The big political space in which politics has erupted has led to conflict and even violence including when it was about the 1971 history. Something is deeply unsettling that we can't look at history without taking an extremely exclusivist view.

It's not just about a collective inability to do research or discourse on a historical topic but also about making the study of history a junior official of politics whose only task to serve a political party ends, whichever party that be.

Almost every party/group or most individuals seem to have a historical position based on politics not facts. It's not about exploring data and records but asserting a socio-political position. This over time becomes not just dogmatic but religious or holy if one will, unassailable, beyond the scope of rational analysis and becomes patriotism's red badge.

Consider the assumptions on the roots of the movements that led to the process of state making leading to the emergence of Bangladesh. That it began before 1947 itself is almost never stated.

Historical roots of the Bangladesh state making

What we call Bangladesh has several half-starts in history such as 1905 when the general territory of the current state that was based on its socio-economics emerged as a sub-state. In fact, this trend had already developed by the late 19th century and by 20th century as a political cause.

The most significant date is of course is 1940 when in the post-electoral flush of the first election held in India in 1937, the All-India Muslim League (AIML) with its key and most successful partner, Bengal ML held a meeting where the resolution for a separate state/states was taken. This is known as the Lahore Resolution and mentioned independent sovereign 'states' on the two parts of India for Muslims. It was not seeking a state but two states - plural - in two distant regions.

A lot of ink has been shed on whether it meant one or two states but the politics of Bengal Muslim League in general immediately became focused on establishing an independent state not as a state that was part of a North Indian Muslim led state.

From 1940 to 1946 elections, the trend in Bengal politics was clear and even organizations were set up to promote an "independent East Pakistan" such as the East Pakistan Renaissance Society and so on. More importantly, the AIML never protested this campaign once when this issue was openly discussed at many meetings.

Had the "two-state" concept been critical to the formation of Pakistan and the two-state was a "typing error" as M.A. Jinnah said when amending the Resolution in 1946, he and others would surely have protested earlier. Instead AIML went along. It seems to have been a silence of convenience.

The Abul Hashem-Suhrawardy position

The star of pre 1947 politics in Bengal wasn't Fazlul Haq who was a great presence till 1937 but after 1943, he lost his jotedar based popularity after his alliance with IN Congress and others. The counter move led by BML leader Abul Hashem and his cadres - the so-called Left of BML increasingly gained more clout and the party structure also grew.

The election of 1946 was critical as it came before the new states were declared by the British. The electoral manifesto of BML written under the guidance of Abul Hashem can be read to see the political ideas of the emerging Bengali Muslim middle class and its multi-class alliance strategy that ultimately emerged in 1971.

Fazlul Haq's alliance with the Indian National Congress (INC) alienated him from the peasant voters leading to a colossal disaster in the 1946 elections and the triumph of BML. However, the BML was already getting ready for managing an independent multi-socio-economic group based state which was clear from their election manifesto.

In many ways it captured the essence of the political history that had been generated by events from the 1760 resistance against colonialism to the rise of the Muslim middle class including an attempt to moderate the conflict generated by collaboration and competition between various socio-economic groups.

In the post-election victorious scenario of 1946, the AIML amended the Lahore Resolution at Delhi (1946) making "Pakistan" a single centralized state affair but this faced resistance from BML and its leader Abul Hashem. The ever "unreliable" BML leader Suhrawardy voted with Jinnah's one Pakistan amendment.

Abul Hashem returned to Kolkata and immediately began the "United Bengal" movement, a state for Bengalis. Soon Suhrawardy switched and began supporting it but the most interesting was the support from Jinnah who suddenly became a "Bengali nationalist" and campaigned for a United Bengal. This was because Nehru, the INC leaders and Jinnah's main foe was against United Bengal.

However, there was no shared political history so ultimately the UBM failed and the Bengal Congress proposed for the partition of Bengal. By that time, a group of Abul Hashem loyalists had set up a clandestine group to establish an independent state outside India and Pakistan. In other words, the roots for an independent state of Bangladesh can be traced to the politics before 1947, even 1937 and 1940. It didn't emerge as a reaction to the denial policy of Pakistan after 1947.

The legacy of the Lahore Resolution continues.