Bangladesh plan to redefine ‘muktijoddha’ yet again stirs a debate in West Bengal | India News
KOLKATA: Fifty-four years after the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out on the night of March 25, 1971, deliberations are on to modify the definition of “bir muktijoddha (valiant freedom fighter)”, raising a debate. According to media reports, only battlefield fighters could be recognised as valiant freedom fighters, while others could be classified as ‘Liberation War Associates’.
Kolkatans with ancestral links to Bangladesh or professional experience across the border have a nuanced approach towards the deliberation. The definition of muktijoddhas has been altered over 10 times by now.
“During the Awami League’s tenure, many fake freedom fighters were enlisted. Communist and Leftist freedom fighters did not receive recognition. The National Freedom Fighters’ Council even decided to revoke Ziaur Rahman’s ‘Bir Uttam’ title in 2021,” said Arka Bhaduri, an independent journalist who has been writing on contemporary Bangladesh affairs.
“Amid numerous fake claims of being muktijoddhas, there have been instances of genuine people being ignored and not granted this recognition as many were reluctant to publicise their contributions,” said Abhijit Dasgupta, director of ‘Invincible Bravura’ on the Indian Navy’s formation of the first ‘Nau Commando’ that included eight Bengali escapees from a Pakistani submarine in 1971 during the war.
Dasgupta called the amendment “after so many decades” an attempt to “deliberately confuse the contemporary youth”. Bhaduri believes all those who participated in the struggle are “freedom fighters”. “Mujib’s role in the post-1971 era was problematic, but it is undeniable that although he did not physically participate in combat, the war was fought in his name. Calling him or Tajuddin Ahmad mere supporters would be a distortion of history,” he said.
Cultural activist Subha Prasad Nandi Majumdar, who is from a refugee family of 1947, described it as a “ploy to subvert the real essence of liberation struggle”.
