Autocracy, Birthdays and Charter of Change

Immediate past Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 77th birthday passed by in total silence and solitude on Saturday (28 September 2024) whereas just one year ago there were so much pomp, adornment and verbosity with which her birthday was celebrated throughout Bangladesh with dazzling ceremonies. The "Charter of Change" that Sheikh Hasina often vociferated did happen but it happened the other way round-totally flinging Sheikh Hasina out of spectacle. Poems, essays, sonorous music, blusterous speeches overwhelmed Sheikh Hasina with endless adulations while she was in power. Even some newspapers dedicated their entire cover jackets with photographs and eulogies lifting up Sheikh Hasina to Olympian Gods but things have absolutely turned upside down in an unprecedented manner. Sheikh Hasina perhaps had never imagined that her name and accomplishments slip into oblivion so abruptly! That's why an English proverb goes "A throne takes no time to throw away its occupant". Sheikh Hasina's atrocities for last fifteen years bounced back onto herself like a celestial act of revenge. The people who were tormented during Sheikh Hasina's regime waited with utmost patience for long fifteen years to hit back like French novelist Alexandre Dumas's famous dialogue in his epic thriller The Count of Monte Cristo "Revenge is a dish, which is best served, when served cold". Lessons must be taken from history. The reasons that led to Sheikh Hasina's overthrow from power should be reviewed in the form of a case study so that the rest of the political parties do not commit the same fatal flaws. Sheikh Hasina's escape from Bangladesh does not end up the story. There is always a next time-parties which are now actively conspicuous on the field must note this proverb very cautiously and forgetting about this idiom will make them pay the same price which Sheikh Hasina has paid.

While judging a person or situation, both sides of the coin need to be seen and examined. Despite plunging Bangladesh into an unfathomable ditch of corruption, nepotism, polluted bureaucracy, morally defiled political exercises and dynastical monarchy under cover of a democratic tapestry-Sheikh Hasina did some good jobs. A number of mega projects were carried out during her tenure which advanced Bangladesh on the infrastructural turf significantly. Women empowerment also gained mileage and momentum extensively while Sheikh Hasina was in power. Sheikh Hasina also attained recognitions from different international platforms including the United Nations. Her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman liberated Bangladesh from the bloodthirsty invasion of Pakistan Army through a nine months long war back in 1971 in exchange for three million martyrs and the chastity of over two hundred thousand women across Bangladesh. More than one crore refugees from Bangladesh took shelter in India during the Liberation War of 1971. The Language Movement of 1952, the Non Cooperation Movement of 1969, the 7 March speech by Bangabandhu, the national flag and national anthem of Bangladesh, the Declaration of Independence by Ziaur Rahman and the glorious Independence War of 1971 should not be altered because Bangladesh will confront an insurmountable existential quagmire if the above historical upheavals are subjected to erasure or mutation.

The tremors budded back in 2018 when demonstrations against quotas in Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) jobs first broke out. Sheikh Hasina settled down the issue quite rapidly by making an announcement in parliament nullifying all quotas for government jobs. But some obstinate and blockheaded people lodged a writ petition with the court challenging the legitimacy of Sheikh Hasina's declaration which halted quotas. At the very beginning of July 2024, a verdict was issued which restored the quota system. This triggered fury and agitations throughout Bangladesh in no time. Things further deteriorated when a gang of assailants wearing helmets attacked boys and girls who were chanting slogans in a peaceful demonstration on Dhaka University campus. Moreover, offensive, idiotic and absurd comments by Obaidul Quader, Mohammad Ali Arafat, Dr. Hasan Mahmud and some other Awami League leaders and the ousted ruling party politicians snatched the circumstances out of Sheikh Hasina's hands. Law and order forces and Awami League loyalist hooligans were given monstrous orders to crack down on the Anti-Discriminatory Students' Movement demonstrators including students, children, rickshaw pullers, shopkeepers, journalists etcetera but nothing could save Sheikh Hasina from running away from Bangladesh to India. Exercising excessive force on ordinary people comes back to the originators and transforms common men and women into terrific revolutionaries with the power of devastating blood-eyed tyrants which were witnessed in French Revolution in 1789, Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and the Glorious July Revolution in Bangladesh in 2024.  

Quotas in government jobs were introduced for freedom fighters and their descendents. But where are those freedom fighters and their successors now? "Where have all the flowers gone"-a song by Pete Seeger comes to mind. Divinity is ruthless on tormentors. Pharaoh, Nimrod, Tsar Nicholas II, Louis XVI and Sheikh Hasina are blazing examples.  Unanimous English playwright William Shakespeare once said "All's well that ends well" but Sheikh Hasina's end was not well at all for reasons of her own arrogance, abuse of power and pampering thugs and crooks who plundered banks, financial institutions, stock markets and laundered all the pillaged funds to overseas locations. Even Sheikh Hasina's supporters were shocked when they saw her photographs on front pages of widely circulated newspapers with notorious culprits like S. Alam, Salman F Rahman, Nazrul Islam Mazumder and Aziz Khan. It was a clear endorsement from Sheikh Hasina's office for the illegal activities the financial sandbaggers were doing from 2009 to 2024 or at least it seemed to be so. Reportedly Beximco, S. Alam, Orion and Nassa Groups are making attempts to reinstate themselves through underhanded deals with certain religion-based political parties under the twisted circumstances.

Apart from the perpetrators, there are some good fellows inside Awami League who were educated from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford Universities. Political alignment should not be the only yardstick to judge a person. People who have qualities and love the country should be valued and should not be repressed just because they supported Awami League. Another thing needs to be clarified here that some business leaders, entrepreneurs, media outlets, political dissidents were forced by the intelligence divisions who operated under directives from fled-away Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's desk. Sheikh Hasina committed another blunder by driving out veteran and illuminated figures with global reputation like Dr. Kamal Hossain and replacing Syed Ashraful Islam, who was a man of integrity and clean image, with an unfit and worthless chap like Obaidul Quader. Sheikh Hasina committed Hara-Kiri a number of times but she had no idea at all that she was her own antagonist. Butcher and human rights violator Sheikh Hasina preferred to have herself entertained by sycophants like Satyajit Roy's masterpiece "Hirok Rajar Deshe" where only duffers and clowns held top posts in ruling authorities. 

The interim government's Chief Adviser Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus is a globally acclaimed poverty eradicator, a peace emissary, an undisputed economist and a Nobel Prize winner. Dr. Muhammad Yunus undoubtedly has the far-sight and acumen to know in what ways Bangladesh can be pulled out of the rubble and ashes of corruption and anarchy of fifteen years. Elimination is a bad and suicidal idea in politics. Sheikh Hasina had to quit because she had attempted to eliminate communist parties, Jamaat, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and all other podiums that spoke against her. Constructive criticism should be always welcomed in a democratic ambience. On the other hand, lack of tolerance towards opponents contradicts with the core principles of democracy, equal rights, inclusion under social safety nets, humanity and freedom of expression. Sheikh Hasina and her accomplices gagged media outlets every now and then. Nobody was allowed to utter a single denouncing word. As a result an explosion ransacked everything on 5 August 2024.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus must take uncompromising and strong steps to stop mob violence without delay. Vices like mob lynching are expanding at an alarming pace. Peace and stability have been destabilized in Chittagong Hill Tracts. Killings and attacks have been going on unobstructed. Even an ex MP's grave was torched. The murder of Tofazzal Hossain inside a residential hall in Dhaka University will never stop haunting us. Threats and intimidations have come back just wearing a new mask. All these things are ominous signs for the Glorious July Revolution. The main goal of the revolution will go down the drain if the interim government cannot stop the reign of terror and vengeance which has gripped Bangladesh in the wake of Sheikh Hasina's escape. Teachers down from schools up to universities are being forced to resign. A lawless situation is going on. The law and order forces must resist these crimes before it is too late to save Bangladesh from losing its way into a blind alley.

Some well-identified military officers who were embargoed by the United States on charges of crimes against humanity, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances are still holding their posts inside cantonments without any discomfort which raises mysteries and suspicions both. Brigadier General Tofayel Mustafa Sarwar has been placed in Savar Cantonment in the Station Commander post who was a specialist abductor and one of the architects of Ayna Ghor (Secret Detention Chambers). Why no actions have been yet taken against him-a big and inevitable interrogative sign!

Inauspicious propagations like the "India Out Campaign" are very much detrimental for Bangladesh's economy. Even Pro-Beijing Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has turned around 360 degrees and started trying to garner India's support.

While concluding, the classic and timeless definition of democracy can be recalled once again which was proclaimed by former Republican US President Abraham Lincoln "Government of the people, by the people, for the people." Let good governance, integrity, socio-economic justice and harmonious bonds prevail all over Bangladesh.

Shoeb Chowdhury is Chairman, Editorial Board of The Asian Age.