The Pakistan Movement and the Bangla Poetry of the Islamic Trend:

Abstract

The Pakistan Movement was a political movement that took place during the dying stage of the British colonial rule and demanded for a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. Some of the Bengali Muslim poets saw this Movement as a great opportunity to overcome the servitude of colonization. They thought a separate homeland for the Muslims would enable them to establish an ideal state based on Islamic nationalism. Moreover, the prospect of developing a distinct literary tradition for the Muslims also motivated them to support the Movement. This is why they regarded it their holyduty to uphold the ideologies of the Pakistan Movement in their poetry. This effort had become so pervasive that it led to the emergence of a distinct poetic trend in Bangla literature, that is, the Islamic trend. The poets of this trend, in the process of disseminating the ideologies of the Movement, showed strong resistance against the oppressive colonial rule by expressing tremendous concern for freedom in their poetry. Butthey emphasized Islamic nationalism and culture so much that, sometimes, they could not avoid being communal in their attitude. And all these issues are very significant from a postcolonial perspective. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to examine the poetry of this trend in the historical context of the Pakistan Movement and British colonization to addressits postcolonial significance by focusing on its themes of resistance, independence, culture, nationalism, and communalism.