Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq, popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla or Huk Saheb, was born on 26 October 1873, at his maternal uncle's house at Saturia, a prosperous village in the Southern parts of the district of Bakerganj.
Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq (1873-1962) was one of the leading political figures of Bengal in the twentieth century. A. K. Fazlul Huq (1873-1962) statesman, public leader and holder of many high political posts including those of the Mayor of Calcutta (1935), Chief Minister of undivided Bengal (1937-1943) and East Bengal (1954), Home Minister of Pakistan (1955) and Governor of East Pakistan (1956-58).
He was the only son of Muhammad Wazid and Saidunnissa Khatun. Huq's father was a reputed civil and criminal lawyer of the Barisal Bar, and his grandfather Kazi Akram Ali, a good Arabic and Persian scholar, was a prominent muktear of Barisal.
After the traditional Islamic education in Arabic and Persian at home, Fazlul Huq passed the Entrance Examination in 1890 from the Barisal Zilla School, the FA Examination in 1892 and BA Examination (with triple Honors in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics) in 1894 from the Presidency College, and obtained the MA degree in Mathematics in 1896 from the University of Calcutta.
Obtaining the BL degree in 1897 from the University Law College, Calcutta, Fazlul Huq started legal practice as an apprentice under Sir Asutosh Mookerjee. After the death of his father Huq started legal practice in Barisal town. He also worked as a part-time lecturer of Raj Chandra College of this town during the period 1903-1904. In 1906 Huq entered government service as a Deputy Magistrate. He took an active part in founding the All India muslim league at Dacca on 30 December 1906. From 1908 to 1912 Huq was the Assistant Registrar of Co-operatives. He resigned from public service and opted for public life and law. Being advised by Sir Asutosh Mookerjee he joined the Calcutta High Court and started legal practice.
In 1920 Huq brought out a daily paper 'Nabajug' along with and Muzaffar Ahmad. He devoted his time to the cause of Muslim education and became a leading figure of the Muslim Educational Conference. In 1924 Huq became the Education Minister for about six months. As Education Minister he had undertaken several measures to create educational infrastructure in the country. He assisted the deserving Muslim students by creating the Muslim Educational Fund. For imparting teaching in Persian and Arabic to the Muslim students he also created a separate Directorate for Muslim Education in Bengal. Huq also made arrangement for reservation of seats for Muslim students in all the Government educational institutions affiliated to the Calcutta University. Huq had a role in the restructuring of the Madrasa Education in Bengal.
Huq was very simple in his private and public life. Even during his lifetime the people, irrespective of caste and creed, adored him for his generous and charitable disposition. He ran into debts for helping the distressed and the needy. People of Bengal remember Huq not for his craftiness or for erratic political behavior but for his sincere efforts for the uplift of the backward Muslim community, for the removal of poverty of vast peasant masses and for his generous nature.
In the hands of Sir Khwaja Salimullah and Nawab Ali Chowdhury, he got initiation in politics. With their assistance he entered the Bengal Legislative Council in 1913 as an elected member from the Dhaka Division by defeating his powerful rival Rai Bahadur Kumar Mahendra Nath Mitra. Since then he had been associated with the Bengal Legislature till 1947, except for two years (1934-1936) when he was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly.
In 1913 Huq became the Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and continued in this post till 1916. He also served as a Joint Secretary of the All India Muslim League. Huq was the president of the All India Muslim League from 1916 to 1921. As a member of the indian national congress he was also actively connected with that organization. Huq was one of those who were instrumental of formulating the Lucknow pact of 1916 between the Congress and the Muslim League. In 1917 Huq was a Joint Secretary of the Indian National Congress and in 1918-1919 he served this organization as its General Secretary. In 1918 Fazlul Huq presided over the Delhi Session of the All India Muslim League. In 1919 Fazlul Huq was chosen as a member of the Punjab Enquiry Committee to go into the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre. Huq was the president of the Midnapore Session of the Bengal Provincial Conference in 1920.
Huq joined the Khilafat Movement in 1919. He supported the boycott of British goods and titles related to the program of the non-cooperation movement adopted by the congress in 1920. But he was opposed to the idea of boycotting of schools and colleges, particularly considering the backward condition of the Muslim community. He felt that the boycott resolution would hamper the progress of the Muslim boys and girls. He therefore, left the Congress.
A. K. Fazlul Huq's political strategy was to make the rural elite his power base. It is evidenced by his initiative in founding the short-lived Calcutta Agricultural Association (1917), and yet another short-lived organization called Bengal Praja Party (1929).
Though Huq participated in All India politics, his mind was mainly confined to Bengal. In the elections of 1937, KPP emerged as the third largest party in the legislative assembly and Huq emerged as a potential figure in Bengal politics. Thus the Huq-League Ministry with Huq as the Prime Minister was formed in Bengal in 1937.
On April 1, 1937, as the leader of the Coalition Party, Fazlul Huq was installed as the Chief Minister of the Government of Bengal. On 15 October 1937, at Lucknow, Huq formally subscribed to the Muslim League creed, and urged all the Muslim members of the Bengal Coalition to join the League, and made a strong plea for Muslim unity under the banner of the League.
During his first ministry (1937-1941), Huq did some laudable work for the amelioration of the sufferings of the peasantry. He protected the poor agriculturists from the clutches of the usurious creditors by enforcing the Bengal Agricultural Debtors' Act (1938). He also set up the debt settlement boards in all parts of Bengal. The Money Lenders' Act (1938) and the bengal tenancy (amendment) act (1938) improved the lot of the peasants. Thus several acts enforced during Huq's Premiership helped the peasants to lighten some of their burdens though Huq could not fully execute his programmer of Dal-Bhat placed before the people during his election campaigns. In order to remove the backwardness of the Muslim Community Huq as Premier of Bengal issued orders for the reservation of 50% appointments for the Muslims and strictly enforced this ratio in the offices of the Government of Bengal.
As Education Minister during his first ministry, Huq took steps to accelerate the spread of education among the Muslim. He however, considered it his duty to advance the cause of education among all communities inhabiting the province. Huq was associated with the foundation of many educational institutions in Bengal, such as Islamia College (now renamed Maulana Azad College), Calcutta, Lady Brabourne College, Calcutta, Wajid Memorial Girls' High School and Chakhar College.
He settled in Dhaka and served as the Advocate General of East Pakistan from 1947 to 1952. He was soon involved in East Pakistan politics. In February 1948, the students of East Pakistan started a movement for the recognition of Bangla language as one of the state languages. Fazlul Huq was injured when the police charged the demonstrating students. Huq emerged as one of the prominent leaders of the anti-Muslim league opposition movement. The mass upsurge centering round the language movement on 21 February 1952 gave a new direction to East Pakistan politics. On 27 July 1953, Fazlul Huq founded the 'Sramik-Krishak Dal'. Huq, and formed the united front to fight the election battle in 1954. Huq was elected leader of this Front. The charisma of the Sher-e-Bangla was a dominant factor for the landslide victory of the Front. After the elections of 1954, AK Fazlul Huq became the chief minister of East Bengal, though his party was far behind the Awami Muslim League in capturing seats in the legislature. It is politically interesting that Huq could become chief minister of Bengal two times and chief minister of East Bengal again without ever having majority support in the legislature. It is indicative of his statesmanship and political management. He could always maintain a trans-party demeanor.
In 1956 he became the Governor of East Pakistan and was removed from that post in 1958. Since then he retired from politics. For almost half a century Fazlul Huq was a prominent political figure of the subcontinent. He was an extra-ordinary orator. He could fluently speak in English, Bangla and Urdu. As Islamic identity, Bengali identity and Indian identity simultaneously molded his mind, contradictory ingredients were manifested through his thought and action. He had to think about the development of backward Muslim community, he was absorbed with the thought of the progress of the entire Bengali nation and at the same time he had to carefully nurture the dream of united independent India. Naturally, it was not possible for him to pursue a consistent policy throughout his long political career. He,therefore, remained a political enigma.
On 27 April 1962 he died in Dhaka. His funeral drew a crowd of about half a million to mourn his death. His mausoleum is situated at the southern end of the Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, to the west of the Shishu Academy.
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