Leaders and publics: Stories in the time of transition

The way in which the public sphere emerged in Muslim Bengal politics & informed the power structure is traced via a review of the emergence of 5 leaders & their publics during times of transition (early & mid-20th century) in East Pakistan: Maulana Maniruzzaman Islamabadi, Maulana Akram Khan, Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, & Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani. The review shows how different situations, ideologies, & institutions served to create the different publics of the Bengali nation. Bengali politics was characterized by Messianic politics, utopia, & a holy campaign, with politics acting as one mode of power. Egalitarianism & the growth of a pious opposition were the two interconnected elements that spurred the growth of the nationalist public. It is argued that the plebian public never disappeared during this time & plebiscitary intervention at critical junctures became a permanent feature of the nation's public life, while in contrast, the singularization of nationalist currents was impermanent. 20 Tables. M. Pflum