“Only doers are capable of errors. Those who don’t do anything, never make any mistakes.

”
– Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Unfinished Memoirs” is the incomplete autobiography of the Father of the Nation, Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman. It allows us a view of his life behind political curtains.

Zarin Rahman
(2023011062)

Sheikh Mujib starts by recounting stories about his ancestors that stood up for the common folk
against the British (Page4,5). His will to help the misfortunate & his interest in politics could be
seen from his early years (Page9). In 1938, Sheikh Mujib, a student in school, met Huseyn
Shaheed Suhrawardy (page11) and thus their long friendship began. Suhrawardy was a
prominent mentor figure throughout Sheikh Mujib’s life. Around 1939, Sheikh Mujib proposed
to Suhrawardy to form Chhatra League in Gopalganj and by 1941, he started to get more
involved in politics - attending meetings, giving speeches (page15). Sheikh Mujib never worked
for titles or power, only wanted Pakistan so Muslims could survive (Page35). He was a vocal
critic of A.K Fazlul Haq (Page22) for leaving Muslim League (Page15,16). He also spoke
against Khawja Nazimuddin & others who showed elitism in politics (Page42). Sheikh Mujib
mentions many leaders like Abul Hashim, Anwar Hossain, Nurul Amin, etc. Sometimes they got
along and sometimes they had disagreements but Sheikh Mujib always addresses them all as
Shaheb or Mr. as a sign of respect.
During the Famine in 1943, Sheikh Mujib left his studies behind to go aid the suffering masses
by volunteer work & arranging political meetings (Page19). He got into fights, riots, jail and
risked his life – all for his people (page9,12&67), never once thinking about his own future.
Sheikh Mujib’s determination to let the public know the truth by convincing Suhrawardy to
publish a newspaper, later known as Ittehad(Page39,40) is admirable in the age of ‘fake news’.
After the partition in 1948, Mujib noticed many failures of the political leaders to bring
communal harmony between Hindu-Muslims (page87).