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{{Short description|Bangladeshi politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
'''Hajee Mohammad Danesh''' (1900 – 28 June 1986) was a Bangladeshi politician and [[Communism|communist]] activist born in the [[British India]].

==Early life==
Hajee Mohammad Danesh was born to a [[Bengali Muslims|Bengali Muslim]] peasant family in the village of Sultanpur in the [[Dinajpur District, Bangladesh|Dinajpur district]] of what was then the [[Bengal Presidency]] of [[British India]], and now a part of Bangladesh.<ref name="F">{{cite book |last=Sarker |first=Mahfuzur Rahman |year=2012 |chapter=Danesh, Haji Mohammad |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Danesh,_Haji_Mohammad |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> Danesh studied at the [[Aligarh Muslim University]], where he obtained a master's degree in history in 1931. He also earned a degree in law in 1932 and joined the bar of the Dinajpur district court.<ref name="F" /><ref name="Sinha2004">{{cite journal |last=Sinha |first=Soumitra |year=2004 |title=The Quest for Modernity and the Bengali Muslims (1920-1947), part 2 |journal=The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies |volume=34 |pages=82–83}}</ref>

==Communist activism==
In the 1930s, Danesh became active in the communist organisations of Bengal, especially the Bengal provincial organisation of the [[Communist Party of India]].<ref name="F"/> He was arrested twice, in 1938 and 1942, by the government of Bengal for his participation in the [[Tebhaga movement]], an agitation in northern Bengal against ''[[zamindars]]'' landlords for landless peasants and sharecroppers who sought a greater share of the yield, most of which was surrendered to the ''zamindars''.<ref name="F"/><ref name="Sinha2004"/> Danesh was one of the few Muslim communist leaders of the struggle, and worked to mobilise the Muslim peasantry in favour of the movement.<ref name="D">{{cite book|title=Agrarian structure, movements and peasant organisations in India, Volume 1|publisher=V.V. Giri National Labour Institute|year=2004|isbn=978-81-7827-064-7}}</ref> In 1945, he joined the [[All India Muslim League]], but was later expelled for his participation in the continuing Tebagha movement, and re-arrested by the Bengal government in 1946.<ref name="F"/><ref name="Sinha2004" /> After the partition of India and Bengal in 1947, Danesh remained in his home district of Dinajpur, which fell in Muslim-majority [[East Bengal]], which became part of the newly created Muslim state of [[Pakistan]]. Danesh briefly left active politics, to work as a professor of law at the Dinajpur Surendranath College.<ref name="F"/>

==Political career==

In January 1953, Danesh rejoined mainstream politics of East Bengal (also known as [[East Pakistan]]) by forming the [[Ganatantri Dal]] (Democratic Party).<ref>{{cite book |last=Umar |first=Badruddin |date=2004 |title=The Emergence of Bangladesh: Class Struggles in East Pakistan (1947–1958) |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=233 |isbn=0-19-579571-7 |quote=At the conference of political workers in January 1953 in which the Ganatantri Dal was formed, Hajee Danesh of Dinajpur, a veteran communist and peasant leader of Tebagha fame, became its president.}}</ref> The party joined the multi-party [[United Front (East Pakistan)|United Front]] under the leadership of [[A. K. Fazlul Huq]], which swept the provincial elections in East Bengal, defeating the ruling Muslim League. Danesh was elected to the East Bengal legislature.<ref name="F"/> After the central government dismissed the United Front government, Danesh was arrested by police and released in 1956.<ref name="F"/> In 1957, he merged the Ganatantri Dal into the new [[National Awami Party]] (NAP), formed by veteran socialist leader [[Maulana Bhashani|Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani]]. He was elected vice-president and later the general secretary of the NAP.<ref name="B"/><ref name="A"/>

In 1958, Danesh was arrested after martial law was declared by the military regime of [[Ayub Khan (Field Marshal)|Ayub Khan]]. Danesh became a prominent critic of the Ayub Khan regime, attacking its suppression of democracy and for what he saw to be its pro-United States policies.<ref name="B">{{cite book|title=The Emergence of Bangladesh: Rise of Bengali nationalism, 1958–71, Volume 2|author=Badruddin Umar|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=92–93|year=2006|isbn=978-0-19-597908-4}}</ref> As vice-president of the NAP, Danesh opposed the [[Six point movement|six-point demand for autonomy]] for East Bengal put forth by the leader of the [[Awami League]], [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]].<ref name="A">{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh|author=Narendra Kr. Singh|publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd.|pages=18–21|year=2003|isbn=978-81-261-1390-3}}</ref> He criticized the six-points for autonomy as not addressing the issues and concerns of the peasants of East Bengal, and also claimed the existence of separatist designs aimed to separate East Pakistan from [[West Pakistan]].<ref name="A"/> Danesh later resigned from the NAP, protesting against the leadership of Maulana Bhashani and specifically criticizing what Danesh perceived to be Bhashani's reluctance to agitate against the Ayub military regime.<ref name="A2">{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh|author=Narendra Kr. Singh|publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd.|pages=46–49|year=2003|isbn=978-81-261-1390-3}}</ref> Danesh's resignation was followed by the departure of many other leading NAP activists.<ref name="A2"/>

In post-independence Bangladesh, Danesh formed the [[Jatiya Ganamukti Union]] (JGU) in 1973.<ref name="F"/> However, when all political parties except the ruling [[Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League]] (BAKSAL) of president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were banned, he joined BAKSAL and became a member of the central committee.<ref name="F"/> He revived the JGU in 1976 but abolished it again in 1980 to form the Ganatantrik Party. This party was amalgamated with the [[Jatiya Party (Ershad)|Jatiya Party]] of the then-president Gen. [[Hussain Muhammad Ershad]] in 1986.<ref name="F"/>

==Death and legacy==
Hajee Mohammad Danesh died on 28 June 1986, in Dhaka.<ref name="F"/> The Agricultural Extension Training Institute was renamed in his honor as the [[Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University]].{{Citation needed|date= May 2022}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danesh, Hajee Mohammad}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi politicians]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi communists]]
[[Category:Pakistani communists]]
[[Category:Indian communists]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi Muslims]]
[[Category:People from Dinajpur District, Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League central committee members]]

Haji Mohammad Danesh - Revision history

Bot at 19:08, 6 November 2022