Observations
Missing links in the history of Dhaka University
The University of Dhaka was established in 1921 under the Dacca University Act 1920 of the Indian Legislative Council. It opened its doors to academic activities on 1 July 1921 with 3 faculties, 12 teaching departments, 60 teachers, 847 students and 3 residential halls. Today, arriving at the age of ninety two, the university has 10 faculties, 48 departments, 9 institutes, 26 research centres, 1,345 teachers, about 25,000 students and 17 residential halls. After the partition of India in 1947, the university was transformed from its status of a residential institution to a teaching-cum-affiliating institution as well as a proud alma mater of the country's leading intelligentsia, academics, political leadership, businessmen and bureaucrats. The university was not founded in a day nor did the process get going without pains. A combination of political, social and economic compulsions persuaded the British government in India to establish it 'as a splendid imperial compensation' to Muslims for the annulment of the partition of Bengal. The partition of Bengal in 1905 provided the Muslim majority community of East Bengal and Assam with a sphere of influence of their own and raised new hopes for the development of the region and the advancement of its people. But its annulment on December 12, 1911 in the face of stiff opposition from the powerful Hindu leadership was viewed by Muslims as 'a grievous wrong'. Distressed at the government's decision for the annulment of the Bengal partition, Nawab Salimullah, in consultation with other leaders, sent two handwritten letters to the British Viceroy in India, Lord Hardinge, within a week --- one on December 17 (expressing anguish over the annulment ) and the other on December 20 (demanding a development of institutions for the advancement of education in East Bengal). The Viceroy immediately forwarded these letters to his Education Member in the Council, Sir H Butler, with a note inquiring Ôwhether it would not be desirable to encourage the creation of a University in Dacca with Mahomedan Hostels', which should be Ôan undeniable proof of our [government's] intention to encourage Mahomedan education, or in this way to safeguard the interests of the Mahomedans in the province'. The Viceroy was quick to perceive the dissatisfaction of Muslims and decided to pay an official visit to Dhaka to assuage the aggrieved community. A deputation of high ranking Muslim leaders, among whom were Sir Nawab Salimullah, Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury and A K Fazlul Huq, met him on 31 January 1912 and expressed their apprehension that the annulment would retard the educational progress of the major community. .In response, the Viceroy acknowledged that education was the true salvation of Muslims and that the government would recommend to the Secretary of State the constitution of a university in Dhaka. This was confirmed in an official communiqué on 2 February 1912. Many Hindu leaders were not happy with the government's intention to set up a university in Dhaka. On 16 February 1912, a delegation headed by advocate Dr Rash Bihari Ghosh, along with the Hindu zamindars of Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Faridpur and Mymenshingh, met the Viceroy and expressed the apprehension that the establishment of a separate university in Dhaka would promote 'an internal partition of Bengal'. They also contended, as was recorded in the Calcutta University Commission report later, that "Muslims of Eastern Bengal were in large majority cultivators and they would benefit in no way by the foundation of a university". The opposition by the Hindu intelligentsia was not the only hurdle in the implementation of the plan for the new university. Many complex legal and material issues were to be examined. After obtaining the approval of the Secretary of State, in a letter on 4 April 1912, the government of India invited the government of Bengal to submit a complete scheme for the university, along with a financial estimate. Accordingly, through a resolution of 27 May 1912, the government of Bengal appointed a committee of 13 members headed by Robert Nathan, a barrister from London, to draw up a scheme for Dhaka University. The committee acted with speed. With the thoroughness and wisdom of 25 special sub-committees it submitted its report on December 24 which was circulated next day to the relevant quarters for comments. On March 1, 2013, influential members of the Calcutta University Senate at its ninth meeting strongly opposed the establishment of a university in Dhaka and condemned the Nathan Committee recommendations. However, the Secretary of State approved it in December 1913. Then the First World War intervened, creating acute financial stringency for the government. The inordinate delay in the project being undertaken caused worries in the minds of Muslim leaders. Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury raised his voice on 14 April 1914 while inaugurating the Presidency Mohamedan Education Conference. To cool down such sentiments the government formed a committee headed by the DPI, W. W. Hornell, to ascertain the reasons behind the backwardness of Muslims in education. Hornell engaged one of his key colleagues in the Education Department, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, as a member of his Committee. Two and a half years later, with no significant progress having been made, Nawab Ali Choudhury again raised the issue in the Indian Legislative Council on 7 March 1917. In response, the government spokesman reaffirmed the government pledge to establish the university in Dhaka, but added that consideration of a bill already drafted would now have to wait for a report from the Calcutta University Commission, to which the Dhaka university scheme had been referred for advice regarding its constitution and management The Calcutta University Commission, formed in 1917 with Dr. ME Sadler as its chairman, invited memoranda from noted intellectuals and educationists on 22 specific questions. In written responses to the major questionnaires, mostly related to the establishment of the university in Dhaka, Muslim leaders and educationists, such as Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, were able to convince the commission of its importance. Thus the commission justified the setting up of a university in Dhaka. The commission agreed with most parts of the Nathan Committee scheme and urged that the University of Dhaka be established without further delay. Getting favorable recommendations from the commission, the government tabled the draft Dhaka University Act in the Imperial Legislative Council on 11 September 1919 and invited comments on the draft Act from Calcutta University on September 23. The University Senate opposed the government move again and sent its protest resolution telegraphically to New Delhi. However, at its 14th meeting on 1 November 1919, the Senate formed a nine-member Senate Special Committee to review the draft Act. Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, the lone Muslim member from East Bengal in the Senate, was included in the special committee. He supported the cause for the establishment of Dhaka University. The special committee submitted the report on 27 November along with a note of dissent from Khan Bahadur who could not be in agreement with all other members' propositions. In his note of dissent he reiterated the reasons for the establishment of the university and justified safeguarding such provisions in the Act which should be treated as lifeblood support for the sustainability of the university . Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah was vocal and intervened at appropriate stages while reviewing the Act, both at the committee meeting and in the senate proceedings. Most of his suggestions were adopted, with few exceptions, in the Dhaka University Act 1920.
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