A. K. Fazlul Huq

The Working Committee of the Lahore Resolution in 1940. Prime Minister Huq is standing beside M. A. Jinnah (third from left on the bottom row)

The dyarchy was replaced by provincial autonomy in 1935, with the first general elections held in 1937. Huq transformed the All Bengal Tenants Association into the Krishak Praja Party. During the election campaign period, Huq emerged as a major populist figure of Bengal. His party won 35 seats in the Bengal Legislative Assembly during the 1937 Indian provincial elections. It was the third largest party after the Bengal Congress and Bengal Provincial Muslim League. Huq formed a coalition with the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and independent legislators. He was elected as the Leader of the House and the first Prime Minister of Bengal.

Huq's cabinet included Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (finance), Bijoy Prasad Singh Roy (revenue), Maharaja Srish Chandra Nandy (communications and public works), Prasanna Deb Raikut (forest and excise), Mukunda Behari Mallick (cooperative credit and rural indebtedness), Sir Khwaja Nazimuddin (home), Nawab Khwaja Habibullah (agriculture and industry), Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (commerce and labour), Nawab Musharraf Hussain (judicial and legislative), and Syed Nausher Ali (public health and local self-government).[2]

In 1940, Huq was selected by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to formally present the Lahore Resolution, which envisaged ‘independent states’ in the eastern and northwestern parts of India.

One of the notable measures taken by Huq included using both administrative and legal measures to relieve the debts of peasants and farmers. He protected the poor agriculturists from the clutches of the usurious creditors by enforcing the Bengal Agricultural Debtors' Act (1938). He established 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. The Land Revenue Commission appointed by the Government of Bengal on 5 November 1938 with Sir Francis Floud as Chairman, submitted the final report on 21 March 1940. This was a valuable document relating to the land system of the country. The Tenancy Act of 1885 was amended by the Act of 1938 and thereby all provisions relating to enhancement of rent were suspended for a period of 10 years. It also abolished all kinds of abwab and selamis (imposts) imposed traditionally by the zamindars on raiyats. The raiyats obtained the right to transfer their land without paying any transfer-fee to zamindars. The law reduced the interest rate for arrears of rent from 12.50% to 6.25%. The raiyats also obtained the right to get possession of the nadi sekasti (land lost through river erosion which then reappeared) by payment of four years' rent within twenty years of the erosion. Thus several acts enforced during Huq's Premiership helped to lighten some of the peasants' burdens, although Huq could not fully execute his programme of Dal-Bhat placed before the people during his election campaigns. Huq also promoted affirmative action for Bengali Muslims.[2]

Huq held the education portfolio in his cabinet. He introduced the Primary Education Bill in the Bengal Legislative Assembly, which was passed into law and made primary education free and compulsory. But there was a storm of protests from the opposition members and the press when Fazlul Huq introduced the Secondary Education Bill in the assembly as it incorporated 'principles of communal division in the field of education' at the secondary stage. Huq was associated with the foundation of many educational institutions in Bengal, including Calcutta's Islamia College and Lady Brabourne College, Wajid Memorial Girls' High School and Chakhar College.

Due to intense factional infighting within the Krishak Praja Party, Huq ended up being the lone party member on the cabinet. After 1939, the British Empire grappled with World War II. In 1941, Huq and Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Prime Minister of the Punjab, joined the Viceroy's National Defence Council. Their move angered Muhammad Ali Jinnah because they had not consulted him, and because it deviated from the Muslim League party line that the structure of the council was unacceptable inasmuch as it did not give the League parity with Congress.[6]

On 2 December 1941, Huq resigned and governor's rule was imposed.

The second Huq coalition government was formed on 12 December 1941. The coalition was supported by most members in the Bengal Legislative Assembly, except for the Muslim League. Supporters included the secular faction of the Krishak Praja Party led by Shamsuddin Ahmed, the Forward Bloc founded by Subhash Chandra Bose, pro-Bose members of the Bengal Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha led by Syama Prasad Mukherjee. The cabinet included Nawab Bahabur Khwaja Habibullah, Khan Bahadur Abdul Karim, Khan Bahadur Hashem Ali Khan, Shamsuddin Ahmed, Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Santosh Kumar Bose and Upendranath Barman.[2]

A Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricane in Chittagong during the Burma Campaign of World War II

Despite Huq enjoying the confidence of most of the assembly, he had tense relations with the Governor of Bengal, John Herbert. The governor favoured the provincial Muslim League leaders and patrons, including Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, the Leader of the Opposition; and the "Calcutta Trio" in the assembly, including Mirza Ahmad Ispahani, Khwaja Nooruddin and A. R. Siddiqui. The focal point of the League's campaign against Huq was that he was growing closer to Mukherjee, who was alleged to be working against the political and religious interests of the Muslims. The League appealed to the governor to dismiss the Huq ministry.

The fear of a Japanese invasion during the Burma Campaign and the implementation by the military of a 'denial policy' implemented in 1942 caused considerable hardship to the delta region. A devastating cyclone and tidal waves whipped the coastal region on 26 October but relief efforts were hindered due to bureaucratic interference. On 3 August, a number of prisoners were shot in Dhaka jail but no inquiry could be held again due to bureaucratic intervention. Another severe strain on the administration was caused when the Congress launched the Quit India movement on 9 August, which was followed by British political repression. The entire province reverberated with protest. The situation was further complicated when Mukherjee resigned, bitterly complaining about the interference of the governor in the work of the ministry.

On 15 March 1943, the Prime Minister disclosed on the floor of the Assembly that on several occasions, under the guise of discretionary authority, the governor disregarded the advice tendered by the ministry and listed those occasions. The governor did not take those allegations kindly, and, largely due to his initiative, no-confidence motions were voted in the assembly on 24 March and 27 March. On both occasions the motions were defeated, although by narrow margins. To enforce his writ, the governor asked Huq to sign a prepared letter of resignation on 28 March 1943 and assigned himself the responsibility of administering the province under the provision of Section 92 of the constitution. A month later a League dominated ministry was commissioned with Nazimuddin as the Prime Minister. Huq's party won much fewer seats during the 1946 Indian provincial elections.

After the partition of British India, Huq settled in Dhaka and became the Advocate General of the Government of East Bengal.[2] He served in the position between 1947 and 1952. On 31 December 1948, while delivering a presidential address at a literary conference, Huq proposed a language academy for the Bengali language.[7] He supported the Bengali Language Movement in 1952. Huq was also injured during police action against demonstrators demanding that Bengali be made a state language of Pakistan.

Huq was a leading figure in the United Front (East Pakistan) coalition along with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulana Bhashani. The United Front won a landslide victory during the 1954 East Bengali legislative election. Huq himself defeated his arch rival Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin in the Patuakhali constituency.

Huq became chief minister for two months. During his short lived ministry, he took measures to establish the Bangla Academy. King Saud of Saudi Arabia sent a plane to Dhaka to bring Huq for a meeting with the monarch in Karachi.[8]

A report in The New York Times stated that Huq wanted independence for East Bengal, which trigged his dismissal and the imposition of Governor General's rule. Huq was subsequently placed under house arrest.

In August 1955, a coalition between the Krishak Sramik Party in East Pakistan and the Muslim League in West Pakistan allowed Chaudhry Mohammad Ali to become Prime Minister and A. K. Fazlul Huq to become the federal Home Minister.[9] Prime Minister Ali was later dismissed by President Iskander Mirza, who allowed a coalition of the Awami League and Republican Party to form government. As a result, the Krishak Sramik Party and the Muslim League formed the main opposition.[10]

Huq was appointed Governor of East Pakistan in 1956. He served in the position for two years until the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état. Huq was again placed under house arrest after the coup.

Jawaharlal Nehru was Huq's political secretary between 1918 and 1919

"When the tiger arrives, the lamb must give away" - Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Huq

I am the living history of Bengal and East Pakistan of the last sixty years. I am the last survivor of that band of unselfish and courageous Muslims who fought fearlessly against terrific odds…[11]
On his role in the politics of Bengal (particularly Bangladesh)

I want you to consent to the formation of a Bengali Army of a hundred thousand young Bengalis consisting of Hindu and Muslim youths on a fifty-fifty basis. There is an insistent demand for such a step being taken at once, and the people of Bengal will not be satisfied with any excuses. It is a national demand which must be immediately conceded.[12]
Writing to Governor John Herbert regarding demands for forming a Bengal Army during World War II

Administrative measures must be suited to the genius and traditions of the people and not fashioned according to the whims and caprices of hardened bureaucrats, to many of whom autocratic ideas are bound up with the very breath of their lives.[12]
In a letter to the Governor of Bengal

They were lions in their own days and we have the descendants of the lions of Indian journalism in our midst today. But the difference between the two classes of lions is very significant. Those were lions whose roars used to reverberate from Bengal across the seven seas to the homes of the British nation, but in the case of the present lions they are as docile as lions in a circus show. The roar of the lions of old used to make thrones tremble, but most of the present lions only know how to crouch beneath the throne and wag their tails in approbation of government policy.[12]
Commenting on critical journalists on the floor of the Bengal Legislative Assembly

Mr Speaker, I can jolly well face the music, but I cannot face a monkey. Mr. Speaker, I never mentioned any honourable member of this House. But if any honourable member thinks that the cap fits him, I withdraw my remark.[12]
A controversial remark against an opponent in the Bengal Legislative Assembly

When the tiger arrives, the lamb must give away.[13]
Muhammad Ali Jinnah's comment while making way for Huq, who entered the hall, to address the All India Muslim League Lahore Resolution Session

He who in 1943 had wanted to see Nazimuddin and Suhrawardy bite the dust now shares the same stretch of earth with them. All three are buried, side by side, in the grounds of the Dhaka High Court. For a while, the two of them were called Prime Minister of Pakistan. Fazlul Huq was not. But only he was spoken of as the Royal Bengal Tiger.[14]
Rajmohan Gandhi on A. K. Fazlul Huq