Candle-light protests of “enlightened” sections of society are letting us know, not all deaths are created equal. To them, the government-beating is the necessary evil to the path of progress, of modernity. We got shocked when its news when “common people” die, and the rest of people are as the ignorant as the Rohingyas.
The government has occupied the country. The BNP is trying to kill the government by killing that “country.” In the process, the country is going into others’ hands. Majority of the media are asleep.
The AL and the BNP have fallen into each other’s traps. In the past, they fell into the same trap and almost became “minus” and then in desperation joined hands again. This time also, they will either live together or die together. One cannot survive without the other.
In trying to wipe out the BNP, the survivor of this will be Jamaat. In this deadly algebra, the losers will certainly be Bangladesh and its people. In the plain lands, in the mountains, on the border, in the city and hinterlands everywhere there is the burning barbed wire of danger.
The BNP has collapsed, and the government is detached from the people. The ruling parties have usurped the state by coercion and intrigue. Both are implicated in this violent battle to take control of state power and are losing legitimacy. Jamaat will end up presenting themselves the hope of the people!
In this way, the antithesis of 1971 is being written. The hero is the AL, the heroine is the BNP. The whole farce resembles the Rubel-Happy trial.
Civil society are a bunch of opportunists. Harsh governmental regulation and shrinking foreign funds make them cautious to act in defence of people’s right. “Pro-liberation” forces are the first movers for depositing our independence in another country’s vault.
The left has been staring or joining hands so often, they are lost, invalid. All that remains to hand is Islam, which currently has no guardian in Bangladesh; hence is easy to manipulate and exploit.
Those who talk about saving people seek progress and development rather than people. Creating cultural fault lines and claiming cultural supremacy is the scolding of fascism, whether in Germany or current India.
From all sides, the entities who are receiving blows and suffering are: 1) The democratic, 2) independent, 3) sovereign, 4) Bangladeshi, 5) citizens.
To kill the poor fifth one, you initially have to kill the first four. For this, the one January 5 stone was enough.
If you understood this much, then you will understand the damage AL-BNP have done, you will understand the game India-America are playing. You will realise that the new technique of War on Terror is social conflict, turned into the deadly sport of cultural conflict. You will understand deep politics. When the noose is around your neck, the more you struggle the more you choke. When you act without thinking, danger will only increase. If you act after proper understanding, you may lose your life but preserve the future.
Up to the middle ages, people would die after seeing the three dimensional Azrael. In this new era, who is killing who – if you make political comments without understanding this, it may be the innocence of the middle ages, but we call it stupid. We may also call you fool.
When you occupy state power by force instead of electoral politics, you make the application of counter-force inevitable. If you are going to oppose, oppose all forms of violence. Even if terrorism wears the jacket of law, it is still terrorism.
We have been searching for the lesser of two evils for so long; we now have to choose between two evils. We are now politically divided only on the basis of which of the two evils will stave off the total collapse of Bangladesh. Because of the opportunism of seeking the lesser of two evils, evil is now triumphant.
We think one thing, and something different happens. There is only sand and sand in our jar full of hope. For the masses, this song of Fakir Lalon Shah is most appropriate: In the land of waiting, why don’t you sit with bated breath/ Don’t float again from all your pain!
At the end of the game of war over power, Bangladesh will go back to its “normal” path. The country sits on the platform of waiting. We have been waiting for a long time, it’s getting late. When will our freedom train come, o stationmaster?
This type of never-seen-before political vacuum cannot be fulfilled by an unelected party holding onto state power, such attempts have never succeeded. How will a Bangladesh without political strength-party-unity survive, how will 17 million people’s minimum security be guaranteed?
When the Shahbagh-Shapla clash has left both sides broken and without popular support, under the flag of which idea will Bangladesh cross the treacherous waters of regional and world turbulence? To fight against the mountain-high danger from external forces, minimum national unity is urgent.
The “revolutionary” jacket worn by ideas like minus one and minus two is actually the death warrant of the sovereign Bangladesh established in 1971. We have to settle first on the question: Which is the principle contradiction of our time: inner or external? If inner contradictions are strengthening by external aid, then we can conclude that external pressures on Bangladesh’s path should be resolved first.
The liberator must be liberated first.
This article first appeared on AlalODulal.org
