Information minister Hasanul Huq Inu has said democracy doesn’t necessary mean equal rights for all.
“Democracy doesn’t necessarily mean equal rights. Then there wouldn’t be any prisons in a democratic society, there wouldn’t be any laws and courts. Those committing crimes in the name of democracy and those who are victims of crime, cannot be measured by the same yardstick,” said Inu while giving his lecture at the Rajshahi University Shaheed Dr Shamsuzzoha Memorial Lecture 2016 in the university.
The programme was organised on the occasion of the university’s Teachers’ Day on Thursday.
Dr. Shamsuzzoha of the university’s department of chemistry was shot dead by the Pakistan army during the 1969 mass uprising. He is actually the first martyred intellectual of the country. Rajshahi University commemorates this day as Teachers’ Day.
Speaking on the theme of freeing Bangladesh’s democracy from irrelevance, Hasanul Huq Inu said that Bangladesh’s democracy was constantly subject to discussion, debate, research, assessment and analysis.
“The reason behind this was that Bangladesh’s language movement and independence struggle was basically the struggle from democracy. The establishment of the independent Bangladesh state was a result of the struggle for democracy.”
Inu, also the president of left-leaning Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, said even in independent Bangladesh, the nation has time and again risen up against autocratic propensities of elected governments and autocratic military regimes. “It is only natural that democracy will be food for discussion in Bangladesh.”
Also speaking on the occasion were chairman of the university’s chemistry department Professor Nazrul Islam, the vice chancellor Professor Muhammed Mizanuddin, pro vice chancellor Professor Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan and treasurer Professor Sayen Uddin Ahmed. The speakers called upon the government to declare the day as national teachers’ day in commemoration of Shaheed Shamsuzzoha’s sacrifice.
Black flags were hoisted from rooftops of the university buildings on the day, wreaths were laid on the martyr’s grave and a minute’s silence was observed.
Source: Prothom Alo
