Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s comment that he is worried about Bangladesh but is not without hope has triggered a debate across the social spectrum. Mr Sen, whose ancestral home is in Manikganj also spent time in Dhaka, and, is therefore, believed to have an affinity with Bangladesh and Bangladeshis.
Mr Sen also alluded to the reports of attacks on minority groups, although he also stated that minority communities face persecution in India, which must stop.
While the venerable Dr. Sen highlighted his trust in the current leadership in Bangladesh under Porfessor Yunus, a tinge of scepticism in his observations is hard to miss.
The sword of Damocles is not hanging over Bangladesh:
Actually, from a very objective angle, if we look at Bangladesh, the worry factor that something disastrous might happen or a catastrophe is hovering over the nation seems more like a man made threat than anything else.
Not to deny, Bangladesh was on a precarious platform in the first three months following the August 5 fall of the previous regime.
The misinformation campaign at that time reached a crescendo, the country was grappling with floods, law and order was wobbly, and the government’s plan for an overhaul of the rotten system appeared a little quixotic to many.
However, almost seven months later, and proving many of my acquaintances assertive statements that ‘this government won’t last six months’, wrong, the country is still stable, people are working, there is social cohesion, reform planning has seen progress and a tentative election time has been mentioned.
By the way, the repression of minority card has been played to death and this approach seems to have lost acceptability and credibility.
Members of the minority community have not lost their employment and places of worship are not being desecrated, the way some foreign outlets are portraying the situation to be.In the last seven months, major religious festivals of different communities were held across the country peacefully with marked air of festivity and fanfare.
Unsurprisingly, there are those who only prefer to see the faults or shortcomings.
They do this because first, the fact that a regime which appeared invincible and unassailable, could be ousted is something they find bitter to accept and, second, it’s their nature to find faults and present Bangladesh as a near dysfunctional state because, well, go to the first reason.
No one is saying the country is one hundred per cent stable, in fact, the notion of any country being fully stable is a myth.
Any incident, just like the one in Germany where a disgruntled person drove a car through a line of unsuspecting people or, Britain, where small children were stabbed to death by a disturbed teen, are enough to send shockwaves through society.
Such egregious incidents rattle civic sense of security just like the recent video recording of a gun-point mugging in Dhaka, where the victim was shot and his bag snatched.In addition, we have come across several other videos of commuters venting anger at cars honking while stuck in traffic and apprehended muggers hung upside down.
The fact remains, such behaviour, often bordering on the inhuman, had always been part of the dark side of urban culture.
Over the decades, civil society has been vocal against such savagery although the harsh reality is, when human emotions are beyond control, actions that defy codes of civility take place.
Let’s use the recent mugging incident at gun point as an example. When the video of the incident, recorded possibly by a resident of a high rise, went viral, there was outrage as to how such crimes could be committed in brazen disregard for social order.
Now let’s assume that immediately after the mugging the muggers in their bikes were somehow apprehended by locals.
In the probability of such a situation, the muggers would have been severely beaten because they had not only snatched someone’s bag but had fired at him and created a situation of terror.
If one understands the realities of Bangladesh, even if the police had come, the muggers would have faced the wrath of the people.
Anyway, the point is, there will be crime in a city and it’s doom mongering to use several incidents to draw a dismal picture of the total law and order situation of the state.
The bike mugging incident and the public beating of two other criminals have seen a beefing up of security with additional security checks set up with both police and army personnel.
I will use the conditions of Elephant Road, New Market, Dhaka University, Chankharpool, Azimpur as an example since these fall under my daily movement circle.
In these areas, the situation is normal, police boxes have been put up at New Market to ensure safety of shoppers plus security of shop owners with the university area under the vigilant eye of Dhaka University students.
Dr. Sen’s cautious hope about elections:
Honourable Dr. Amartya Sen expressed hope that the next elections will be better. Well, one thing can be said with a degree of certainty: next national polls ought to pay a fitting tribute to the sacrifice made by thousands in the July-August movement.
Lest we forget, one of the key driving forces of the nationwide uprising in July 2024 was the simmering discontentment over back to back controversial polls.
In 1991, immediately after the fall of the autocratic regime of Ershad, the national election was held under a caretaker system and was hailed by international observers as being free and fair.
The task of the current Bangladesh government will be to bring back that level of transparency.
Going by the existing mood and the vision of the government, holding transparent elections should not an impossible task.
In fact, this time, the media will be seen playing the most crucial role, reporting round the clock about any attempt to disrupt or manipulate the voting system.
This government was put in place to get rid of the rot and bring back a semblance of decency and democracy. Even if it cannot carry out all the reforms, it will leave the work for the next elected government to finish.
For argument’s sake, let’s be pessimistic and assume that the reforms are not done on time and the government is forced to hold elections.
Well, even in such a case, the elections have to be open and transparent because, the government will want to prove it carried out the most vital task of all without any major hiccup or controversy.
I think, most would agree that that once an election process is open for all to observe, voters left to vote as per their will without coercion, international observers permitted to move freely and polling agents of all parties given equal freedom to operate, an election becomes 75 per cent acceptable.
At this moment, with no major impediments facing Bangladesh apart from the sporadic but dwindling misinformation drives, the future does not look bleak and a fair election seems very much possible.
Having said that, there is the matter of whether a certain political entity will be allowed to take part in the polls or not.
Well, for that the world and Dr. Amartya Sen need to listen to what the masses of this country are saying.
The youth of Bangladesh spearheaded the seismic change and therefore, their voice, and more importantly, their demands, cannot be neglected.
As far as I see, there is hope and expectation among the young. A new party has also come in the picture, which seems determined not to be diluted by toxic culture of political sophistry and chicanery.
Let’s give them a chance and as for Dr. Sen, well, maybe he needs to be invited to Bangladesh to see the situation first hand instead of relying on skewed reports.
The bottom line: no, we should not be too worried, Bangladesh has survived far worse in the past, the blood soaked 70s, the economic hardship and despot ruled 80s along with natural disasters, famine and the Covid.
She will also tackle the post revolution volatility with ease and move on.
As the revered Dr. Amartya Sen has roots in Manikganj, he may be thrilled to learn that Julhas, a young lad from Manikganj, has designed, developed and flown an aircraft.
The flight was witnessed and marvelled by the local administration and the masses!
An elated Julhas has expressed his interest to build small aircrafts for commercial purposes if given government patronage and financial support.
Towheed Feroze is a former journalist!
