172-457: The Bangladesh Awami League ( Bengali : বাংলাদেশ আওয়ামী লীগ , lit. 'Bangladesh People's League'), simply known as Awami League ( Bengali: [awɐmiliːg] ), is one of the major political parties in Bangladesh . The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achieving the independence of Bangladesh . It is also one of
344-581: A Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Commission in 1976, but resisted holding a political dialogue with the representatives of the hill tribes on the issue of autonomy and cultural self-preservation. On 2 July 1977 Ziaur Rahman organised a tribal convention to promote a dialogue between the government and tribal groups. However, most cultural and political issues would remain unresolved and intermittent incidents of inter-community violence and militancy occurred throughout Zia's rule. Reforms and international relations Notable mentions of Ziaur Rahman's tenure as
516-726: A Liberal Nationalism that emphasised on the liberation of Bengalis from Pakistan's autocratic regime. Zia emphasised the national role of Islam (as practised by the majority of Bangladeshis). Claiming to promote an inclusive national identity, Zia reached out to non-Bengali minorities such as the Santals , Garos , Manipuris and Chakmas , as well as the Urdu -speaking peoples of Bihari origin. However, many of these groups were predominantly Hindu and Buddhist and were alienated by Zia's promotion of political Islam. In an effort to promote cultural assimilation and economic development, Zia appointed
688-586: A presidential form of government. Sheikh Mujib renamed the League the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL), and banned all other parties. The consequences lead to a critical political state. BAKSAL was dissolved after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The move towards a secular form of government caused widespread dissatisfaction among many low ranking military personnel, most of whom received training from
860-500: A bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from
1032-596: A different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is লবণ lôbôṇ in the east which corresponds to নুন nun in the west. Bengali exhibits diglossia , though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or heteroglossia between the written and spoken forms of the language. Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and syntax : Linguist Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar categorises
1204-480: A diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following: In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic ; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in সহযোগিতা shô -hô- jo -gi- ta "cooperation", where
1376-558: A famine : 70,000 people died, and support for Mujib declined. Bangladesh continued exporting jute to Cuba, violating US economic sanctions, the Nixon government barred grain imports to Bangladesh. This exacerbated famine conditions. In January 1975, facing violent leftist insurgents Mujib declared a state of emergency and later assumed the presidency, after the Awami League dominated parliament decided to switch from parliamentary to
1548-885: A historical, though still influential, ideological base combining left-wing nationalism , socialism , and democratic socialism . The party's nationalist outlook is primarily concentrated in its fundamental principles and historical role of nationalism in the Independence War. The ideology of Awami League has been evolved through political and socio-economic landscape of the country since its creation. The Party President Sheikh Hasina claimed that her party's ideology has been blended with pragmatism . Party's constitution states four fundamental principles in guiding its philosophy and policies: democracy , socialism , secularism and nationalism . The origins of these principles can be traced to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 's political thought . Awami League has been committed to secularism for
1720-729: A landmark order for the establishment of the Bangla Academy in Dhaka. As tensions with the western wing grew due to the demands for greater provincial autonomy in East Bengal, Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad dismissed the United Front government on 29 May 1954 under Article 92/A of the provisional constitution of Pakistan. In September 1956, the Awami League formed a coalition with the Republican Party to secure
1892-692: A large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in Midnapore , which borders Odisha , have used the Odia script to write in Bengali. In the border areas between West Bengal and Bihar , some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in Devanagari , Kaithi and Tirhuta . In Sylhet and Bankura , modified versions of
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#17327661965402064-500: A link to assassinated members of the 1972–1975 AL government were Sayed Ashraful Islam , son of Syed Nazrul Islam , Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh , son of Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni , and Sohel Taj , son of Tajuddin Ahmad . Since 2009, the Awami League government faced several major political challenges, including BDR ( Bangladesh Rifles ) mutiny, power crisis, unrest in garments industry and stock market fluctuations. Judicial achievements for
2236-400: A long time. The party has promoted a strong secular image and depicted itself as a defender of secularism against Islamism . Most of the party leaders support the restoration of the original constitution of 1972 by removing Islam as the state religion . Since Islam has been made as the state religion of Bangladesh, Awami League has been trying to defended secularism in light of Islam. Being
2408-682: A majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the Chittagong region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB. The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis. The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one variety – often, speakers are fluent in Cholitobhasha (SCB) and one or more regional dialects. Even in SCB,
2580-539: A majority in the new National Assembly of Pakistan and took over the central government. Awami League President Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy became the Prime Minister of Pakistan . Suhrawardy pursued a reform agenda to reduce the long-standing economic disparity between East and West Pakistan, greater representation of Bengalis in the Pakistani civil and armed services and he unsuccessfully attempted to alleviate
2752-570: A member of parliament from Habiganj , was killed in a grenade attack in Sylhet later that year. In June 2005, the Awami League won an important victory when the AL nominated incumbent mayor A.B.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury won the important mayoral election in Chittagong, by a huge margin, against BNP nominee State Minister of Aviation Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin . This election was seen as a showdown between
2924-659: A new national emergency and called for elections within 6 months. Sattar was elected president and won. Sattar was ineffective, however, and Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. H.M. Ershad assumed power in a bloodless coup in March 1982. Hussain Muhammad Ershad (Jatiya Party) Like his predecessors, Ershad dissolved parliament, declared martial law, assumed the position of CMLA, suspended the constitution, and banned political activity. Ershad reaffirmed Bangladesh's moderate, non-aligned foreign policy. In December 1983, he assumed
3096-520: A number of students including Abdus Salam , Rafiq Uddin Ahmed , Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar . The events of 1952 are widely seen by historians today as a turning point in the history of Pakistan and the Bengali people, as it was the starting point of the Bengali nationalist struggle that eventually culminated in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy, who had been
3268-625: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. President of Bangladesh The president of Bangladesh ( Bengali : বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — Bangladesher Raṣhṭrôpôti ), officially the president of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( Bengali : গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — Gaṇaprajātantrī Bangladesher Raṣhṭrôpôti ),
3440-688: A pragmatist party, Awami League often compromises with the Islamist political parties in social issues, which has been criticized. The party's tolerance of the Islamic practices, retaining of Islam as the state religion , silence during the attacks on secularists in Bangladesh , has been questioned. Sheikh Hasina supported calls to remove the Statue of Justice in Bangladesh Supreme Court. Many criticized these calls, saying Sheikh Hasina
3612-512: A president have been radical reforms both in country's infrastructure and diplomacy. President Zia successfully pointed out the grounds those could be effectively and exclusively decisive for development of Bangladesh and his reforms covered the political, economical, agricultural and military infrastructure of Bangladesh. Reorganisation of Bangladesh's international relations are especially mentionable because it had active influence over both economy and politics. He successfully bailed Bangladesh out of
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#17327661965403784-562: A presidential speech addressed to the nation but indefinitely postponed it in November 1976. Mostaq Ahmad was sentenced for five years for corruption and abuse of power. Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) Major General Ziaur Rahman , a renowned war hero who was put under house arrest on alleged charges of participation in the Mujib assassination plot (probably due to being among Mostaq's promoted armed forces chiefs), emerged into
3956-576: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. The Bengali language is native to the region of Bengal , which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in Tripura , southern Assam and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Bengali is also spoken in
4128-628: A secular party. The word Awami is the adjectival form for the Urdu word Awam , which means "people"; thus the party's name can be translated as Bangladesh People's League . During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, most of the Awami League members joined the Provisional Government of Bangladesh and Mukti Bahini guerrillas to fight against the Pakistani army and the name Bangladesh Awami League
4300-408: A special diacritic, called the hôsôntô (্) , may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in ম্ [m] ). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a hôsôntô , may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in
4472-581: A state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan . On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka ; they were the first ever martyrs to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan. 21 February has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO every year since 2000. In 2010,
4644-476: A vice-president Zia assumed acting presidency. The presidency was legitimized 40 days later through a national confidence referendum . Finally in the presidential election the following year , Zia became the first directly elected president. His government removed the remaining restrictions on political parties and encouraged all opposition parties to participate in the pending general election while putting military generals into politics. More than 30 parties vied in
4816-624: A vice-president. However, during the presidential system of governance, Bangladesh had a vice-president who would assume the president's role in his absence; the post was abolished by the twelfth amendment to the Constitution in 1991. A president can resign from office by writing a letter by hand to the Speaker. The president can also be impeached by the Parliament. In case of impeachment, the Parliament must bring specific charges against
4988-463: A vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in মই [moj] "ladder" and in ইলিশ [iliʃ] "Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel ই is used (cf. the dependent form ি) . A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form. In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing hôsôntô , three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are
5160-500: Is Bangladesh's national march, written by The National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the Bangladeshi government in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of Vande Mataram , a patriotic song written in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it
5332-468: Is a cursive script with eleven graphemes or signs denoting nine vowels and two diphthongs , and thirty-nine graphemes representing consonants and other modifiers. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate orthographic words . Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called মাত্রা matra . Since
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5504-572: Is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas ( Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America, the Middle East and other regions. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India , following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei ( Manipuri ), along with Gujarati , in
5676-400: Is an abugida , a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an inherent vowel (অ ô ) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked. The Bengali alphabet is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified Brahmic script around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century). It
5848-707: Is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ( Sri Lanka Matha ) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore , while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into Sinhala . After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone ,
6020-721: Is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to Northern Bengali dialects. During the standardisation of Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in Kolkata , a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the West-Central dialect of Nadia and Kushtia District . There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in West Bengal will use
6192-425: Is enacted only after the president assents to it. But when the bill is passed again by the parliament, if the president further fails or refuse to assent a bill, after a certain period of days, the bill will be automatically transformed into law and will be considered as assented by the president. Chancellor is a titular position at universities in Bangladesh, always held by the incumbent president of Bangladesh under
6364-404: Is known as Apabhraṃśa , by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time. Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when Eastern Indo-Aryan languages were differentiating. The local Apabhraṃśa of
6536-698: Is not answerable to anybody for his actions, and no criminal charges can be brought to the Court against him. The only exception to this immunity is if the Parliament seeks to impeach the President . Article 54 of the Constitution of Bangladesh provides for the succession of the president. It states that in case of absence due to illness or other reasons, the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad will act as
6708-458: Is now a largely ceremonial post elected by the Parliament. In 1996, Parliament passed new laws enhancing the president's executive authority, as laid down in the constitution, after the Parliament is dissolved. The president resides at the Bangabhaban , which is his office and residence. The president is elected by the 350 parliamentarians in an open ballot , and thus generally represents
6880-490: Is set out below in the International Phonetic Alphabet (upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme). Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs , combinations of vowels occurring within the same syllable . Two of these, /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ , are the only ones with representation in script, as ঐ and ঔ respectively. /e̯ i̯ o̯ u̯/ may all form the glide part of
7052-405: Is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language . Bengali is the official , national , and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh , with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It
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7224-481: Is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces . The role of the president has changed three times since Bangladesh achieved independence in 1971. Presidents had been given executive power . In 1991, with the restoration of a democratically elected government, Bangladesh adopted a parliamentary democracy based on a Westminster system . The President
7396-686: Is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam . It is also the second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. It is the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal , and is spoken by significant populations in other states including Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Chhattisgarh , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland , Odisha and Uttarakhand . Bengali
7568-513: The 1970 Pakistani general election , convened a month after the war on 12 January 1972, he introduced parliamentarism through a presidential decree and left office for the role of prime minister. In December on the first anniversary of the end of the war, the new constitution of the country took effect founding a unitary parliamentary republic based on the British Westminster System and transferring all executive powers to
7740-542: The 1979 general election , and with massive public support, Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) achieved a single-party majority. After the election in February, the withdrawal of martial law was proclaimed on 6 April and the 2nd parliament was formed 9 days later. Drifting away from the Secular State and Liberal Nationalism Zia moved to lead the nation in a new direction, significantly different from
7912-509: The Aesop's Fables in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on English phonology by the Scottish linguist John Gilchrist . Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda , and Muhammad Enamul Haq . The Digital Revolution has also played
8084-543: The All-India Muslim League (AIML)-nominated prime minister of Bengal in 1937 and held the same office after 1946 elections, did not agree to 'Muslim League' as the name of AIML in Pakistan. He initiated the thought that the ideal of political representation under religious identity was no longer prudent after independence and the organisation might be called the 'Pakistan League'. Moreover, he claimed that
8256-615: The Arabic , Persian , and Turkic languages . The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and Turkestan into the Buddhist -ruling Pala Empire , from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region. In the 13th century, subsequent Arab Muslim and Turco-Persian expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population. Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including
8428-414: The Constitution of Bangladesh states Bengali to be the sole official language of Bangladesh. The Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 , made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh. It is also the de facto national language of
8600-528: The Indo-Soviet bloc and grabbed the distancing strings to put bar on the gradually deterioration of Bangladeshi relations with the Western world . Zia gave attention to the other Eastern superpower China that later helped Bangladesh hugely to recover from economical setbacks and to enrich the arsenal of her armed forces . The most notable of Zia's reformed diplomacy was establishing a relationship with
8772-527: The Jatiya Party led by former military ruler Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad as well as some leftist parties. According to the Official Results, Bangladesh Awami League won 230 out of 300 constituencies, and together with its allies, had a total of 262 parliamentary seats. The Awami League and its allies received 57% of the total votes cast. The AL alone got 48%, compared to 36% of
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#17327661965408944-579: The Kaithi script had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of Hindustani with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing matra . Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in c. 1869 . Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the Arabic script had been used across Bengal from Chittagong in
9116-723: The Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were influential in the first millennium when Bengal was a part of the Greater Magadhan realm. The local varieties had no official status during the Gupta Empire , and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of Sanskrit literature for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit. Magadhi Prakrit was also spoken in modern-day Bihar and Assam , and this vernacular eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi . Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what
9288-524: The Nadia region . Bengali shows a high degree of diglossia , with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. Modern Bengali vocabulary is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from Persian , Arabic , Austroasiatic languages and other languages with which it has historically been in contact. In
9460-596: The Pakistani army . On 15 August 1975 during the time of Major General K. M. Shafiullah as a Chief of the Army Staff, some junior members of the armed forces in Dhaka , led by Major Faruk Rahman and Major Rashid, murdered Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and all his family members, including his wife and minor son. Within months, on 3 November 1975, four more of its top leaders, Syed Nazrul Islam , Tajuddin Ahmed , Muhammad Mansur Ali and A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman were killed inside
9632-665: The Persian-Arabic script was Bengali . Against this backdrop, Bengali nationalism began to take root within the Muslim League and the party's Bengali members began to take a stand for recognition. On 23 June 1949, Bengali nationalists from East Bengal broke away from the Muslim League, Pakistan's dominant political party, and established the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League . Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Shamsul Huq were elected
9804-607: The University of Karachi (established by East Pakistani politicians before Independence of Bangladesh ) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature. The national anthems of both Bangladesh ( Amar Sonar Bangla ) and India ( Jana Gana Mana ) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore . Notuner Gaan known as " Chol Chol Chol"
9976-499: The boldface represents primary and secondary stress. Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters ; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম geram (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম gram (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল iskul (VC.CVC) for স্কুল skul (CCVC) "school". The Bengali-Assamese script
10148-446: The flag of Pakistan , showing the ex-Pakistani origin of the Awami League. The four stars on the Flag represent the four fundamental principles of the party. During the post- Mughal era , no political parties existed in the area known as Bangla or Bangal. After the British arrived and established government, the system of political representation (though much later) was adopted in the area of Bangla (Bengal) or introduced in Bengal. After
10320-557: The phonology of Eastern Bengali is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some varieties of Bengali, particularly Sylheti , Chittagonian and Chakma , have contrastive tone ; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Hajong
10492-457: The 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as Lisbon in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of
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#173276619654010664-532: The 1970 cyclone had not worn off, and the state's economy had immensely deteriorated by the conflict. Economically, Mujib's huge nationalization program and socialist planning caused the economy to suffer. By the end of the year, thousands of Bengalis arrived from Pakistan, and thousands of non-Bengalis migrated to Pakistan; and yet many thousands remained in refugee camps. Mujib forged a close friendship with Indira Gandhi, strongly praising India's decision to intercede, and professed admiration and friendship for India. In
10836-487: The 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali: In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the Bengali language movement . This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh ), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as
11008-427: The 300 provincial assembly seats in East Pakistan. This win gave the Awami League a healthy majority in the 313-seat National Assembly and placed it in a position to establish a national government without a coalition partner. This was not acceptable to the political leaders of West Pakistan and led directly to the events of the Bangladesh Liberation War . The Awami League leaders, taking refuge in India, successfully led
11180-421: The 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty . During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterised by the elision of the word-final অ ô and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the Sanskrit Schwa . Slowly, the word-final ô disappeared from many words influenced by
11352-504: The Awami League and the BNP. However, the killing of party leaders continued. In December 2005, the AL supported Mayor of Sylhet narrowly escaped the third attempt on his life as a grenade thrown at him failed to explode. In September 2006, several of the party's top leaders, including Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP and Asaduzzaman Nur MP, were hospitalised after being critically injured by police beatings while they demonstrated in support of electoral-law reforms. Starting in late October 2006,
11524-486: The Awami League led alliance carried out a series of nationwide demonstrations and blockades centring on the selection of the leader of the interim caretaker administration to oversee the 2007 elections. Although an election was scheduled to take place on 22 January 2007 that the Awami League decided to boycott, the country's military intervened on 11 January 2007 and installed an interim government composed of retired bureaucrats and military officers. Throughout 2007 and 2008,
11696-421: The Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The phrase Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu is used by the party members at the end of speeches and communications pertaining to or referring to the devotion towards Bangladesh and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib. The Awami League party flag is a green field with four five-rayed red star at its centre, and a vertical red stripe at the hoist side. The flag also bears some resemblance to
11868-401: The Bengali equivalent of a full stop – have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar. Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra . The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example,
12040-426: The Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic segments , but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are syllabic in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a back vowel , either [ɔ] as in মত [m ɔ t] "opinion" or [o] , as in মন [m o n] "mind", with variants like the more open [ɒ] . To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it,
12212-495: The Dhaka Central Jail as they were on behalf of BAKSAL. Only Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana , daughters of Mujib, survived the 1988 Chittagong Massacre as they were in West Germany as a part of a cultural exchange program. They later claimed political asylum in the United Kingdom. Sheikh Rehana, the younger sister, chose to remain in the UK permanently, while Sheikh Hasina moved to India and lived in self-imposed exile. Her stays abroad helped her gain important political friends in
12384-596: The GiE and thus the first president of Bangladesh was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , who was the most popular leader of the independence struggle imprisoned shortly after the independence declaration, with vice-president and acting president being Syed Nazrul Islam and Tajuddin Ahmad as prime minister. As the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh , which was formed out of the East Pakistani elected members of
12556-489: The Government of Bangladesh from all types of political and organizational activities and declared as a terrorist organization on 23 Oct 2024. The party has been labelled as centrist and centre-left , however, it has also been accused of being far-right and authoritarian since 2021. Awami League has been described as secular (though this is disputed), social-democratic , social-liberal , and economic-liberal , with
12728-439: The Muslim League's objective of struggling to form a nation state had been achieved therefore political representation should continue focusing on nationalism based on Pakistani sovereignty. Suhrawardy's suggestion was not accepted and he parted ways with the party to be re-established as the Awami League in 1949. This was to serve the first shock to the country's political structure. In 1953, the party's council meeting voted to drop
12900-609: The Muslim League. However, due to its strength stemming from the discriminated Bengali population of Pakistan's eastern wing, the party eventually became associated and identified with East Bengal. In 1952, the Awami Muslim League and its student wing played an instrumental role in the Bengali Language Movement , during which Pakistani security forces fired upon protesting students demanding Bengali be declared an official language of Pakistan, killing
13072-607: The Muslim world as well as the Middle East . The present bulk overseas recruitment of Bangladeshi migrant workers to Middle Eastern countries are direct outcome of Zia's efforts those he put to develop a long-lasting relationship with the Muslim leadership of the world . The purpose of Middle East relations has been largely economical whereas the rapid improvement of relations with China was particularly made to for rapid advancement of
13244-546: The National Democratic Front against Ayub Khan's military-backed rule and to restore elective democracy. However the alliance failed to obtain any concessions. Instead the electoral colleges appointed a new parliament and the President exercised executive authority. Widespread discrimination prevailed in Pakistan against Bengalis during the regime of Khan. The University of Dhaka became a hotbed for student activism advocating greater rights for Bengalis and
13416-433: The Pakistani state. They included Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from the Awami League, who served as commerce minister. Leaders of the new provincial government demanded greater provincial autonomy for East Bengal and eventually succeeded in pressuring Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra , himself a Bengali , to endorse the proposed constitutional recognition of Bengali as an official language of Pakistan. The United Front also passed
13588-621: The Police and other agencies, violently cracked down on the protesters. In spite of that crackdown, the protests could not be quelled. The government imposed internet shutdown as well as curfews to forcefully stop the momentum of the movement. Eventually, the protests morphed into a movement aimed at ensuring the resignation of Sheikh Hasina. On 5 August 2024, millions of protesters defied curfew orders and marched towards Ganobhaban. Consequently, Hasina resigned and left Bangladesh for India. This ended 15 years of continuous awami rule in Bangladesh . In
13760-636: The Political Parties Elected Bodies Disqualified Ordinance, Khan banned all major political parties in Pakistan. Senior politicians, including the entire top leadership of the Awami League, were arrested and most were kept under detention until 1963. In 1962, Khan drafted a new constitution, modelled on indirect election , through an electoral college , and termed it 'Basic Democracy'. Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy joined Nurul Amin , Khwaja Nazimuddin , Maulvi Farid Ahmed and Hamidul Haq Chowdhury in forming
13932-549: The Prime Minister's resignation. Suhrawardy requested to seek a vote of confidence in the National Assembly, but this request was turned down. Suhrawardy resigned under threat of dismissal on 10 October 1957. On 7 October 1958, President Mirza declared martial law and appointed army chief General Ayub Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator . Khan eventually deposed Mirza in a bloodless coup. By promulgating
14104-479: The Private Universities Act 1992. The position in public universities is not fixed for the president under any acts or laws (since the erection of a state university in Bangladesh requires an act to be passed in itself), but it has been the custom so far to name the incumbent president of the country as chancellor of all state universities thus established. The Constitution of Bangladesh sets
14276-571: The Suhrawardy government and called a conference in February 1957 at Kagmari, Tangail in East Bengal. He protested the move and the support lent by the Awami League leadership to the government. Bhashani broke away from the Awami League and then formed the leftist National Awami Party (NAP). Yar Mohammad Khan funded the 5-day Kagmari Conference and was the treasurer of the conference committee. The controversy over 'One Unit' (the division of Pakistan into only two provinces, east and west ) and
14448-467: The West and in India that proved to be a valuable asset for the party in the future. After 1975, the party remained split into several rival factions and fared poorly in the 1979 parliamentary elections held under a military government. In 1981 Sheikh Hasina returned as Ziaur Rahman allowed her to return after the largest party faction, the Awami League elected her its president, and she proceeded to take over
14620-415: The aftermath of the 1974 Famine , there was growing dissatisfaction with his government. Irked by the heavy criticism from the opposition and news outlets and worried about the Awami League's prospects in the next election, on 28 December 1974 Mujib declared a state of emergency . The following month, he openly advocated to the view that parliamentarism has failed in the country and had the lawmakers amend
14792-399: The appropriate electoral system for Pakistan, whether joint or separate, also revived as soon as Suhrawardy became prime minister. In West Pakistan, there was strong opposition to the joint electorate by the Muslim League and the religious parties. The Awami League however, strongly supported the joint electorate. These differences over One Unit and the appropriate electorate caused problems for
14964-465: The armed forces and the dominance of the Muslim League. The Bengalis argued that they constituted the ethnic majority of Pakistan's population and Urdu was unknown to the majority in East Bengal. Moreover, the rich literary heritage of the Bengali language and the deep rooted secular culture of Bengali society led to a strong sense of linguistic and cultural nationalism amongst the people of East Bengal. The only significant language in Pakistan not written in
15136-536: The basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh ( Barisal , Chittagong , Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions of Bangladesh), many of the stops and affricates heard in West Bengal and western Bangladesh are pronounced as fricatives . Western alveolo-palatal affricates চ [ tɕɔ ] , ছ [ tɕʰɔ ] , জ [ dʑɔ ] correspond to eastern চ [tsɔ] , ছ [tsʰɔ~sɔ] , জ [dzɔ~zɔ] . The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on
15308-758: The beginning of the Bangladesh war of independence in April 1971, the Bangladesh Forces , better known as the Mukti Bahini , and the Provisional Government of Bangladesh , popularly called the Mujibnagar Government , were both established. After the oath ceremony held at Meherpur , Kushtia following Yahya Khan 's anti-secessionist military operation in Dhaka , the latter government-in-exile (GiE) set up its headquarters at 8 Theatre Road, in Kolkata , India . The de jure president of
15480-453: The candidate supported by their respective parties. The president may be impeached and subsequently removed from office by a two-thirds majority vote of the parliament. The president is required to make and subscribe in the presence of the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad , an oath or affirmation that he/she shall protect, preserve and defend the Constitution as follows: I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully discharge
15652-475: The complicity of law enforcement forces in compromising the integrity of the electoral process. On 7 January 2024, the twelfth National Parliamentary elections were held which were boycotted by BNP and major opposition parties. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) condemned this process as one-sided and farcical.The election saw Awami League again clinching a landslide victory, winning 224 out of 300 directly elected seats. The 62 elected members who contested
15824-469: The consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist a few visual formulas to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in
15996-481: The constitution redefined the nature of the republic from the secularism laid out by Sheikh Mujib and his supporters. Islamic religious education was introduced as a compulsory subject in Bangladeshi schools, with provisions for non-Muslim students to learn of their own religions. In public speeches and policies that he formulated, Zia began expounding "Bangladeshi nationalism," as opposed to Mujib's assertion of
16168-506: The constitution to revive the presidential system in order to better manage emergencies in the country. After assuming the presidency again, Mujib criticized "free-style" liberal democracy and established an autocratic one-party state with the strongly socialist Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League as the national party and him as the unelected president and unopposed supreme leader for life. He banned all other political parties and activities while sharply curtailing freedom of speech and
16340-594: The country and carried out mine clearing operations. The party had pro Pakistani newspaper editors arrested and shut down the nations' newspapers leaving only four in operation. Food shortages were also a major concern of the Awami League. War had damaged all forms of farming. The party aligned itself with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and leaned towards the Soviet bloc. The party was accused of corruption by supporters of Pakistan. In 1974 Bangladesh suffered
16512-417: The country's armed forces. Throughout the study of Zia's international relations it could have been suggested that attention to the bigger neighbour India has been largely ignored. But Zia was found to put strong emphasis on regional co-operation particularly for South Asia . It came evident after Zia took initiative to found SAARC . Zia's dream of Bangladesh's involvement in a strong regional co-operation
16684-507: The country. In India, Bengali is one of the 23 official languages . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and in Barak Valley of Assam . Bengali has been a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. In Pakistan , Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of Karachi mainly spoken by stranded Bengalis of Pakistan . The Department of Bengali in
16856-681: The country. A five-year plan released in 1973 focused state investments into agriculture, rural infrastructure and cottage industries. After Bangladesh achieved recognition from most countries, Mujib helped Bangladesh enter into the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement. He travelled to the United States, the United Kingdom and other European nations to obtain humanitarian and developmental assistance for
17028-604: The development of Dobhashi . Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the Sultans of Bengal with the ascent of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali, allowing it to become the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. Bengali adopted many words from Arabic and Persian , which was a manifestation of Islamic culture on
17200-469: The duties of the office of President of Bangladesh according to law: That I will bear true faith and allegiance to Bangladesh: That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution: And that I will do right to all manner of people according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will" The president is granted immunity for all his actions by Article 51 of the Constitution and
17372-643: The east to Meherpur in the west. The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal, Nur Qutb Alam , composed Bengali poetry using the Persian alphabet . After the Partition of India in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in East Pakistan ; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement. In
17544-553: The eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta (lit. 'meaningless sounds'), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the Bengali–Assamese languages , the Bihari languages , and the Odia language . The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around
17716-478: The election as independents largely aligned with AL On 5 June 2024, The High Court of Bangladesh reinstated the controversial Job Quota System, sparking countrywide students protests. On 4 July 2024, The Appellate Division refused to rescind the verdict. As a result, protests intensified. Then the Appellate Division imposed a stay on the ruling but protesters continued to carry on their movement unless
17888-516: The elections in 1991, in which Khaleda Zia became the first female prime minister. AL's second term in office had mixed achievements. Apart from sustaining economic stability during the Asian economic crisis , the government successfully settled Bangladesh's long standing dispute with India over sharing the water of the river Ganges (also known as Padma ) in late 1996, and signed a peace treaty with tribal rebels in 1997. In 1998, Bangladesh faced one of
18060-557: The emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, UNESCO recognised 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of the language movement. Although Sanskrit has been spoken by Hindu Brahmins in Bengal since the 3rd century BC, the local Buddhist population spoke varieties of the Prakrit . These varieties are generally referred to as "eastern Magadhi Prakrit ", as coined by linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji , as
18232-466: The final ন in মন [m o n] or the medial ম in গামলা [ɡamla] ). A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent [ɔ] is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel allographs above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel typographic ligatures . These allographs, called কার kar , are diacritical vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example,
18404-497: The first elected government in Bangladesh to serve a full term in office. The party won only 62 out of 300 parliamentary seats in the elections held in October 2001, despite winning 40% of the votes, up from 36% in 1996 and 33% in 1991. The BNP and its allies won a two-thirds majority in parliament with 46% of the votes cast, with BNP alone winning 41%, up from 33% in 1996 and 30% in 1991. In its second term in opposition since 1991,
18576-419: The first president and general secretary of the party respectively, Ataur Rahman Khan was elected the vice-president, Yar Mohammad Khan was elected as the treasurer, while Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and A. K. Rafiqul Hussain were elected the party's first joint secretaries. The party was formed to champion the rights of the masses in Pakistan against the powerful feudal establishment led by
18748-639: The food shortage in the country. The Awami League also began deepening relations with the United States. The government moved to join the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO), the two strategic defence alliances in Asia inspired by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Maulana Bhashani , one of the party's founders, condemned the decision of
18920-406: The general election of Bangladesh staged by military ruler Lt. Gen. H. M. Ershad even though the other major political party and the winner of previous elections Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted. British observers including a journalists termed the elections a "tragedy for democracy" and a "cynically frustrated exercise". The Awami League emerged as the largest opposition party in parliament in
19092-555: The government agreed to their demands of taking a firm step for reforming the quota system. Prime Minister Hasina ignited controversy by her statement - "If the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the freedom fighters are deprived of quotas, will Razakars' (Collaborators of the Pakistani military during the Liberation War)grandchildren and great grandchildren get them?" The protesters were further galvanized at this comment. Bangladesh Students' League, aided by
19264-662: The government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali as an honorary official language in December 2002. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an official language of the United Nations . Regional varieties in spoken Bengali constitute a dialect continuum . Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters: Rarhi , Vangiya , Kamrupi and Varendri ; but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. The south-western dialects ( Rarhi or Nadia dialect) form
19436-555: The government. By early 1957, the movement for the dismemberment of the One Unit had started. Suhrawardy was at the mercy of the central bureaucracy fighting to save the One Unit. Many in the business elite in Karachi were lobbying against Suhrawardy's decision to distribute millions of dollars of American aid to East Pakistan and to set up a national shipping corporation. Supported by these lobbyists, President Iskander Mirza demanded
19608-501: The government. Its pro poor policies achieved wide microeconomic development but that left the country's wealthy business class dissatisfied. The AL's last months in office were marred by sporadic bombing by alleged Islamist militants. Hasina herself escaped several attempts on her life, in one of which two anti-tank mines were planted under her helipad in Gopalganj district . In July 2001, the second AL government stepped down, becoming
19780-499: The graph মি [mi] represents the consonant [m] followed by the vowel [i] , where [i] is represented as the diacritical allograph ি (called ই-কার i-kar ) and is placed before the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs মা [ma] , মী [mi] , মু [mu] , মূ [mu] , মৃ [mri] , মে [me~mɛ] , মৈ [moj] , মো [mo] and মৌ [mow] represent the same consonant ম combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures,
19952-412: The graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden. Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke । daṛi –
20124-467: The historic decision to adopt the traditional Bengali boat, which signified the attachment to rural Bengal, as its election symbol. The election in April 1954 swept the United Front coalition into power in East Bengal with a massive mandate of 223 seats out of 237 seats. The Awami League itself won 143 seats while the Muslim League won only 9 seats. Veteran student leader and language movement stalwart Khaleque Nawaz Khan defeated incumbent prime minister of
20296-561: The ideology and agenda of the 1st parliament of Bangladesh. He issued a proclamation order amending the constitution, replacing secularism with increasing the faith of the people in their creator, following the same tactics that was used in Pakistan during the Ayub Khan regime to establish a military rule over civilian democratic rule in the government system. In the preamble, he inserted the salutation " Bismillahir -Rahmaanir-Rahim" ( In
20468-487: The immediate aftermath of the fall of the AL government, many of its leaders went into hiding. The properties and residences of many AL leaders were looted, vandalized and set on fire. Many ministers and influential politicians from AL have been arrested and taken into remand.Many of them were prohibited from leaving Bangladesh. The bank accounts of many AL leaders and their families have also been frozen. The student wing of Bangladesh Awami League has been officially banned by
20640-401: The killing of the imprisoned Syed Nazrul Islam , Tajuddin Ahmed , Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman and Mujib's new PM Muhammad Mansur Ali . With the ousting of Mostaq three days later and the constitutional requirement for the direct election of the president and role of the vice-president as acting president suspended by Mostaq, Chief Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem was appointed to
20812-538: The lack of Mujib loyalists in the military. He also proclaimed the Indemnity Ordinance , which granted immunity from prosecution to the assassins of Mujib. Yet only a few months later on 3 November, his regime faced a bloodless coup by pro-Mujib officers led by Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf in an attempt to depose Mostaq and the military assassins backing his government. At night, presumably on Mostaq's orders, some army officers secretly carried out
20984-494: The language as: While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the Midnapore dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However,
21156-547: The language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Yusuf-Zulekha by Shah Muhammad Sagir and Srikrishna Kirtana by the Chandidas poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
21328-869: The latter's resignation, was indirectly elected uncontested and sworn in as the ceremonial head of state . Mujib is widely considered the founder of Bangladesh and deemed as the "Father of the Nation" of the country. He is popularly referred with the honorary title of Bangabandhu (বঙ্গবন্ধু "Friend of Bengal"). He introduced the state policy of Bangladesh according to four basic principles: nationalism, secularism, democracy and socialism. He nationalized hundreds of industries and companies as well as abandoned land and capital and initiated land reform aimed at helping millions of poor farmers. Major efforts were launched to rehabilitate an estimated 10 million refugees. He further outlined state programs to expand primary education, sanitation, food, healthcare, water and electric supply across
21500-694: The leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , led the struggle for independence, first through massive populist and civil disobedience movements, such as the Six Point Movement and 1971 Non-Cooperation Movement , and then during the Bangladesh Liberation War . After the emergence of independent Bangladesh, Awami League under the leadership of Sheikh Mujib won the first general elections . The party along with most other parties of Bangladesh were merged into Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL) in January 1975, where Awami League politicians played
21672-531: The leading role in BaKSAL. After the August 1975 coup , the party was forced by subsequent military regimes onto the political sidelines, and many of its senior leaders and activists were executed or jailed. In 1981, Sheikh Hasina , the daughter of Sheikh Mujib, became the president of the party and continued to hold the position to this date. The party played a crucial role in the anti-authoritarian movements against
21844-428: The letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra , as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e , also the letter হ hô and Bengali Ôbogroho ঽ (~ô) and letter ও o and consonant cluster ত্ত ttô . The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between
22016-457: The majority party of the legislature. He continues to hold office after his five-year term expires until a successor is elected to the presidency. Mohammed Shahabuddin is the current president; he was elected unopposed on 13 February 2023. He took office for a five-year term on Monday, 24 April 2023. Currently, although the position of president holds de jure importance, its de facto powers are largely ceremonial. The Constitution allows
22188-401: The military backed government tried to root out corruption and remove Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia of the AL and BNP respectively. While these efforts largely failed, they succeeded in producing a credible voter list that was used on 29 December 2008 national election. The Awami League won the national election held on 29 December 2008 as part of a larger electoral alliance that also included
22360-644: The name of Allah , the Beneficent, the Merciful ). In Article 8(1) and 8(1A) the statement "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah" was added, replacing the commitment to secularism . Socialism was redefined as "economic and social justice." In Article 25(2), Zia introduced the principle that "the state shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity." Zia's edits to
22532-403: The nation. He signed a treaty of friendship with India, which pledged extensive economic and humanitarian assistance and began training Bangladesh's security forces and government personnel. Mujib's premiership however faced serious challenges, which included the rehabilitation of millions of people displaced in 1971, organizing the supply of food, health aids and other necessities. The effects of
22704-546: The neighbouring states of Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand , and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including Delhi , Mumbai , Thane , Varanasi , and Vrindavan . There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the Middle East , the United States , Singapore , Malaysia , Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom , and Italy . The 3rd article of
22876-673: The official departure of the British, the area known as East Bengal became a part of Pakistan, and the establishment of the Muslim was led by its founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League party. In 1948, there was rising agitation in East Bengal against the omission of Bengali script from coins, stamps and government exams. Thousands of students, mainly from the University of Dhaka, protested in Dhaka and clashed with security forces. Prominent student leaders including Shamsul Huq , Khaleque Nawaz Khan , Shawkat Ali , Kazi Golam Mahboob , Oli Ahad , and Abdul Wahed were arrested and
23048-454: The other major alliance led by the BNP which by itself got 33% of the votes. Sheikh Hasina, as party head, became the new prime minister. Her term of office began in January 2009. The second Hasina cabinet had several new faces, including three women in prominent positions: Dr Dipu Moni (Foreign Minister), Matia Chowdhury (Agriculture Minister) and Sahara Khatun (Home Minister). Younger MPs with
23220-517: The parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language. As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India. In 2024, the government of India conferred Bengali with the status of classical language . Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
23392-570: The party included restoring original 1972 constitution, returning secularism to the constitution, beginning of war crimes trials, and guilty verdict in 1975 assassination trial. According to the Nielsen 2-year survey, 50% felt the country was moving in the right direction, and 36% gave the government a favourable rating. In the 2014 election the Awami League led alliance won a second term of which 154 Members (out of 300) of Parliament were selected where there were no election . Only 5% voter attended in
23564-447: The party leadership and unite the factions. As she was under age at the time she could not take part in the 1981 presidential elections that followed the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman . Throughout the following nine years of military rule by Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad the Awami League participated in some polls but boycotted most as Ershad did not believe in democracy. On 7 May 1986, Awami League participated in
23736-532: The party since 1981. Amongst the leaders of the Awami League, five have become the President of Bangladesh , four have become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and one became the Prime Minister of Pakistan . East Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed as a breakaway faction of the Muslim League in 1949, within two years of the formation of Pakistan. The word Muslim was dropped in 1953 and it became
23908-471: The party suffered the assassination of several key members. Popular young leader Ahsanullah Master , a member of parliament from Gazipur, was killed in 2004. This was followed by a grenade attack on Hasina during a public meeting on 21 August 2004, resulting in the death of 22 party supporters, including party women's secretary Ivy Rahman , though Hasina lived. Finally, the party's electoral secretary, ex finance minister, and veteran diplomat Shah M S Kibria ,
24080-405: The police were accused of repression while charging protesters. In March, senior Bengali political leaders were attacked whilst leading protests demanding that Bengali be declared an official language in Pakistan. The leaders included A. K. Fazlul Huq , the former Prime Minister of undivided Bengal. Amidst the rising discontent in East Bengal, Jinnah visited Dhaka and announced that Urdu would be
24252-470: The political scene when restored to the post of Chief of Army Staff following the uprising. With the country in a dire situation and no stability and security, he was promoted from one of Sayem's deputies to CMLA in November 1976. With Zia's military loyalists now running the state from behind, initially as Deputy CMLA (DCMLA) he sought to invigorate government policy and administration. Hence on 21 April 1977, when Sayem retired on health grounds, without
24424-462: The polling station and cast their votes. The opposition and one of the most popular parties (BNP) boycotted the election for removing the caretaker government (neutral government) system from the constitution after completion of 5 years tenure. With 21 people dead due to the violence during election, along with further human rights abuses and an absence of opposition, this was one of the controversial general elections in Bangladesh's history. This election
24596-432: The presidency of what became a military interim government. However, the next day a popular uprising led by the retired lieutenant colonel Abu Taher ended in yet another coup with the deaths of several military generals, including Mosharraf. With Mosharraf dead, the office of Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) was taken by Sayem. Sayem dissolved the parliament and scheduled a general election in February 1977 in
24768-515: The presidency. Over the ensuing months, Ershad sought a formula for elections while dealing with potential threats to public order. On 1 January 1986, full political rights, including the right to hold large public rallies, were restored. At the same time, the Jatiyo (People's) Party (JP), designed as Ershad's political vehicle for the transition from martial law, was established. Ershad resigned as chief of army staff, retired from military service, and
24940-530: The president of Bangladesh until the president resumes office. This Article was used during the ascension of Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar as the acting president of the State following the resignation of former president A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury , and when President Zillur Rahman could not discharge his duties due to his illness, and later, death. Since Bangladesh is a parliamentary system , it does not have
25112-442: The president to act only upon the advice of the prime minister and his/her Cabinet . The president can appoint the following to office: The president has the prerogative of mercy by Article 49 of the Constitution, which allows him to grant a pardon to anybody, overriding any court verdict in Bangladesh. By Article 80, the president can refuse to assent to any bill passed by the parliament, sending it back for review. A bill
25284-526: The president, and investigate it themselves, or refer it to any other body for investigation. The president will have the right to defend himself. Following the proceedings, the president is impeached immediately if two-thirds of the Parliament votes in favour, and the Speaker ascends to power. The principal Presidential residence at Bangabhaban is located in Dhaka . There is also a Presidential Palace at Uttara Ganabhaban in Natore District . At
25456-601: The press. However, these changes were remarked as the "Second Revolution" by Mujib. In bringing together all politicians under a single national party apparently for the sake of unity of the country during a critical period it struck a similarity to Abraham Lincoln's National Union Party during the height of the American Civil War . The new party obliged all members of parliament, government and semi-autonomous associations and bodies to join, as well as intimidated and violently punished or eliminated opposition to
25628-495: The prime minister. Later, after the general election in 1973 where Mujib's party the Awami League achieved an expected landslide victory overkilling the opposition (not only because of intimidation of candidates and ballot stuffing by the ruling party leaders), in January 1974, the first presidential election was held. Mohammad Mohammadullah , who replaced Mujib's successor Abu Sayeed Chowdhury as acting president upon
25800-487: The principal qualifications one must meet to be eligible to the office of the president. A person shall not be qualified for election as president if he- Certain conditions, as per Article 27 of the Constitution, debar any eligible citizen from contesting the presidential elections. The conditions are: Whenever the office becomes vacant, the new president is chosen by members of Parliament . Although presidential elections involve actual voting by MPs , they tend to vote for
25972-495: The provinces of Pakistan. After the so-called Agartala Conspiracy Case , and subsequent end of the Ayub Khan's regime in Pakistan, the Awami League and its leader Sheikh Mujib reached the peak of their popularity among the East Pakistani Bengali population. In the elections of 1970, the Awami League won 167 of 169 East Pakistan seats in the National Assembly but none of West Pakistan's 138 seats. It also won 288 of
26144-426: The regime of Hussain Muhammad Ershad . After the restoration of democracy amidst mass uprising in 1990, the Awami League emerged as one of the principal players of Bangladeshi politics. The party formed governments winning the 1996 , 2008 , 2014 , 2018 and 2024 general elections. Throughout its tenure as the ruling party from 2009 to 2024 under Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh experienced democratic backsliding and
26316-573: The regime using the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini , the paramilitary "national defence force" and the ruling party's armed wing. Soon after, some close associates of Mujibur Rahman, who were ministers and secretaries, joined an assassination plot by the Bangladesh Army . On 15 August 1975, Mujib was assassinated in a coup d'état by some mid-ranking army officers, and replaced by one of his long time associates and cabinet members who
26488-626: The restoration of democracy in Pakistan. On 5 December 1963, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was found dead in his hotel room in Beirut , Lebanon. His sudden death under mysterious circumstances gave rise to speculation within the Awami League and the general population in East Pakistan that he had been poisoned. The 6-point demands , proposed by Mujib, were widely accepted by the East Pakistani populace, as they proposed greater autonomy for
26660-427: The so-called "inherent" vowel [ɔ] is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign ম [mɔ] . The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent
26832-479: The sole state language of Pakistan given its significance to Islamic nationalism in South Asia. The announcement caused an emotional uproar in East Bengal, where the native Bengali population resented Jinnah for his attempts to impose a language they hardly understood on the basis of upholding unity. The resentment was further fuelled by rising discrimination against Bengalis in government, industry, bureaucracy and
27004-536: The superposed chôndrôbindu (ঁ) , denoting a suprasegmental for nasalisation of vowels (as in চাঁদ [tʃãd] "moon"), the postposed ônusbar (ং) indicating the velar nasal [ŋ] (as in বাংলা [baŋla] "Bengali") and the postposed bisôrgô (ঃ) indicating the voiceless glottal fricative [h] (as in উঃ! [uh] "ouch!") or the gemination of the following consonant (as in দুঃখ [dukʰːɔ] "sorrow"). The Bengali consonant clusters ( যুক্তব্যঞ্জন juktôbênjôn ) are usually realised as ligatures, where
27176-465: The then East Bengali Nurul Amin in a landslide margin. Amin was defeated in his home Nandail constituency. Khaleque Nawaz Khan created history at age 27 by defeating the sitting prime minister and the Muslim League was wiped from the political landscape of the then East Pakistan. A. K. Fazlul Huq assumed the office of Chief Minister of East Bengal and drew up a cabinet containing many of the prominent student activists that were leading movements against
27348-603: The third place, according to the 2011 census of India . Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years. Bengali literature , with its millennium-old literary history, was extensively developed during the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The Bengali language movement from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered Bengali nationalism in East Bengal leading to
27520-471: The two most dominant parties in the country, along with its archrival Bangladesh Nationalist Party . The party was founded as the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League ( Urdu : آل پاکستان عوامی مسلم لیگ ) in 1949 by the Bengali nationalists Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani , Yar Mohammad Khan and Shamsul Huq , and joined later by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy who went on to become Prime Minister of Pakistan . It
27692-484: The visible matra and an invisible baseline). There is yet to be a uniform standard collating sequence (sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem. Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on
27864-435: The vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit ( tadbhava ), whereas Hindus are more likely to use tatsama (words directly borrowed from Sanskrit). For example: The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7 nasalised vowels . The inventory
28036-493: The war against the Pakistan Army throughout 1971. Leader Sheikh Mujib was arrested by the Pakistan Army on 25 March 1971, but the Bangladeshi people continued the fight to free themselves for nine months. After victory on 16 December 1971, the party formed the national government of Bangladesh. In 1972, under Sheikh Mujib, the party name was changed to "Awami League". The new government faced many challenges as they rebuilt
28208-623: The word "Muslim". In the run-up to the 1954 East Bengal Legislative Assembly election , the Awami League took the lead in negotiations in forming a pan-Bangla political alliance including the Krishak Praja Party , Nizam-e-Islam and Ganatantri Dal . The alliance was termed the Jukta Front (United Front) and formulated the Ekush Dafa , or 21-point Charter, to fight for establishing rights in East Pakistan. The party also took
28380-417: The worst floods ever, and the government handled the crisis satisfactorily. It also had significant achievements in containing inflation, and peacefully neutralising a long-running leftist insurgency in south-western districts dating back to the first AL government's time. However, rampant corruption allegations against party office bearers and ministers as well as a deteriorating law and order situation troubled
28552-500: Was bowing down to the pressure of Islamist political hard-liners. Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ), is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali
28724-514: Was consistently described as authoritarian , dictatorial and fascist . It was finally overthrown with the Student–People's uprising in August 2024. Since then, the party remained underground. Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, and Obaidul Quader , currently have been serving the president and the general secretary of the party, respectively. Sheikh Hasina , has headed
28896-401: Was established as the socialist Bengali alternative to the domination of the Muslim League in Pakistan and over centralisation of the government. The party quickly gained a massive popular support in East Bengal (later named East Pakistan ) and eventually led the forces of Bengali nationalism in the struggle against West Pakistan 's military and political establishment. The party under
29068-484: Was eventually settled upon. The most common electoral symbol for the party has been a traditional boat , a recognizable and relatable image in riverine Bangladesh. The salutation Joy Bangla ( Bengali : জয় বাংলা ; meaning "Victory to Bengal" or "Long live Bengal") is the official slogan of the Awami League. It was the slogan and war cry of the Mukti Bahini that fought for the independence of Bangladesh during
29240-399: Was further tainted by arrests where dozens of opposition leaders and members were taken into custody. Amid this crackdown of opposition, in 2018, another election was held where BNP and all major opposition parties took part. That election was marred by allegations of widespread electoral fraud, harassment of political opposition and imprisonment of opposition activists. The opposition alleged
29412-474: Was in a bitter bureaucratic rivalry with his loyalists, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad . Immediately after, martial law was promulgated in the country. As soon as he assumed presidency, along with replacing the national slogan of Joy Bangla ("Hail Bengal"), a cry of Bengali nationalism with Bangladesh Zindabad ("Love Live Bangladesh") calling for Bangladeshi nationalism instead, Mostaq replaced all three armed forces chiefs with next in line seniors to likely ensure
29584-438: Was met after 4 years of his assassination when SAARC got founded on 8 December 1985 with a key role of the then Bangladeshi authority. Assassination of Ziaur Rahman In 1981, Zia was assassinated by fractions of the military who were dissatisfied with his non-conventional means of running many state affairs including the military. Vice-President Justice Abdus Sattar was constitutionally sworn in as acting president. He declared
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