It is a gentle end to a long political career. Dr Kamal Hossain’s decision to walk away from the leadership of Gono Forum and indeed to retire from politics is that rare instance in Bangladesh’s history when a prominent political leader has voluntarily opted to make his way to the sunset.
Through making it known to the country that ill health has been a reason for his decision, Hossain has been frank about his physical condition. Again, he could have, had he so desired, continued as the leader of his party and, of course, as a leading exponent of democracy in Bangladesh.
But Kamal Hossain, ever the gentleman in national politics, chose to call it a day. It was an option he exercised on his own. The nation, to the making of which he has had immense contributions, will certainly appreciate his move and in future recall it as a defining moment in national history, especially against the background of politicians not retiring but choosing to stay on.
Hossain has done the noble thing. Self-realisation has clearly played a part in his decision to take himself away from politics and perhaps reflect, in quiet moments, on the world of men and matters of which he has been a part all his life.
In Dr Kamal Hossain is embedded the history of this People’s Republic. As a young man, he linked up with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, knowing full well that he needed to make a niche for himself in the struggle for democracy in Pakistan.
And then Hossain moved closer to activist politics when, as part of the legal team defending Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, it was his unequivocal commitment to the Bengali cause for autonomy that he identified with.
Kamal Hossain’s brilliance was quickly recognised by Bangabandhu, who after the general election of 1970 made sure that the young lawyer, who had by then joined the Awami League, was elected to one of the seats he had vacated in line with the rules.
Thereafter, Kamal Hossain’s career progressively went ahead. It rose to the heights, supported and encouraged by Bangabandhu. At the eventually abortive political negotiations with the Yahya Khan military junta in March 1971, Kamal Hossain was among the Awami League team thrashing out the details of a constitutional settlement that could be worked on.
The junta resorted to chicanery. In one of the darkest moments in Bangladesh’s history, Kamal Hossain, only days after Bangabandhu’s arrest, was spirited away to (West) Pakistan, imprisoned in Haripur for the entirety of the War of Liberation. The Pakistan military expected him to turn against Bangabandhu, repudiate his leader. It soon learned that Kamal Hossain was made of sterner stuff.
Hossain’s integrity and loyalty were a matter of pride for the Father of the Nation, with whom he and his family came home to a liberated Bangladesh in January 1972. In the new country, Hossain took up his responsibilities with gusto, as chairman of the constitution drafting committee and as law minister. He did the job with finesse.
And then, as foreign minister in Bangabandhu’s government, formed after the general election of March 1973, Kamal Hossain contributed in his intellectually enriching way to an enhancement of Bangladesh’s reputation in the councils of the world. It was on his watch that Bangladesh’s flag was raised at the United Nations plaza in mid-September 1974. A few days later, Bangabandhu addressed the UN General Assembly. It was our moment of supreme pride.
Kamal Hossain’s unflinching fealty to Bangabandhu and Bangladesh was reflected in his firmness, post-15 August 1975, in resisting all invitations and temptations to be part of the usurper regime of Khondokar Moshtaq. He stayed abroad, researching on history. In early 1981, his was an assertive role in the decision to invite Sheikh Hasina, then in exile in Delhi, to assume the leadership of the Awami League.
Dr Kamal Hossain would have been a remarkable president of Bangladesh had he won the election of November 1981. But then, his personality has always been of greater appeal than the power or majesty of any office he has held or might have held in the country.
His legal reputation is well-established at home and abroad. His faith in democracy, in the rule of law, in political accountability have been paramount features of his long and expansive career. His scholarship, as evident in his works on various facets of Bangladesh’s history, are references historians have consistently taken recourse to in their research on national politics.
In the annals of our history, Dr Kamal Hossain has been a major participant. He has also been a lonely figure, given that with the assassinations of Bangabandhu and the four national leaders, he saw an entire team of which he had been an integral part pass into eternal silence.
Unlike them, he aged. Unlike them, he has confronted health issues which in the last few years precluded his participation in politics. Unlike them, he has often been a victim of calumny.
And yet his intellectual vigour and breadth of vision have regularly been the foundations of our perceptions of national aspirations. Therein shines his greatness.
Kamal Hossain is the elder statesman for whom Bangladesh’s people will have unwavering and unending respect. The nation owes him unquantifiable gratitude for the services he has rendered all his life.
The nation pays tribute to an individual whose career has been spent in the quest for democracy, for justice, for everything which upholds the dignity of the individual in our times.
Syed Badrul Ahsan is Consultant Editor, Dhaka Tribune.
