Violence in politics is nothing new to Bangladesh or to its predecessor country, Pakistan. But that violence constituted just one element in the multi-faceted cocktail of conflict and confrontation. Now the violence has taken a whole new meaning, it has been pushed into the centre stage by hot headed morons — all disputes and disagreement are to be settled by sheer force of violence. Discussions, deliberations, negotiations etc. – the instruments used in decent, democratic and civilised societies to settle disputes – are now buried to unfathomable depths in favour of singular blunt instrument of violence.
Bangladeshi people, comprising nearly 90 per cent Muslims and about 10 per cent Hindus, are not inherently an aggressive breed of a martial race. Racially most of the Bangladeshis are Aryans, more inclined to using brains than brawns. The soft-spoken, small physique friendly-disposed Bangladeshis portray more of an image of ‘intellectual demeanour’ than the swaggering, blood-thirsty marauding hulks. But then the question is, how and why did these ‘physically unassuming’, friendly-disposed people turn into violence-mongering mini-monsters?
To find answer to this conundrum, one has to look back to history – a history right back to the time when the land of Bengal started fragmenting. The 1905 division of Bengal into Hindu majority West Bengal and Muslim majority East Bengal was the first implant of social/religious seed that is still poisoning the minds of the people. Although the ostensive plan of the British Raj was the ease administration to help improve the social/educational/economic environment for the Bengali Muslims in the hinterland of Bengal, the ulterior motive, as some people would say, was to ‘divide and rule’. An agitation, which occasionally culminated in racial hatred and violence, was initiated by Hindu ‘bhadralok’ against this division impacting on their socio-economic interests. In the face of local and national opposition, that division was annulled in just six years (in 1911). But the mind-set among the Bengalis that agitation along with violence did provide fruitful outcome remained with them. Another by-product was that the provision of division provided an unmistakeable opportunity for social/economic improvement, which was missed at that time, remained with the Bengali Muslims.
In the 1940s when the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims was aired by Mohammad Ali Jinnah (following Allama Iqbal’s Two Nation Theory), Bengali Muslims in East Bengal found an echo to their lost aspirations. On top of that a vicious riot that ensued in Calcutta in 1946 killing thousands of Muslims (as well as Hindus) reinforced their perception. This traumatic event alienated the Muslims even further and the creation of Pakistan became all but an essential reality. Thus among the racial hatred, bitterness and unprecedented violence a new nation – Pakistan – was born in 1947, despite earnest pleas by Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian leaders, Hindus as well as Muslims, to compromise and reconcile.
The disparate socio-political and economic conditions of the Bengali Muslims did not improve in Pakistan at all. Instead, they were more blighted by the new ‘masters’ from West Pakistan comprising bureaucrats, business men and military personnel replacing Hindi landlords and upper classes ‘bhadralok’. On top of that, cultural onslaught by West Pakistan made Bengalis aliens in their own homeland. The bitterness and resentment came back again to Muslim Bangladeshis and a new round of violence ensued – this time against Pakistani exploiters. Whereas in 1947 there were opportunities to compromise (if Pakistani leaders headed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah would have allowed), this time there was no opportunity to compromise with the brutal Pakistani dictators. So, up comes the violence, mainly from the West Pakistani aggressors and their ‘Bengali lackeys’ to suppress the demands of the local people and the backlash from the local people against the Urdu speaking ‘Biharis’. And this time in violence there were no holds barred and the result was the creation of Bangladesh.
Thus the cycle of violence – political, racial and religious – is a recurring theme in Bangladesh. Indeed, these three confluences of conflict have merged together into a single one under the overarching umbrella of politics. After repeated use of violence and achieving success, this mode of mindset seems to have got a firm hold in the psyche of Bangladeshi people. Violence has now become the main instrument of application.
There is another element too. What used to be utilised during the British Raj such as burning of government buildings, destroying vehicles and damaging transport systems and so forth to de-capacitate the power of the colonial rulers seems to be still in the minds of the people. The Bangladeshi people have failed to take notice of the difference in situation that they now live in an independent country and the damage they inflict is on their own country. Disregarding this fundamental difference, the people resort to violence and apply the same brutal technique. Of course, the political masters do the same – the opposition behaves as if it is fighting an imposing colonial ruler and hence everything goes. At the same time, the ruling party behaves as if it is dealing with the ‘natives’ and no treatment is harsh enough.
After three separate cycle of violence what has transpired this time is the enormity and ferocity of violence killing and injuring innocent people, destroying businesses up and down the country, disrupting national life. Now one more insidious element has been added to their arsenal – killing people. If they torch a fully laden bus and kill many people, they consider it a successful operation! Such gratuitous violence is without precedent, even in Bangladesh. This is the most worrying development in Bangladeshi politics.
As mentioned above, politics and religion have now merged together making it an explosive cocktail. The religious hog-heads and morons think that they must enforce their values by sheer force of violence and obduracy and any other value is immaterial. This is the position of the politicised Islam of the country now. The other side upholding the constitutional banner of secularism is deadly opposed to anything that may endanger or even compromise their position and any talk of compromise is off the table now. Thus an apparently irreconcilable position has built up with firmly entrenched positions of the confronting sides.
The world had been viewing these aggressive postures of the ruling party and the opposition with alarm. The representatives from the European Commission (EC), the USA, China, Japan and so forth had tried to defuse the situation and urged the warring parties to come to a sensible solution; but of no avail. Both of them seem to have decided on settling the score in violence; other methods such as talks, negotiations, reconciliation etc. are off the menu now.
Bangladesh cannot claim to have good governance ever since it was born some 43 years ago. The government never worked to win the hearts and minds of the people, apply better economic policy, a better social or educational policy and so forth. All governments – civil or military – had been grossly engaged in personal or collective party gains and consequently corruption thrived irresistibly. The only party which had been building solid base in the hullabaloo of dirty politics is the Islamist party – Jamaat-e-Islam. The seed of politicised Islam that was planted during Ziaur Rahman’s regime by granting permission to Jamaat to operate in Bangladesh has now grown into an oak tree and now threatening to engulf the whole pasture. The clash between secular and Islamic ideologies could have been resolved by mature political manoeuvring, but Bangladesh seems to lack that skill. In the absence of that, only recourse the politicians are taking is of violence.
The consequences of violence – adopted and encouraged by both the parties – are borne by the ordinary people; people who live by their daily work; people who have to tread the roads of the cities and town in the pursuit of their livelihood. When the political leaders sitting in their luxurious apartments and houses give orders to their slavish morons to enforce ‘hartals’ or strikes by any means, they are dishing out satanic sermons. They have lost humanity – basic human senses have deserted from the conscience of our political leaders.
Admittedly, Bangladesh is at a crossroad, in a state of turmoil now, not so much, as some uninitiated readers may think, due to precipitous advent of uncompromising principles and ideologies but because of well-manicured political events nurtured very well at home and abroad. But the stake in this game is very high. Can Bangladesh stay as a secular, forward looking nation where science and technology, art and culture will flourish or Bangladesh will be allowed to regress into a theological state where only divine teachings will dictate the daily lives of the people?
This stark choice between secularism and Islamic Sharia imposition did not arise overnight. It was on the card for a long period of time. Our political leaders were engaged in personal gratification and ignored national imperatives. Now the chicken has come home to roost. At this point one may ask, had we been choosing our political leaders who had no foresight, no patriotism, had forsaken humanity and conscience and are ready to adopt grotesque violence in the pursuit of power and position?
Source: Bd news24
