Swadhin
Bangla Betar Kendra
There
is not a shadow of doubt that Swadhin Bangla Betar
Kendra will always be remembered by future generations
for its glorious role in the annals of the freedom
movement. No one can forget the words Purbo Digantey
Surjya Uthechey, Rokto Lal Rokto Lal or Teerhara
ey Dheuer Shagor Pari Diborey or for that matter
Joi Bangla Banglar Joi ! How true were these
words! Joi, the victory, that came on the morning
of 16 December 1971. But throughout the nine months
of the liberation war these songs not only inspired
the freedom fighters, but also created awareness among
the common people all over Bangladesh about the atrocities
committed by the Pakistani military forces. Swadhin
Bangla Betar Kendra
Radio Broadcasting Centre established
by the Bangladesh government in exile soon after the
war of liberation . The Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra,
in fact, evolved from the Kalurghat ( chittagong
) transmission centre from where the declaration of
independence on behalf of Bango bondhu Shaikh Mujibor
Rahman was made by ziaur rahman . The Kalurghat radio
centre was abandoned when it was heavily shelled by
the Pakistan Air Force on March 30. The centre, however,
resumed its second phase of activities from 3 April
1971 at Bagafa (Tripura State) with a short wave transmitter.
The centre was later shifted to Shalbagan and Bagafa-Belonia
Forest Hills Road, Agartala. The key person in organising
the centre in its early stage was Balal Muhammad,
a scriptwriter and artiste of Radio Pakistan. Several
other liberation activists who joined later included
Abdullah-Al-Faruque, Abul Kashem Sandwip, Kazi Habibuddin
Ahmed Moni, Aminur Rahman, Rashidul Hussain, A M Sharfuzzaman,
Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Syed Abdus Shaker, and Mustafa
Monwar. The damaged transmitter that they brought
with them from Kalurghat was made operative by engineer
Syed Abdus Shaker. The daily programme in this phase
consisted of a morning transmission between 8.30 and
9 and an afternoon session between 5 and 7. Two most
popular programmes of Swadhin Bangla Betar were 'Charampatra'
and ' Jallader Darbar' . Jallader Darbar
written by Kalyan Mitra was a satiric serial exposing
the inhuman and beastly nature of General Yahya Khan
who was depicted in it as ' Kella Fateh Khan'
. Raju Ahmed acted in the main role. Charampatra,
a satirical composition, was planned by Abdul Mannan,
a Member of National Assembly, and written in typical
Dhaka dialect by M R Akhter Mukul, who himself used
to read it out. The programme proved to be immensely
popular. It evinced exceptional sense of humour and
a nationalist spirit that helped keep the morale of
the freedom fighters high. Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra
was renamed Bangladesh Betar on 6 December 1971, when
India gave formal recognition to independent Bangladesh
and its provisional government. The Bangladesh government
moved to Dhaka on 22 December 1971 and Bangladesh
Betar started broadcasting in independent Bangladesh
on the same day. [M Siddiqur Rahman]
