The New Nation - Internet Edition

M.T.Hussain

Yet another new political party is born in Bangladesh on the 4th December (07). The party named Bangladesh Kalyan Party (BKP) is headed by self-appointed for three years all on by himself as President, retired Major General Syed Mohammad Ibrahim.

The party has set many lofty objectives that might attract many aspirants for position and power. Personally, I would say good luck to the retired General. But one thing amused me. The party president has accepted three national heroes- Maolana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and General Ziaur Rahman. I was amused because, some time earlier when another group launched another political party, Bangladesh Progressive Party (PDP), they declared five as their party national heroes of importance. They have these three accepted by the BKP plus Sher E Bangla AK Fazlul Haq and Hossain Shahid Sohawardy. I tried to rationalize their choices for national heroes and wish to make my own observation.

The PDP that accepted the five heroes took their appreciation of past history beginning from 1940s and the BKP further trimmed that down the period to 1971. Such trimming down of past history by these two parties should raise other pertinent question. Is Bangladesh a nation that has no long past? Did the nation have her entity just only sixty or 36 years back? How far is the trimming acceptable to the people of the country? To me trimming down of our past history in the way they made would not be acceptable to the people in their average wisdom.

Modern and advanced nations trace back their history in the past as far as they can have evidence and documents. Even the black Africans who had been slaves in the USA and Europe only about one hundred or so years back have in the recent times looking back into their 'Roots'. Why should we as such forget our well documented past heroes in proud history, if not of thousands years back but at last of some centuries back?

The area that forms post 1971 Bangladesh in geographical term stayed here for several thousands years not as a composite national entity but as peoples' settlements. The concept of nation and national State is not that old a concept. Some rightly maintain that it is only recently that Europe taught us the modern concept of nation and national state in geographical term. Muslims, however, believe differently. Muslims had been a nation from the days of the holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who himself founded the nation state of Medina, not only for the Muslims but also for all other people, believers and non believers alike in the early part of the 7th century A.D.

In the geographical locality of present Bangladesh Muslims had established welfare state almost from the beginning of the 14th century during the reign of Shamsuddin Elias Shah. Despite some ups and downs, the Muslim welfare state, despite feudal framework of society, continued in this area until the debacle of the Battle of Pallassey in 1757 A.D. The British period (1757-1947) had been the most unfortunate one for subjugation when many heroes played important and crucial roles for our liberation and unchaining shackles of our freedom. Some of them are Fakir Maznu Shah, Titumir, Haji Shaiatullah etc. Later on, in the early twentieth century, Nawab Salimullah of Dhaka played still more decisive role for freedom through establishing the All India Muslim League in 1906 that in 1947 gave us the geographical entity as is the present one now known as Bangladesh. Had there been no Muslim League, there would not have been anything of Bangladesh. Well, the geographical entity would now obviously be part of West Bengal of the Indian Union. What then would be our future in the whole Indian context or at least in the united Bengal context of the pre-1947 mode need be pondered little intelligently and in some depth. Muslims representation in higher education and in educated employed jobs in India is not more than 1% having Muslim population at nearly 15%. Muslims in West Bengal (India) constitute 25% of the total population but Muslims' access to higher education and educated employment is just about 2%. A recent poster of the TAMILNADU Muslims (TMMK) published in the weekly Holiday (Dhaka, November 30, 2007) quoted the then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Nehru in 1950 and repeated in 1954 stating, "I am distressed to find declining number of Muslims in services". The same poster has quoted the present seating Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohon Singh repeating after 57 years almost the same saying " I am distressed by the low representation of Muslims in jobs" in 2007. In appreciation of the glaring deprivation of the Muslims, only the Tamilnadu provincial government has recently offered 2.5% reservation of jobs for the minority Muslims in the 30% total quota reserved for all minorities in the state.

A section of the 'educated' (vocational preparation is not education but a narrow training for a paid job) men and women in this country refuse to look back in history, not even sixty years back to 1947, and is interested only in the present for immediate future 'gain'. Whereas, renowned historians maintain that one could see as much ahead of his/her people for if one would go back that far in the past. For any political leader, if one would wish for one's country/nation a bright future in distant ahead, it is only expected that he /she must look back as far as possible to see his/her nation's future ahead beyond one's shortsightedness for grater benefit of the incoming next progeny and after.

I wonder if the two party leaders, one holding a Ph.D. Degree and the other a brilliant student turned Major General (retired) of the Bangladesh Army entering initially though in the Pakistan Army in 1960s would find any logic in the argument I have put forward above. And if so, would they revise and expand their list of national heroes to make them credible and more acceptable to the people of Bangladesh having a long tradition of human values all sensible people rightly take pride in?