All Time Best Bangalees : A BBC Bangla Survey

[Rubu]

15. All 1952 Bhasha Shaheeds

give me the clue that one of the four will be the bravehearts of '71, if not more. for example, the 7 bir shrestho takes one position and the other shohids takes another position. and there gonna be kazi nazrul islam, rabindranath thagor, and shakh mujib. not sure about position, but i'm pretty sure that these are the people who gonna fill up the remaining four positions.

[mahbubH]

[quote]Originally posted by Zunaid
And I forgot the name of the lady who swam the English Channel so many years ago.

.. Is it Bula chowdhury? I am not sure whether she was the first Bangalee woman but she swam English channel successfully.

[Edited on 10-4-2004 by sports_fan_bd]

[bd_cricket]

My speculation is

4. Sher e Bangla A. K Fazlul Haque
3. Kazi Nazrul Islam
2. Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
1. Rabindranath Tagore


Although #2 and #3 could be swithed.

I don't think 1971 shaheeds and freedon fighters got a place in the survey, wondering why NOT? May be they were not in the initial list prepared by BBC- I don't know.

[Rubu]

Originally posted by bd_cricket
I don't think 1971 shaheeds and freedon fighters got a place in the survey, wondering why NOT? May be they were not in the initial list prepared by BBC- I don't know.

a good point. this give me some light about how golam azam got a place in the list. BBC prepared an initial list. we don't know how long that list was. but now, its quite clear that it did include golam azam but did not include '71 shahids! does anyone else find the clue too. its very likely that this list was prepared by a group of bangladeshi people. or could be just one person, in that case it become even more clear. now, if one of them (or that person) was a fan of this guy, in other word, another rajakar, he can easily add golam azam's name and leave '71 heros. and give his vote to golam azam. done! i can't think of any other explanation than this.

[say]

#4 - A. K. Fazlul Haque

[rafiq]

yeah I have a prediction for the final 4 of the new Bangladesh (not West Bengal, seems like this BBC list was all Bengalis):

4. Khaleda Zia (since Hasina made the list, Khaleda should do as well and we need one more woman as others have pointed out)
3. Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, war criminal, industrialist, politician, scion of society and escape artist extraordinaire
2. Ali Ahsan Mujahid, Minister, Govt. of Bangladesh, retired Al-Badr East Pakistan chief, started his career as a war criminal in 1971 and editor, Weekly Sonar Bangla
1. Matiur Rahman Nizami, Minister of Industries, Govt. of Bangladesh, former All-Pakistan chief of Al-Badr, war criminal.

Forget Rabindranath, we deserve no less than this list!

[abhs]

The 3rd position goes to Quazi Nazrul Islam.

[say]

The BBC survey is mentioned in every newspaper as a survey of top 20. where did we get the list of 30? what's the source of top 21-30??

[abhs]

They are broadcasting the result of the survey everyday.

Oneday they talked about the 21-30, that is the source of the information.

[Tehsin]

Gholam Azam - how does a name like that even end up in this list ?
Sheikh Hasina ? - Give me a break. Hate me if you must but I'd say Ershad did more for BD than Hasina and Khaleda combined.

For the top two:

2- Sheikh Mujib (for his role pre-71). His post war role would drop him out of the top 20.
1- Robi Takhur. Great writer but never really did (apart from the noble refusal incident) much to 'inconvenience' our British Raj.

[Edited on 12-4-2004 by tehsin]

[reinausagi]

Jyoti Basu, B.M. Abbas, Ghiasuddin Pathan...

[abhs]

The 2nd position went to Rabindranath, so the 1st one may be very easily guessed.

[reverse_swing]

:duh:

[Tehsin]

Abhs ... yeah, if it was upto me, I would have picked the shahids of 71 as number one.

These ranking was based on voting ?

[Pundit]

I don't see any point in having an all Bengali "All Time Best" polling.

At the least, the header should change to -

"Most Impacting Bangladeshis."

In that way, names such as Gholam Azam can come in without grief or horror or panic.

Now the challenge will to decide on some names who are clearly sourced out off West Bengal, but have had an ever-lasting impact, even on independent Bangladesh. To lessen the debate, these individuals should have passed away before the independence of BD, or otherwise there ought to not be any debate in the first place (Poet Tagore is one name that comes to mind).

Also, to stay focused, we should separately mention the Shaheeds of '71, and the martyrs of '52 ! Doing so will keep the main list restricted to individuals only.

This list will also help us put the spot-light on other individuals whose contributions have never been spot-lighted because of our existing political bickerings.

Ofcourse, one would also think that this effort would most likely degenerate into something similar.

[say]

history didn't begin in 1971.

[say]

Originally posted by Pundit
I don't see any point in having an all Bengali "All Time Best" polling.

I thought this discussion actually led some of us think about our history.

[Pundit]

history didn't begin in 1971.

I must say this is news to me !!




Though I do not recall stating that anywhere, or even implying that anywhere ??

Maybe we should pause and let our intelligence catch up with our impulse, from time to time.

[abhs]

Originally posted by tehsin
Abhs ... yeah, if it was upto me, I would have picked the shahids of 71 as number one.

These ranking was based on voting ?

I might also rank the same. It is not justified that Vasha Shahids will be added in the list, but Shahids of 1971 will not get a place.

BBC Bangla invited votes for the best Bangalee from Feb 11 to March 22, 2004. Everyone was allowed to list 5 persons.

Although they mentioned that the list was based on the voting, they never mentioned (if I did not miss) about the total number of votes, or individual votes for each position.

I just have the feeling that they did not conduct it in a unscientific way and the positions might have been fixed in the table, not by the votes. I am sure, some would think otherwise.

Some voters just made fun and they also broadcasted it. Some described themselves to be the best Bengalee for the reason that none of the best to us could complete the tasks of their dream and the voter can find the unfinished tasks and will finish to be the best. One even voted MirZafar as the all time best Bengali, since we, all in our everyday life try to be the best "Mir Zafar". There were some other such opinions.

Anyway, the 1st position went to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

[Edited on 14-4-2004 by abhs]

[say]

20. Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardi
19. Ziaur Rahman
18. Ateesh Deepankar
17. Shwami Vivekananda
16. Dr. Muhammad Shaheedullah
15. All 1952 Bhasha Shaheeds
14. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
13. Satyajeet Roy
12. Lalan Shah
11. Teetumir
10. Raja Rammohan Roy
09. Maolana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani
08. Eeshyar Chandra Vidyasagar
07. Sir Jagadeesh Chandra Basu
06. Begum Rokeya
05. Shubhas Bose
04. A. K. Fazlul Haque
03. Quazi Nazrul Islam
02. Rabindranath Thakur
01. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

[chinaman]

If I were to make the list, I'd put all 1971 shaheeds and freedom fighters at the first place and all 1952 Bhasha Shaheeds at the second place.

[Orpheus]

yo this poll is rigged man! Must be a conspiracy by Hasina. Mujib is numero uno..... did all Bangladeshis vote or something...?

It makes good sense if you look at it from Bangladeshi perspective but Bangalee.. ahh, I don't know...

[Edited on 14-4-2004 by Orpheus : why did I type call instead of look?? that's not even a typo! I am stupid]

[say]

'Founder' voted greatest Bengali

By Sabir Mustafa
BBC Bengali editor



Rahman: Regarded by many as the founder of Bangladesh
Listeners of the BBC's Bengali service have voted Bangladesh's first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the "Greatest Bengali of All Time".
Sheikh Mujibur, assassinated in 1975, easily beat Nobel prize-winning poet and playwright Rabindranath Tagore.

Another Nobel laureate, economist Amartya Sen, was the only living person in the top 20 at number 14.

He was one place behind Satyajit Ray, director of classic films such as Pather Panchali and the Chess Players.

Sheikh Mujib, popularly known as Bangabandhu or Friend of Bengal, is credited by many with leading Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The former Bangladeshi president was one of numerous politicians to figure prominently in the poll, including General Ziaur Rahman, the assassinated husband of the present prime minister.

Tagore is revered widely - regarded by many as the Bengali Shakespeare - and is the composer of both the Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems.


Tagore is regarded as the Bengali Shakespeare
In the survey, popular fascination with poetry and rebellion was reflected in the listeners' choice for number three - Kazi Nazrul Islam, a firebrand poet who was jailed by the British for writing subversive verses.

Still revered by Bengalis as the Rebel Poet, Nazrul Islam also composed hundreds of love songs and religious chants.

The radio survey was conducted over February and March, when listeners were asked to nominate their five greatest Bengalis.

The Bengali Service announced the names through a countdown over 20 days, starting on 26 March - Bangladesh's independence day - and ending on Bengali New Year's Day on 14 April.

The survey put only one woman in the Top 20, Rokeya Sakhawaat Hossain, at number six.

Reformers and revolutionaries

Hossain, popularly referred to as Begum Rokeya, risked social wrath and isolation at the turn of the 20th century, by pioneering education for Muslim women in Bengal.

The top 20 was peppered with names of reformers and revolutionaries - Subhash Chandra Bose, who led an abortive armed rebellion against British rule during World War II, came in at number five.

Social reformer and educationist Ishwar Chandra Viddyasagar, who sought to break down caste barriers in Hindu society, came in at number eight.

A 19th Century rebel against British rule, Mir Nisar Ali Titumeer, came in at number 11.

But not everyone on the list is a poet or a politician, with listeners voting scientist Jagadish Chandra Basu into number seven. He is credited with ground-breaking work on the life cycle of plants.

The BBC's Bengali service has nearly 12 million listeners in Bangladesh and eastern India, home to some 250 million Bengali-speakers.

The survey produced well over 100 names, and the top 20 was compiled on points awarded according to listeners' order of preference.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3623345.stm