March 13, 1954 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY East Bengal Goes to the Poll (From A Special Correspondent)

N the general election which be­ League headed by H S Suhrawardy, as the main issue to be settled be­ I gan in East Pakistan on the 8th, a pio-Awami League Mulla orga­ tween West and East Pakistan. Re­ 1,96,77,103 voters are to give their nisation, the Nizam-i-Islam and ported differences of opinion be­ verdict on the many conflicting though officially denied by the Front, tween Mohamed Ali after his ap­ issues that will decide the political also by the Ganatantri Dal, eleven pointment to the Prime Minister­ future of the country; some of these of whose candidates have been given ship and the East Bengal Muslim have a very important hearing on nomination by the Front. The Front League legislative party, had en­ the future of Indo-Pakistan rela­ has put up 233 candidates in all, couraged the opposition to expect a tions. This is the first election under keeping four of the Muslim seats complete breach between East and adult franchise but under separate " open ". West on this language issue. It electorate, and it is being fought The Congress has set up 31 can­ should be remembered, however, on a scale unprecedented in the didates for General (Hindu) and 9 that it was only after the differences history of the country. The enthu­ for Scheduled Caste seats. Its main with the revolting group had been siasm aroused by the contest is rival for Hindu seats is the Gana patched up that Mohamed Ali could equally unprecedented, but not un­ Samittee which separated from take charge of the League organisa­ expected. Those who have followed Pakistan's official Congress party in tion which lie did just before the the recent trend of Pakistan's poli­ 1948, and has formed a "Minority election campaign started. He has tical developments have not been United Front" with the Socialists since done more than his share in surprised by the heat of the contest. and the Abhay Asram group. These the campaign, as much in fact as The new East Pakistan Assembly three have jointly set up 20 candi­ is humanly possible. He stole a will have 309 members. For five of dates. march over the opponents by inau­ these seats, two caste Hindu men, The Scheduled Caste Federation gurating his election tour with a very one caste Hindu woman (Mrs has split, on ideological grounds, bold statement, recognising the Nellie Sen Gupta, the European into three different groups. The right of Bengali to be one of the wife of the late President of the official group supporting separate official languages. This was not Indian National Congress, Desha- electorate is contesting 32 out of the liked by his supporters from the priya J M Sen Gupta), one schedul­ 38 scheduled caste seats. The group West. The gain, however, proved ed caste woman and one Christian favouring joint electorate has been short-lived. have been returned uncontested. supported by the Congress, " The 1255 candidates are fighting for the third group headed by the leader of ECONOMIC ISSUES UPPERMOST remaining 304 seats. the scheduled caste members in the As the campaign gathered momen­ Each of the 237 Muslim seats is last Assembly. Haran Chandra Bur- tum, the main issue changed from being contested by two or more man, has put its own candidates. language to that of economic ques­ candidates. In one such constitu­ Besides the candidates belonging tions. As a ruling party, the Muslim ency in Mymensingh District, there to the smaller parties. eg. Socialists. League have very little to their are as many as 11 candidates. As Revolutionary Socialists, Khilafat-i- credit to face the poverty-stricken Muslims have more than 75 per Rubani, there are a large number masses of East Bengal. Continuous cent seats in the Assembly, which­ of independents. The Communist witch-hunting of the Hindus for the ever of the two main contesting party which is not even a shadow of last seven years has given birth to parties lor Muslim seats come up Indian counterpart, has put up a politically and as such, officially, successful will come to power. only 3 Muslim and 6 Hindu candi­ supported business class, which has Therefore the real contest is be­ dates. replaced the traditional trading tween the two main parties the In all, 24 symbols are being used community. The personal gains of Muslim League and the United by the candidates of different poli­ some of its members has been spec­ Front, tical parties as well as independent tacular but their fortunes have been Muslim League is contesting all candidates. made at the cost of a country's the 237 Muslim seats. The League trade. Not only has the normal has not officially put up any can­ BENGAL OR URDU? flow of trade between the two didate for any of the non-Muslim When polling commenced on the Bengals slowed down, if it has not seats. Nor is it reported to have 8th it brought to an end the stopped altogether, the purchasing offered active support to any non- hectic campaigning that went on power of the people has gone down Muslim candidates, except that the for months. The voting will be as much as the cost of living has official Scheduled Caste Federation, over on the 12th. During the early gone up. People cannot forget that headed by the East bengal Minister stages of campaigning, the language common salt had sold for Rs 16 for Co-operation. Mr Dwarka Nath controversy loomed large and was per seer or that even today, the Buroni, has got the League's back­ widely believed, at least in India, coarsest cloth is beyond the. com­ ing. It should be noted that Mr to be the eruieial issue. It had been mon man's reach. When visitors Burnoti stands for separate electoiates taken for granted as the issue on from West Pakistan or even West as does the Muslim League, The which the election would be fought. Bengal tell tales of lower living Jamiet-l Ul-Ulema-i-Islam is sup­ Following the mass agitation for the costs in Lahore or Calcutta, the re­ porting the Muslim League, recognition of Bengali as one of the sentment becomes all the more in­ The United Front Patty, better official languages and the tremend­ tense. LIntil recently, the daily known by its Bengali name of Jukta ous momentum the movement gain­ necessities of life such as rice, bidi, Front, is composed of A K Fazlul ed in 1952, Mr Nurul Amin had re­ or medicine were all so expensive. Huq's Krishak Srarnik Party, Awami conciled himself to its acceptance On the other hand, jute, the prin- 304 March 13, 1954 cipal cash crop, gives a poor return, was aware of these possible reper­ 40 per cent though in some rural and the hitherto profitable produce cussions but looked helpless. The areas, district officers have reported of the bordering districts, such as violent demonstrators spared none as high as 70 per cent polling. Only betel leaves, fish, eggs, vegetables of the League leaders, not even the a few disturbances have been report­ formerly marketed in-Calcutta, no much-revered Fatima Jinnah, ed, thanks to the very elaborate longer fetches a price. The deterioration in Indo-Paki- security measures taken by the Police stan relations has also contributed with the assistance of the army. MISDEEDS OF OFFICIALS to League's unpopularity. Even the The economic distress, however, East Bengali Muslim feels lost and FORECAST OF RESULTS is not the only factor that made Mr utterly helpless at the thought of a The chances of the Muslim Lea­ Mohamed Ali's electioneering task possible war with India, not having gue and the United Front are rat­ difficult. Various weaknesses in the much trust in West Pakistan, which ed as even, at least by the political administrative machinery, coming alone can provide the required observers at Dacca. Mohamed Ali to light in the day to day running military defence. Economic con­ himself, however, does not appear of the Government, had largely de­ sideration also calls for closer rela­ to be even that much optimistic prived it of popular support Re­ tionship with West Bengal. Here about the League. On the con­ placement of Hindus who formed also, the initial advantage gained trary, he betrayed lack of confidence the bulk of the administrative staff by Mohamed Ali by his friendly in his own party, when he told by Muslims who had opted from gesture to Pandit Nehru has been press reporters in Karachi, after his various provinces, from Madras to completely negatived by the sign­ election tour in East Bengal that Peshawar, has destroyed the homo­ ing of the defence pact with USA. " if the League fared poorly, Paki­ geneous character of the admi­ I do not know if the signing of the stan would have an acute domestic nistration. Because of differences pact, just before the election, has crisis ". It is from the same sense of languages, dress and customs, the not sealed the fate of the Muslim of defeatism that League leaders in Muslims who have romt from out­ League in East Bengal. True, the East Bengal have complained about side continue to be looked upon as United Front leaders have main­ malpractices of presiding and poll­ aliens. This is not helpful in main­ tained a discreet silence on the US ing officers. Mr Gyasuddin Pathan, taining a congenial relationship be­ pact. But this should not deceive Central Minister of State for Mi­ tween the people and its Govern­ anybody. norities and Joint Secretary, Paki­ ment. The League High Com­ The Hindus, both in the Con­ stan Muslim league, called on East mand has not been unaware of the gress or outside, have made little Pakistan Governor on the second League Ministry's shortcomings as noise, They have wisely kept out clay of the polling and demanded will be apparent from its decision of the conflict between the two ma­ an enquiry into the League's griev­ to give nomination only to 20 of jor Muslim parties, their election ances. On the other hand, Suhra- the 115 sitting members. activity being confined to canvassing wardy has been very emphatic that votes for their own nominees. The the United Front candidates were ODDS AGAINST MUSLIM LEAGUE memories of communal violence are sweeping the polls and that he It is because of these odds that still fresh in their minds. would not yield more than 30 scats the gains which Mohamed Ali made Reports so far indicate that vot­ to the League! Fazlul Huq has also in the initial stages were largely ing has been brisk, the percentage made similar claims. due to his personal popularity of votes polled being estimated at Unless there are unexpected amongst the intelligentsia, proved short-lived. Except Nurul Amin, the other League leaders were scarcely to be seen in election meetings. As the campaign went on, the Opposi­ tion gained ground day by day. The weakness of the League Gov­ ernment and the mis-doings of the officials were fully exploited by the United Front who succeeded in creating a situation in which it was absolutely impossible for any Lea­ gue leader to address a mass meet- ting. The opposition invariably succeeded in breaking up such meetings. The Government arrest­ ed a number of people under East Bengal Public Safety Act, including five of the candidates who have since been released. The wide pub­ lic participation in the celebration of the Anti-Repression Day by the All-Party Anti-Muslim L e a g u e Workers Camp Union four days be­ fore polling started showed con­ vincingly how successfully the oppo­ sition exploited Government's use of preventive measures in furthering its own cause. The Government 305 March 13, 1954 reverses, however, the Muslim Lea­ with India? Wishful thinking of nite period, to enable Karachi to gue may still come out as the largest this sort, unfortunately, is not rare complete the task of drawing up of single party hut not with an abso­ on this side of the border, but such the Constitution. lute majority. Without support an outcome is far from likely. The from the Scheduled Caste Federa­ election manifesto of the Front, in- Distribution of Seats & Candidate tion, who are confident of captur­ eluding the last minute ten-point ing most of the scheduled caste programme of Fazlul Huq, does not seats, it may not be able to form envisage any drastic change in the the Government. The manner in future of East Pakistan beyond which the United Front has been complete autonomy, restriction of formed, from various heterogenous central jurisdiction to defence, cur­ groups, rules out the possibility of rency and foreign policy (which any party forming stable coalition takes care of relations with India), with it, and Karachi will not in any abolition of the visa system, control case tolerate coalition with Caste over its own export-import trade, Hindu minorities. Fazlul Huq has recognition of Bengali as a State publicly disclaimed any such in­ language and a complete re-con- tention. struction of the Constituent Assem­ What would be the future of East bly. In one of his statements, Pakistan, if the United Front comes Mohamed Ali said that in case of out victorious, has been the sub­ a League reverse, the high command ject of much speculation on this would not tolerate any measures side of the border. Bengal has pro­ that might jeopardise the defence vided many instances of political re­ and security of Pakistan. Imple­ verses in the past. Fazlul Huq with mentation of Fuzlul Hutj's promises his Krishak Praja Party had given presumes support from the Centre a decisive defeat to the League in of which he has none and Mohamed 1937 elections but had a similar Ali's threat -is far too obvious. reverse himself in 1946. The stal­ Therefore it is not wrong to pre­ wart premier of undivided Ben­ sume that in the event of an over­ gal, H S Suhrawardy, was thrown whelming defeat of the League, no out of his party as soon as partition major change in the pattern of the came, Therefore the possibility of Government will take plate. The the United Front coming out with worst thai may happen is a deepen­ flying colours cannot be completely ing of the conflict between the two ruled out. Supposing this happens, wings of Pakistan. This may in­ will East Pakistan then break away evitably lead to the imposition of from West Pakistan and re-unite the Governor's rule for an indefi­