The Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ, lit.'Bangladesh Farmers Workers People's League'), abbreviated as BaKSAL, was the sole legalruling party of Bangladesh from January to August 1975. It was a totalitariansocialistone-party state which lasted for seven months between 25 January 1975 and 20 August 1975.
The Awami League, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the 1973 general election. However, Mujibur had difficulties with fighting corruption in his own government, and the increase in leftism caused by the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. In the face of growing unrest, on 28 December 1974, Rahman declared a state of emergency. On 25 January 1975, he pushed the Fourth Amendment to the constitution through Jatiya Sangsad, which was passed in the Parliament unanimously. It dissolved all political parties, including the ruling party, the Awami League, and gave Rahman the exclusive authority to form BaKSAL, which would become the "national party" of Bangladesh.
President Mujibur Rahman, BaKSAL's chairman, appointed a fifteen-member executive committee, a 120-member central committee, and five front organizations, namely, Jatiya Krishak League, Jatiya Sramik League, Jatiya Mahila League, Jatiya Juba League, and Jatiya Chhatra League for peasants, workers, women, youth, and students, respectively, for the party. All members of the executive committee and central committee were appointed as ministers.
In the 1974 Far Eastern Economic Review, Lawrence Lifschultz wrote how Bangladeshis thought that "the corruption and malpractices and plunder of national wealth" were "unprecedented" during Mujibur's governance.
In 2017, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh denounced BaKSAL for "transforming the Constitution beyond any resemblance with the original. Part VIA was incorporated prescribing that there would be only one political party in the State, thereby rendering a severe blow to the democratic set up of the Constitution and paved the way for military dictatorship. The parliamentary form of government was replaced".
Though BaKSAL was dissolved in 1975, another party participated in the 1986 and 1991 general elections in the same name; in 1986, the party's symbol was a boat, while it was a bicycle in 1991. The party acted independently until the 1990s, when almost all of its party leaders left the organization to join the Awami League.
References
↑Rono, Haider Akbar Khan (2010). Śatābdī pēriẏē শতাব্দী পেরিয়ে (in Bengali). Taraphadara prakashani. p.335. ISBN978-984-779-027-5.
↑"Mujib names his Govt". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press-Reuter. 28 January 1975. p.4. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
123Khan, Zillur R. (2001). "From Mujib to Zia, Elite Politics in Bangladesh". In Ahmed, Rafiuddin (ed.). Religion, Identity & Politics: Essays on Bangladesh. International Academic Publishers. pp.54–55. ISBN978-1-58868-081-5. ... landslide victory of the Awami League in the 1973 elections ... [those] who were earlier inspired by the charisma of Sheikh Mujib grew increasingly restive in view of what they viewed as widespread corruption ... making it mandatory for members of parliament to join the single national party, called the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL), if they wanted to retain their seats ... most Awami Leaguers, and many others from the other parties, decided to join the BaKSAL. Between Mujib's BaKSAL and total political oblivion, few were left with any choice ... All higher bureaucrats, professional people and trade union leaders were urged to join.
↑Maniruzzaman, Talukder (February 1976). "Bangladesh in 1975: The Fall of the Mujib Regime and Its Aftermath". Asian Survey. 16 (2). University of California Press: 119–129. doi:10.2307/2643140. JSTOR2643140.
