Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Sukarno, and Kwame Nkrumah were each the undisputed nationalist leaders of their respective countries. They held state power and later became dictators.
Each of them fell from power through a coup. But except for Sheikh Mujib, none were killed.
Former Zimbabwean ruler Robert Mugabe retired, Indonesia's first president Sukarno was placed under house arrest, and Ghana's prime minister Nkrumah went into exile. All of them are remembered and honoured by their people for leading their respective struggles for independence.
Before this, most of those killed in armed revolutions or mass uprisings were monarchs, for example, Russia's Tsar Nicholas, Ethiopia's Haile Selassie, and France's Emperor Louis.
None of them were leaders of post-colonial nationalist liberation movements.
Bangladesh's Sheikh Mujib was the first leader in the post-colonial world to be assassinated along with almost his entire family. Many years later, in 2011, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was killed along with his family, becoming Sheikh Mujib's successor in that tragic regard.
Many say there were two versions of Sheikh Mujib, one before independence and one after. In the process of uprooting the authoritarian Mujib of the post-independence period, we also uprooted the Mujib who had led the struggle for independence. To justify this, both his supporters and his opponents have tampered with history. Some have super-humanised him, while others have demonised him. In this way, we have textually dehumanised Sheikh Mujib — a second death.
The assassination of Sheikh Mujib has been politicised in many ways. In this manner, he kept being "killed" a second time.
Yet he was supposed to be immortal by virtue of his legacy alone.
However, because he was used as a political weapon by the Awami League, his immortality came to be seen as a threat of the return of dictatorship.
For this reason, July 2024 kept extending until 36 July. This was the most symbolic aspect of the July Uprising. In this way, the youth confronted the August that seemed to be the sole preserve of the Awami League.
Despite his many limitations, Sheikh Mujib belonged to the entire nation. He has been confined to the status of a cult figure for one party.
The death of Sheikh Mujib along with his family is undoubtedly a national tragedy. But it must be read beyond the politics of grief practised by the Awami League.
We need to understand why immensely popular revolutionary leaders turn into dictators after coming to power. Our state reforms must address those very conditions so that no one becomes a dictator in the future.
The writer is an author and an essayist
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