Hajee Mohammad Danesh (1900 – 28 June 1986) was a Bangladeshi politician and

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

Early life

Hajee Mohammad Danesh was born to a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

peasant family in the village of Sultanpur in the Dinajpur district of what was then the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

, and now a part of Bangladesh. Danesh studied at the

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

, where he obtained a master's degree in history in 1931. He also earned a degree in law in 1932 and joined the bar of the Dinajpur district court.

Communist activism

In the 1930s, Danesh became active in the communist organisations of Bengal, especially the Bengal provincial organisation of the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

. He was arrested twice, in 1938 and 1942, by the government of Bengal for his participation in the

Tebhaga movement The Tebhaga movement (1946–1947) was significant peasant agitation, initiated in Bengal by the All India Kisan Sabha of peasant front of the Communist Party of India. History At that time, landlords required tenant farmers and sharecroppe ...

, an agitation in northern Bengal against ''

zamindars A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is th ...

'' (landlords) and in support of landless peasants and sharecroppers who sought a greater share of the yield, most of which they had to surrender to the ''zamindars''. Danesh was one of the few Muslim communist leaders of the struggle, and worked to mobilise the Muslim peasantry in favour of the movement. In 1945, he joined the

All India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim League lat ...

, but was later expelled for his participation in the continuing Tebagha movement, and re-arrested by the Bengal government in 1946. After the partition of India and Bengal in 1947, Danesh remained in his home district of Dinajpur, which fell in Muslim-majority

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

, which became part of the newly created Muslim state of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Danesh briefly left active politics, to work as a professor of law at the Dinajpur Surendranath College.

Political career

In January 1953, Danesh rejoined mainstream politics of East Bengal (also known as

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

) by forming the

Ganatantri Dal The Ganatantri Dal was East Pakistan's first secular political party. It was founded on 19 January 1953 by Mahmud Ali with Haji Mohammad Danesh, a veteran communist activist of the Tebhaga movement as its first president. The party was the firs ...

(Democratic Party). The party joined the multi-party

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...

under the leadership of

A. K. Fazlul Huq Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq (26 October 1873 – 27 April 1962), popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla, was a Bengalis, Bengali lawyer and politician who served as the first and longest Prime Minister of Bengal, prime minister of Bengal during the Britis ...

, which swept the provincial elections in East Bengal, defeating the ruling Muslim League. Danesh was elected to the East Bengal legislature. After the central government dismissed the United Front government, Danesh was arrested by police and released in 1956. In 1957, he merged the Ganatantri Dal into the new

National Awami Party The National Awami Party (NAP) was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan, through th ...

(NAP), formed by veteran socialist leader

Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), also known reverentially as Maulana Bhashani, was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman who was one of the founder of the Awami League, the oldest and main political party in B ...

. He was elected vice-president and later the general secretary of the NAP. In 1958, Danesh was arrested after martial law was declared by the military regime of

Ayub Khan Mohammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani military dictator who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation on 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, se ...

. Danesh became a prominent critic of the Ayub Khan regime, attacking its suppression of democracy and for what he saw to be its pro-United States policies. As vice-president of the NAP, Danesh opposed the six-point demand for autonomy for East Bengal put forth by the leader of the

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

. He criticized the six-points for autonomy as not addressing the issues and concerns of the peasants of East Bengal, and also claimed the existence of separatist designs aimed to separate East Pakistan from

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

. Danesh later resigned from the NAP, protesting against the leadership of Maulana Bhashani and specifically criticizing what Danesh perceived to be Bhashani's reluctance to agitate against the Ayub military regime. Danesh's resignation was followed by the departure of many other leading NAP activists. In post-independence Bangladesh, Danesh formed the Jatiya Ganamukti Union (JGU) in 1973. However, when all political parties except the ruling

Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League The Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (), abbreviated as BaKSAL, was the sole legal ruling party of Bangladesh from January to August 1975. The party comprised politicians from the Awami League, the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Na ...

(BAKSAL) of president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were banned, he joined BAKSAL and became a member of the central committee. He revived the JGU in 1976 but abolished it again in 1980 to form the Ganatantrik Party. This party was amalgamated with the Jatiya Party of the then-president Gen.

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi military officer, dictator and politician who served as President of Bangladesh, the president of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. He seized power as a result of a 1982 ...

in 1986.

Death and legacy

Hajee Mohammad Danesh died on 28 June 1986, in Dhaka. The Agricultural Extension Training Institute was renamed in his honor as the Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danesh, Hajee Mohammad 1900 births 1986 deaths Bangladeshi politicians Bangladeshi communists Pakistani communists Indian communists Bangladeshi Muslims People from Dinajpur District, Bangladesh Politicians from Rangpur Division Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League central committee members East Pakistan MLAs 1954–1958 Aligarh Muslim University alumni Bangladeshi political party founders