committee must have four members: a Mukherjee, Bannerjee, a Chatterjee (all Bengali names) and a Singh.” Singh is a Sikh name. The Sikhs, unlike the Bengalis, are noted for their action, and the implication is that alone Sikh is the fellow who will execute the programme.
A people who have suffered hundreds of invasions and conquests, including that of the British in the eighteenth century, the Bengalis long ago learnt to cultivate the arts of accommodation. Unlike the proud Punjabis his opponent in the current strife, the Bengali knew how to bow and scrape. Dressed in his dhoti, spouting flowery language, armed only with an umbrella, the Bengali was regarded by all as a reliable, efficient clerk. Fighting was best left to more martial people. The other main cliche about the Bengalis portrays them as crafty fellows ready to outsmart you if given half a chance. “Watch it", a merchant might say. “He's a Bengali.” The message is that the person in question is not only clever but possibly also capable of a little sharp practice.
And yet, despite their reputation as a guileful, docile people, the Bengalis have more than once demonstrated a dark, explosive side. The most ruthless, dedicated terrorists during the fighting against the British came from Bengal. And since partition the Bengali regions of both India and Pakistan have been the scene of constant political turmoil and near revolution. “They may seem docile.” says one American scholar". But they are capable of violence when sparked the wrong way.” And then in words that may prove to be all too perceptive, he adds: “There is a side to the Bengali mentality that thrives on chaos."
Poet or Politics
When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh last week some of his critics declared that he was merely yielding to the pressure of his extremist supporters, sceking to ride the crest of a wave in order to avoid being engulfed by it. But in a sense Mujib's emergence as the embattled leader of a new Bengali “nation” is the logical outcome of a lifetime spent fighting for Bengali nationalism. Although Mujib may be riding the crest of a wave, his presence there is no accident. Bor just 51 years ago to well-to-do landowner in a village near Dacca, Mujib went through his early schooling without distinguishing himself by intellectual accomplishment. He was outgoing and popular as a boy, fond of talk and people and sports-and by the time he went to Calcutta's Islamic College for a liberal Arts degree he had come to the attention of his elders as a Muslim League activist. His mentor then was H. S. Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Bengal under British Raj, who, later, served one year as Prime Minister of Pakistan. Mujib studied law, but unlike Suhrawardy, a moderate, he soon developed a penchant for direct action. In the late '40s both men realized that their native state of Bengal was getting less than its due in the new nation of Pakistan. Suhrawardy, in 1949, founded a new party, the Awami League, dedicated to a united 'Bengal for the Bengalis.” Mujib look to the streets and was twice arrested and jailed for leading illegal strikes and demonstrations.
