks for primary and secondary students which falsely claim that the first declaration of independence of Bangladesh was made by Ziaur Rehman.
NCTB Chairman Reazul Hassan told The Daily Star, “The new textbooks for the 2025 academic year will state that ‘on March 26, 1971, Ziaur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh, and on March 27, he made another declaration of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu’.”
The distorted textbooks have been distributed among primary and secondary students since 1st January this year.
The Truth about the declaration of Independence
Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the founding father of Bangladesh, was arrested by the Pakistan army on 26th March 1971.
Before his arrest, he declared the independence of Bangladesh through a wireless message. The message read [pdf] –
“This may be my last message, from today Bangladesh is independent. I call upon the people of Bangladesh wherever you might be and with whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved.“
This very message is a part of the 6th Schedule of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The declaration of Independence by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was broadcast twice on 26th March 1971.
The original message was broadcast in the morning by an unidentified wireless station while another broadcast was made by the ‘Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra’ (Free Bengal Wireless Station).
Both the broadcasts were intercepted and monitored in Shillong and Calcutta. They were reported by The Statesman, The Times of India, The Los Angeles Times and others.
Despite this, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) under the Yunus government is falsely attributing the first declaration of Independence to Ziaur Rehman.
In fact, there is no evidence that he made any such announcement on 26th March 1971. It is however documented that Ziaur Rehman made a second declaration of independence from Kalurghat (located north of Chittagong city) a day later.
On 27th March 1971, he had announced on radio, “I, Major Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh has been established. I have taken command as the temporary Head of the Republic. I call upon all Bangalis to rise against the attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall fight to the last to free our Motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours.”
It is thus evident that Sheikh Mujibur Rehman made the first declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on 26th March 1971 and the message was reiterated by Ziaur Rehman on the following day at the former’s behest.
As such, the changes made in the academic curriculum are based on lies and distortion.
The ulterior motives of Muhammad Yunus
Ziaur Rehman, who was in the Army at the time of Bangladesh’s independence, went on to lay the foundation of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He also became the 6th Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Unlike Sheikh Mujibur Rehman who kept the Bengali identity at the forefront of his secular politics in Bangladesh, Ziaur Rehman promoted a ‘Bangladeshi identity’ based on Islam.
His majoritarian form of Islamic nationalism had no place for Hindus and other religious minorities in the story of Bangladesh.
A ‘Minorities at Risk’ report by UNHCR makes it crystal clear –
“The founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, enshrined secularism in the country’s first constitution. But in 1977, the country’s military ruler, Ziaur Rahman, removed this principle as Bangladesh turned toward the Middle East for political, economic, and cultural reasons.“
After his death, Ziaur Rehman’s wife Begum Khaleda Zia became the chairperson of BNP. Under her Prime Ministership, there was severe mushrooming of radical Islamic outfits in Bangladesh, increased infiltration in India’s North-east region and systematic persecution of the Hindu community.
Ziaur Rehman and his family thus represent the ideology of radical Islamism in Bangkadesh, which is premised on anti-Hindu and anti-India sentiment.
The appropriation of Ziaur Rehman by Muhammad Yunus and his attempt at trivialising the contribution of Bangabandhu is thus strategic and aligns with his broader interests.
Interm govt of Bangladesh panders to Islamists
Given the rising Islamism in the country, Yunus found a two-pronged way of further solidifying his space in the country’s political sphere.
He revoked the ban on the radical Islamist outfit ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’ and released the leader of the radical outfit ‘Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)’ Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani.
At the same time, Muhammad Yunus began discounting the religious angle in the targeted attacks on the Hindu community.
He has gone on record from lamenting about attacks on Hindus to saying that the claims of atrocities are ‘exaggerated‘.
They are now led to believe that Bangladesh will witness full-scale implementation of Sharia law in the absence of Sheikh Hasina and the emergence of their new Messiah aka Muhammad Yunus.
The two decisions by the head of the interim government elated the Islamists in the country. Yunus also attempted to ban the export of Hilsa fish to India but it was in vain.
His advisors had also threatened to ‘annex India‘ and demanded the handover of Sheikh Hasina.