by The Bangladesh Chronicle
Recent events in Bangladesh will get one perplexed. I am glued to the television and can sense the changes happening so rapidly that it would take an intelligence specialist to figure out what is going on…. Which way Bangladesh being steered to….. What is the future of the new generation now that older ones have screwed up democracy and all systems of civility that is aspired of a civilized nation? While watching TV, I feel we see a very civilized and intelligent people on the screen and yet I see there is a void somewhere. We are violent and to some extent act like barbarians. Now; I am addressing all Bangladeshis and not just about the political factions, concocted philosophers and so called civil society. Bangladeshis have learned the act of pretentions… They could pretend to be anything and are doing it very well. My imaginations stop when I see a Bangladeshi is using his intelligence in self enriching process, amassing wealth without giving any hoot about the rest of the people. Looks like people are taking an intoxicated voyage and are immune from these perplexes and learned to live in a society of “zombies” or perhaps “entrepreneurs”; your choice of taking which side you believe the nation is heading to. Are Zombies taking over the entrepreneurs and the new generation of youth with electrifying ideas? At one moment you would be in one state of mind and at once you will experience a different scenario.
Bangladesh is divided along political seismic divide. How a homogenous nation is so sharply divided boggles my mind. Being a part of the liberation war; seeing it in my youth and being so involved with it I cannot fathom how a nation that was so united in 1971 slowly degenerated into a divisive entities. The nation that fought for democracy slowly evolved into an autocracy right from the year we became independent. The ruling class started looting wealth and taking over all controls of the ordinary Bangladeshis. The nation saw a famine in which a huge population perished. While we do not have any figures how many perished due to famine in the early seventy’s, we are adamant it was 3 million deaths during the liberation war. No one cares how many Biharis were killed after the independence and why did we kill them? Will we ever have a tribunal to try the killers and looters who perpetrated so much suffering to this minority group? Should a civilized nation simply put it under the rug? Why is our Civil Society champions’ deaf about these deaths? Biharis are still devoid of citizenship and living poorly in slums while we are pretending to be civilized.
We gave our lives for liberty and we rightfully celebrate it every year very pompously and yet divisively. Depending on what political spectrum you are from; you could either be “wrong” or perhaps “right”. There is a lack of definition of right and wrong now a days. When a killer gets away by a Presidential pardon, is this right? Perhaps it is, because the nation’s highest official did this act. We should trust him; right? Similarly, should we trust the judiciary or the police force? Now a days, people from all spectrum have lost their faith in the governance bodies of Bangladesh. If there is a robbery in your home, the last person you will call is the police, because they are connected to the mob. If the politicians do not know it, we are living in a dream…. A bad dream.
The game of cricket is the only event where all parties are in unison and yet the politicization of the game has dampened the hope on unity. Why can’t we unite? Should we unite to eradicate Islamic fundamentalism; if so, can we do it with mutual consensus? How about forming a mancha with youths born after 1971 and indoctrinate them into a movement emulating the liberation war; as if they were a part of the war, perhaps in their dreams. Dreams count too. We elders are giving them a concocted education, deleting the dirty part and providing them with the version of the history that conjures up with our political beliefs. Politics has been commercialized. The business people are very much a part of it as they profit from investing into the politicians in order to amass illicit money and siphoning off to foreign banks. In other words, all political momentum is generated by the money making machines that are mostly illicit. A person wants to become a Member of the Parliament because he or she will amass enormous wealth by merely investing a few cores of personal funds. Nice investment – the rate of return is much higher than that of my honestly run business. Soon this person will join the business community and live in the stratosphere. If you take money factor out of politics, you will see less people vying to run for the parliament. Parliamentarians are elected to serve the people, but in reality, once they get elected, they pretend to be Rulers …. Zaminders …. Judge and the Jury combined; part of an oligarchy of the ruling Prime Minister set in place by the constitution. A perfectly legit position and hence, very much legal. Whenever the law minister utters anything, the law flows out from his mouth as if it came from God. There is no other option but enforcing the law cooked by the parliament of the wealth seeking corrupt elected individuals. Or shall we call them thugs?
Is there a hope? Yes; when I see these intelligent youth. No; when I see the same politicians who advised our Prime Minister in 1974 to amend the constitution to establish a one party rule. The worm entered the mango that year and is being re-visited again and again. I am still alive to see these 2 events. A dose of strong insecticide is needed to cleanse this infection. Who will do it? That is the moral of the story?
