Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (Bengali: স্বাধীন বাংলা বেতার কেন্দ্র) was a radio broadcasting centre in the Indian city of Kolkata (then Calcutta) during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. This station played a vital role in increasing mental state of Bangladeshis during the war. In 1971, radio was the only media reaching to the far ends of Bangladesh. It ran a propaganda campaign through the war.[1]
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The end of British rule in India in August 1947, accompanied by the Partition of India, gave birth to a new country named Pakistan which constituted Muslim-majority areas in the far east and far west of the Indian subcontinent. The Western zone was popularly (and for a period of time, also officially) termed [[West Pakistan]8] and the Eastern zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was initially termed East Bengal and later, East Pakistan. The two zones were separated by over thousand miles of Indian territory in the middle, and had vastly different culture. It was widely perceived that the west zone dominated the country, leading to the effective marginalization of the east zone. Growing disenchantment among the people of East Pakistan finally led to civil disobedience followed by Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
During the period of Liberation War of Bangladesh, media supported mass sentiments. They aired patriotic songs and talk shows. In the process of achieving our independence by trouncing the atrocities of the Pakistani military forces, the war-time broadcasting station “Shadheen Bangla Betar Kendra” played a vital role- in increasing the mental state of the whole Bangali nation by informing us how well we are advancing towards the victory. Shadheen Bangla Betar Kendra reached its pinnacle during the liberation war being acclaimed as the stool pigeon of war news updates through ‘Chorom Potro’. In those days when radio was the only media reaching to the far ends of Bangladesh, Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra eventually turned as the orator of the Bangladesh government in exile. It ran the nationalist campaign throughout the war in gearing up our freedom fighters moral and also mobilizing world opinion in favor of Bangladesh.
On 26 March 1971, just the day after the Operation Searchlight crackdown, when the brutal mass carnage by the Pakistani invaders plunged the nation into gloom and despair, at that critical juncture of history a voice was heard over Radio saying "SWADHIN BANGLA BIPLOBI BETAR KENDRA Theke Balchhi". With that broadcast the entire nation got back its confidence, courage of conviction and strong optimism. It was all possible because of the galant initiative taken by ten young individuals to start with 10 KW transmitter. Since then, during the whole period of Liberation War, Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra successfully carried out its intellectual war like an organized front and aired patriotic songs which greatly inspired the freedom fighters in their relentless fight against the Pakistan-led occupation forces, war news and talk shows to boost up people’s spirits. A telegram containing the text of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s 26 March’s declaration of independence reached some students in Chittagong. The message was translated to Bangla by Dr. Manjula Anwar. The students crossed Kalurghat Bridge into an area controlled by an East Bengal Regiment under Major Ziaur Rahman. Bengali soldiers guarded the station as engineers prepared for transmission. At 19:45 hrs on 27 March 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast an announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The Kalurghat Radio Station's transmission capability was limited. The message was picked up by a Japanese ship in Bay of Bengal. It was then re-transmitted by Radio Australia and later by the BBC. It ran for 5 days as Pakistan Air Force bombed and damaged it on 30 March. Ten founding members broke up into two groups and went to Agartala and Tripura with a 1 kilowatt transmitter. On 3 April they restarted the broadcasting from Bagapha of Tripura and later moved to Agartala. The name was changed to Bangladesh Betar on 6 December 1971 after India gave recognition to Bangladesh as a sovereign country. Bangladesh Betar started broadcasting in independent country on 22 December 1971. With profound appreciation the nation will always remember the services of those ten individuals who included Belal Muhammad, Syed Abdus Shaker, Mostofa Anowar, Abdullah Al Faruque, Abul Quasem Shandeep, Aminur Rahman, Rashedul Hossain, A.M. Sharfuzzaman, Kazi Habib Uddin Moni and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury.
In his declaration of independence Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called upon the people to resist the occupation forces through a message on 26 March 1971.[2] Mujib was arrested on the night of March 25-26, 1971 at about 1:30 a.m. (as per Radio Pakistan’s news on March 29, 1971).
A telegram containing the text of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's declaration reached some students in Chittagong. The message was translated to Bangla by Dr. Manjula Anwar. The students failed to secure permission from higher authorities to broadcast the message from the nearby Agrabad Station of Radio Pakistan. They crossed Kalurghat Bridge into an area controlled by an East Bengal Regiment under Major Ziaur Rahman. Bengali soldiers guarded the station as engineers prepared for transmission. At 19:45 hrs on 27 March 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast another announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur which is as follows.
The Kalurghat Radio Station's transmission capability was limited. The message was picked up by a Japanese ship in Bay of Bengal. It was then re-transmitted by Radio Australia and later by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
M A Hannan, an Awami League leader from Chittagong, is said to have made the first announcement of the declaration of independence over the radio on 26 March 1971[3]. There is controversy now as to when Major Zia gave his speech. BNP sources maintain that it was the 26th of March, and there was no message regarding declaration of independence from Mujibur Rahman. Pakistani sources, like Siddiq Salik in "Witness to Surrender" had written that he heard about Mujibor Rahman's message on the Radio while Operation Searchlight was going on, and Maj. Gen. Hakeem A. Qureshi in his book "The 1971 Indo-Pak War: A Soldier's Narrative", gives the date of Zia's speech as 27 March 1971 in Annex M (Oxford University Press, 2002 ISBN 0-19-579778-7).
Chorompotro was the most popular program hosted by M. R. Akhtar Mukul. Here, he used to describe the uncomfortable position of Pak army in a funny voice and made his dialogues in Old Dhaka dialect. Chorompotro was planned by Abdul Mannan. Another popular program "Jallader Darbar" was run by Kalyan Mitra where approaches of Yahya Khan, known in the program as "Kella Fateh Khan" were described in a funny manner.[4] "Bojro Kontho" was the program where speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were presented. A group of young singers used to sing inspiring songs. Many poems and songs were written for this broadcasting. One of those songs Joy Bangla Banglar Joy (Victory of Bengal) was the signature tune of the radio.[1] Many songs of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra like Purbo Digante Surjo Uthechhe, Ekti Phoolke Bachabo Bole, Salam Salam Hajar Salam, became immensely popular. Singers of the station raised funds singing their songs in different parts of West Bengal.[5] News broadcasts were made in Bengali, English and Urdu.[6] Secretary of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Convener Committee Kamal Lohani recalled, For us at the radio, it was a psychological warfare so we could say things to boost up people’s morale.[7]
Apart from M.R. Akhtar Mukul, the other prominent performers of the Radio were:
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