In the wake of Hefazat’s violent showdown and the government’s heavy-handed response, that included dismantling of the Projonmo Chottor Mancha in an overnight police drive, the question of what the Shahbagh movement has really given us may be re-visited with a fresh perspective.
Some may say that Shahbagh has initiated a chain of events that has led to increased communal violence and political polarisation; that it has cornered some political Islamist forces and forced them to fight back, as we have seen over the last few months, recently culminating in Hefazat’s Shapla Chottor showdown.
I would argue that the Shahbagh movement has cracked open fault lines in our society that we have been blissfully turning a blind eye to. Through misguided education policies, we have allowed the unmonitored growth of an education system that promotes religious bigotry and disrespectful gender discrimination.
We have not made attempts to make enough investments towards education of the poorest sections of the society, a large part of whom are forced to send their children to these institutes, which at least guarantee that their children are fed. We have not regulated the flow of funds to these institutes; we have not monitored the sources and motivations of those funds.
The result of that misguided blindness has been the gradual growth of entities like Hefazat-e-Islam, with some medieval demands from the dark ages. It was because of the Shahbag movement and the consequential turn of events that this critical division in our society has come to public consciousness like never before. Now we may still have time to do something about it, to turn the tide before it is too late.
If unchecked, a few years later, this force can become much bigger than it is today and much more out of control. If the government thinks that it has won a decisive victory by showing its strength against a bunch of young kids armed with sticks and indoctrinated by manipulative leaders, it is gravely mistaken.
Some may say that the Shahbagh movement has tried to forcefully impose a definition of our nationalism that not a lot of people can identify with. I would rather argue that it has re-opened the unresolved issue of our nationalism - what it means to be a Bangladeshi - whether a Muslim or non-Muslim, whether a Bengali or non-Bengali. Shahbagh has made us come face to face with this incomplete national soul-search.
Our sense of nationalism has evolved over the last four decades - the society as a whole has reverted more to religious practices, our culture has evolved to take a more distinct shape on the one hand, and has become more “globalised” on the other. It is now up to us how we take forward the challenge that Shahbagh has thrown at us to define certain parameters of our nationalism, that we all, or a vast majority of us, can identify with.
When verses from Quran, Gita, Tripitaka and Bible were sequentially recited from the Projonmo Chattar Mancha, it reminded us that our brand of secularism is about embracing the co-habitation of all religions, and the minority that does not agree with this needs to be “handled” through diplomacy, regulation and investment towards education and jobs.
Some may say that Shahbagh has divided up the nation, even forcing long-time friends to take sides. However, given the critical juncture that this nation is currently in, I would argue that Shahbagh has given us a “reason” for the nation to unite.
I would not go as far as saying that it has given all of us a “platform” since many of us may not agree with all the demands of Shahbagh, while some of us may think that other important demands have been left out. But does it really matter at the end of the day given that the stakes are increasingly getting higher?
The dark forces are gathering strength, and gaining political alliances in this election year. Now is not the time to stay divided because we cannot agree on use of capital punishment, or the fairness of the ICT tribunal process, or whether Jamaat should be banned, or whether Shahbagh is nothing more than a government implant.
While we have been fighting amongst ourselves, the dark forces have risen to destroy all that this country was built for, to gradually turn this nation into a Taliban-like dysfunctional state.
The fact that our major parties are too engrossed in power politics is not helping us. It is, at the end of the day, up to us citizens, and we have seen how parties react to numbers, masses out in the streets with clear demands - the only effective language that parties really respond to. It is up to us to give them the numbers, no matter what our reservations are with Shahbagh.
Above everything else, Shahbagh has given us the historic opportunity to set some things right before it would be all too late, to come to terms with a common sense of nationalism and identity.
When Shahbagh/ Projonmo Mancha or any other similar group calls, let us show up on the streets en masse, to show the social values a vast majority of this country holds dear - the values of religious equity, gender equity and a nation free of the curse of religious exploitation.
This may be one of the few last opportunities that we get. Let’s not waste this one, because we cannot agree to disagree when it comes to saving the very soul of this nation.
Mridul Chowdhury is co-founder of Jagoree, and CEO of a social enterprise.