Written by; Abu Salih Mohamed

The Big Question

Close your eyes; pause for a few seconds and ask the question – how did one simple  issue, e.g., ‘Bengali as a national language’, initially from a few individuals in 1948 turn into a Language Movement in 1952 – that then gradually transformed into a fully-fledged political movement and eventually brought an independent Bangladesh in 1971 (albeit with India’s help)?

Pause again and ask yourself – how did a nearly-forgotten 1971 ‘war crime’ issue turn into a country-wide anti-Jamaat mobilisation, in order to destroy Jamaat’s politics and cripple Bangladesh’s Muslim identity?

Now pause… and you will come to understand that complaint of a conspiracy theory is of little value.

This is the story of forward thinking and clear agenda by upper class Indian political leaders who invested heavily in Bangladesh (and recruited agents or ‘useful idiots’ to do their job) versus thick-brained, short-termist and emotion-filled Muslim leadership of this historic land, called Bangladesh.

The lesson from history is very few learn from it. The biggest worry the author has regarding Bangladesh is – rather than learning from the past and acting to redress the debacle many, including Islamic leaders, would just probably try to do ‘more of the same’ and come up with more rhetoric.

Bangladesh’s reality

The political and socio-cultural future of Bangladesh now looks bleak; despondency has gripped the country of 160 million people, mostly of Muslim origin. The realities are;

a)    Bangladesh has a vulnerable geographic location and its big neighbour is mercilessly exploiting this vulnerability.

b)    People are volatile, uninformed of history and of short memory.

c)    The secular camp, mostly pro-Indian, is dominantly engaged in dark and violent politics in recent years. On the contrary, the nationalist cum Islamic camp is naïve and incompetent. Awami League, the governing party, is shamelessly pro-Indian. The opposition (including Islamic groups) lacks national narrative and is leaderless.

d)    The secularist force is sadly die-hard anti-Islamic and against Bangladesh’s Muslim identity. It controls the media and civil society.

e)    Bangladesh would not get any meaningful help from anyone if India decides to harm it further; the Muslim world itself is under socio-political trauma.

A brief detour of the recent past

Current Bangladeshi PM leads an organised but intolerant political party that dropped the word ‘Muslim’ from its original name of Awami Muslim League in its early years. She went on record saying she was taking revenge of 1975 massacre of her family. The diehard secular media and politicised civil society blindly support her authoritarian steps against political opposition; India gives her international cover. During her rule since 2009 she destroyed the country’s border force, the BDR, and politicised all organs of the government, such as the police and judiciary. Some say she is a curse to the country. The irony is she was taken as a trusted political ally by the main Islamic party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, in the past. The following are some open secrets regarding political players in Bangladesh;

a)    Hasina was trained by the RAW from 1975 to 1981 while she was living in her Delhi shelter. General Zia allowed her to return in 1981; Zia paid the price with his life within a short time of her return. Awami League, which was in political wilderness since 1975, got a leader from the Mujib family; it again emerged as a mainstream political party with a democratic cloak.

b)    BNP’s corruption and opportunism, especially in its 2001-06 term, and Jamaat’s political naivety and overconfidence were mind-boggling. India used its golden chance to mastermind the 1/11 plot. Jamaat fell on its own sword.

c)    Hasina may sound eccentric to some, but she has been religiously following the script prepared by the RAW with precision skills; the diehard secularist camp pushed Awami League to follow their agenda, as Mujib did in 1971.

d)    ‘Shahbag Projonmo’ emerged in opportune moment and exposed their hatred of Islam. Hefazat-e-Islam counterbalance fell flat by their political naivety within weeks.

Grappling with reality

There is a dangerous political game going on and nobody knows for sure what is going to happen in Bangladesh next year and beyond. The sad truth is

a)    Bangladeshi society, in spite it being a homogeneous ethnic group, is divided to the core. Its nerve-centres or institutions are heavily infiltrated by the intelligence agencies of some stake-holding countries, particularly by Indian RAW. People, especially the youth, are hyped up to believe that Jamaat and its leaders are violent and evil.

b)    Depending on what Indian agenda is, most imprisoned Jamaat leaders will probably face capital punishment; the next batch of Jamaat leaders is not sure where to take the party.

c)    BNP will most probably still remain a ‘Basically No Party’, as some people frustratingly say, for the foreseeable future.

d)    Bangladesh will remain awfully volatile. The world will ignore or simply give lip-service to its predicament.

e)    Whoever comes in power in early 2014 will follow the Indian line. Unless Bangladeshi people are on their own feet with unforeseen leadership, it looks like to be under India’s mercy for some time.

Any silver lining?

But nothing is written on stone. If only right-minded and determined people with patriotism in their breast think clearly and come to the drawing board and redraw a well-thought-out strategic recovery plan for Bangladesh then there is a hope inshaAllah. They must stop repeating the same mistakes.

The country has always had potentials – its people power. Although not that educated, they are Islam-loving and simple-minded. Given proper and selfless leadership they can deliver, as they did against the British and Pakistani rulers. The country desperately needs socio-political leadership in all levels.

Indian factor is vital for Bangladesh, but India itself is geographically vulnerable and socially weak (due to its historic class divide). Its leadership has so far been intellectually sharp and politically astute. If a new leadership emerges in Bangladesh and are able to fight intellect with intellect, media with media and politics with politics, Bangladesh does not have to worry about its big neighbour; the examples of two tiny countries, Israel and Singapore, are speak volume. What the country needs is turning its people number into people quality, through education and empowerment. Bangladesh’s majority people have an edge over its neighbouring people and that is their Iman.

Bangladeshi people may not be as resilient as, say, Palestinians in their difficult times and the outside world may not be that sympathetic to help them in their need, but people power with Iman can turn the table. The new patriotic force should keep this in mind before embarking on any future actions.

Suggested practical steps

Any short-cut or emotional step will not only fail, but can bring further harm to this land and its people. Individuals or groups who want a dignified and successful Bangladesh with its Muslim identity should now come up with strategic mapping and implementable plans. In times of crisis it is always wise to step back, introspect and see things from different angles (from inside and ‘outside the box’) before taking any step.

Bangladesh now needs a national narrative and confidence of its people. For this the new leadership should come up with clearly defined initiatives to create effective social, intellectual and political leadership – who would have deeper knowledge of Bangladesh and its people’s mindset – their strength and weaknesses.

In the short term, no one should go for any rash action. Superficial thinking and immediate or casual steps will take us nowhere; the last few decades have proved this. Using head before heart in crisis situation is vital. Anything that may harm the country should be challenged and resisted where possible, but in a civil way. Intolerance and hatred cannot be countered by similar intolerance and hatred. There should be a new civil and Islamic way of dealing with issues and crises, no matter what others do.

Here are a few ideas for the new leadership to keep in mind

 1) Knowledge and confidence building drive

Age-old ignorance of Islam, the Seerah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and history of the land have made Bangladesh intellectually weak and culturally dependent. We need to start from the basics, so that individual self-respect and dignity as well as national confidence can be revived. No nation can survive with basic character, integrity and competence of its people. Bangladesh’s future leadership must address this fundamental issue of creating personal character and forward looking social qualities, particularly in the new generation. Only then the country can overcome the deprivation of its national leadership. Rhetoric or jargon, be they Islamic or otherwise, is meaningless.

2) Creating strong civil society groups/institutions – Civil society must be de-linked from political parties and made to serve the whole nation, not any group. There must be a flurry of nation building initiatives and projects across the country and in all areas of life. Prior emphasis should be given to research and documentation, so that one day some of these institutions can establish themselves as international authority in their areas of research.

3) Creating leadership training institutes – Bangladesh should prioritise in training new leaders – political, social, educational, economic and cultural – with higher ethics and morality. These leaders need basic media training with skills of mainstream speaking and writing (of international standard). There should be proper nurturing of talented youth in public life – in politics and media. This should be taken on board with strategic objective of serving the country, not any interest group. Politics by nature can be dirty, as it is about power; so, the new leaders should be mentored by people of high morality and spirituality so that they do not lose their integrity of character in the name of political astuteness.

4) Harnessing talents and co-ordinating initiatives

Many people are now coming up with various initiatives – in educational, economic, media and blogosphere – there should be serious attempts to co-ordinate and harmonise them. The country needs a synergy of all positive works and initiatives from every quarter; disjointed works cannot benefit a nation.

5) Creating a nation-building politics

The country should find better ways of doing politics, but this will prove most difficult in current political culture which is divisive and dangerous. People who have credentials of good personal character and patriotism should be encouraged to come into nation-building politics.

To save the country from the chain of hatred, it is advisable that senior leaders of Jamaat should stay away from direct politics; they can serve the country better if they can swallow their pride and divert their energy and experience in educational and social arena. Sadly, ‘Islamic politics’ has been vilified for many reasons. Scholars and Islamic leaders should rather invest in educating people with the basics of Islam – fard, Sunnah, halal, haram, etc. They can help politics to be on right track through creating people of good moral character and putting social pressure on politicians.

Conclusion

The world belongs to those who are able to win in the ‘battle of ideas’, see the broad picture and take steps to win in the world of action. If some visionary people now think and act strategically, invest in producing thought-leaders and social-leaders (‘shepherds’ in Islamic jargon) Bangladesh’s potential can be harnessed within a generation.

Bangladesh has been in the slow lane of world’s highway for generations; it was the opposite before. The way to overcome the situation is to produce competent drivers, use better and relevant vehicle and adopt sharper driving skills. Family cars driven by risk-averting drivers cannot compete with sports cars driven by risk-taking fast drivers. Doing politics is different from doing social or charity work. Politics that rules the world belongs to life’s faster lane. Bangladeshi people must learn the art of politics so that they can confidently set the political agenda, and not always getting outmanoeuvred by the opponents and enemies.

Core to individual and group success is to have humility and acceptance of their shortcomings. Human beings are blessed with creative brains; not using it when needed is abdicating responsibility that could lead to disaster in the world and Allah’s wrath in the Hereafter. Bangladesh’s patriotic sons and daughters cannot now afford to keep idle in the struggle for their national identity.

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