Thursday, August 27, 2009

Bangladesh, Bengal Muslim League

Two wings of Muslim League were formed with the intrduction of the partition of Bengal in 1905. In the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam known as EBAML (East Bengal and Assam Muslim League) and in West Bengal WBML (West Bengal Muslim League). To help forming the EBAML a provisional committee was formed with Choudhuri KazemuddinAhmed Siddiki as president and Nawab Salimullah as Secretary. EBAML was given a concrete shape on 17 march, 1911at a meeting at Ahsan Manjil . Eleven noted MuslimS of East Bengal were elected as vice-presidents while Khalilur Rahman and Maulavi AmeeruddinAhmed were elected Joint Secretaries.The leadership of the EBAML worked hard to gain support from the AIML in favour of sustaining the new province of East Bengal and Assam in the face of strong opposition from the Congress. Sub-divisional branches were gradually formed and petitions and deputations to British Govt. were arranged for demanding separate electorate.
Calautta based WBML (West Bengal Muslim League) was formed on 21 Jan 1909 with Prince Jehander Mirza as president and Syed Shamsul Huda as Secretary.
Following the annulment of the partition ob Bengal both the league were amalgamated into one on 2 March,1912 with Nawab Salimullah as elected President while Nawab Ali Choudhury and Zahid Surawardy as Secretaries, BarristerAbdur Rasul as elected treasurerand Abul Kasem as Joint Secretary. By 1946, BPML suceeded in building itself up the most effective organisation of the Muslims of Bengal . In the election of 1946, it captured 110 seats among117 reserved seats in Muslim Constituencies of Bengal.
This was possible in the course of the office hold of Bengal Ministry, after the submission of resignation of Fazlul Huq to John Herbert who himself drafted the resignation letter, in 1943. The leadership was taken by Khwaja Nazimuddin of BPML as cheif Minister.

Khwaja Nazimuddin