প্রশ্নঃ নেপাল ও গোপাল দুই ভাই। জমি নিয়ে বিরোধ তাদের দীর্ঘদিন। অনেক নালিশ বিচার করেও কেউ তাদের বিরোধ মেটাতে পারেনি। কেউ কাউকে ছাড় দিতে নারাজ। এখন জমির ভাগ বন্টন নিয়ে মামলা চলছে আদালতে। ছোটভাই নেপাল বড়ভাইকে শায়েস্তা করতে আব্দুল নামে এক মুসলমানের কাছে নিজের জমির এক অংশ বিক্রি করে। আব্দুল সেখানে বাড়ি বানিয়ে স্থায়ীভাবে বসবাস শুরু করে। কোরবানীর ঈদে সে নেপালের বাড়ির সামনে গরু কোরবানি দেয়। নেপালের মন ভেঙে যায়। কিছুদিন পর কাউকে কিছু না বলে জমি-জমা ফেলে সপরিবারে ভারতে চলে যায় সে।
How does this type of communal narrative choose for the 12 class standard question in the board final examination? After investigation by the higher authority, it has been revealed that a team composed of four members has set the Bangla language paper question and another team from different colleges was engaged for the moderation of the question.
My questions as follow : How can all the related members agree on a provocative communal narrative for the teenage student group? What was the motive behind it ? Were they influenced by the Government policies or societal development of present Bangladesh ?
If we look back in the era of the present ruling government, we find that there were some decisions which had been implemented by them who were in the helm of affairs which were not conducive for the liberal democratic societal development and building relations among the different religious and ethnic communities. Literature
- To establish Upazila-wise Model mosques with different facilities to promote Islamic environment in the society from the ground level.
- Replacement of all Hindu and liberal authors (writers/poet/litterateur ) creation from the school syllabi including Rabindranath Tagore by the Pro-Pakistani and Pro-Islamic authors. All these happened to identify Bangladesh culturally and nationally proximate within the Islamic influence ignoring common liberal Bengali culture. Ultimate result is, communal atrocities have come down on the minority non-Muslim communities (Hindu, Buddhists, Adivasi, etc.) and rapidly growing radical Islamic influence in the schools and colleges.
In this juncture, emerge a pro-Islamic social forces who are now controlling the cultural arena. It is now observed that there occur random uses of burkha and hejab in schools, colleges and universities; liberal cultural activities in the educational institutions and societies both in town and villages are drastically reduced.
In most of the places during the present government’s tenure, when atrocities on Hindu and other minorities happened, government machineries (like police, administration) were inactive and also unwilling to handle the grave situation, because most of the perpetrators were from the local leaders and cadres from ruling party committed atrocities on minority communities. These are the ground realities. Foment of communal situation is nothing new for political parties of Bangladesh. AL/BNP/ML/BJI whoever was in power during the last seventy five years, all played the same policies regarding minorities (Hindus).
From the above narrative, it is quite clear that government has been encouraging Hindus to leave Bangladesh for India leaving moveable and immoveable properties silently. For this purpose, it is creating a conducive atmosphere to involve young mind of majority Muslim community by their age-old tactics of cattle slaughtering in front of Hindu houses.
In this narrative, Hindus are also shown coward and as traitor. This strategy has been widely practised by opportunist Muslims since 1947. It is nothing new, but Bangladesh government itself is openly encouraging it through education policy to spread communal poison in school going children.
In this context it is relevant that post Pakistan societal change did not proceed according to perception of the ideals of Bangladesh liberation war. In the field of culture and education, post 1975 development was far away from the dream of Bengali nationalism and liberal democracy which was the basis of bloody war in 1971. Only one thing is discernible, and that was the fate of hapless and hopeless Hindus, whose sacrifice in the 1971 freedom struggle appeared to be negated by the assassination of Mujibur Rahman, and who started moving as an endless flock of people from Bangladesh to multiple directions into the land of India.
There is no state religion in secular India, which is obliged to protect all religions equally, but the Bangladesh Republic has to preserve religious peace and harmony under the shadow of its state religion, viz. Islam. The adoption of Islam as the state religion has utterly demoralized non-Muslims, and has reinforced their already powerful compulsions about migration to India.
Significantly, a state religion and even a radical Islamic environment cannot extend the minimum of socio-economic protection even to Muslims, who instead of being satisfied with living in Islamic Bangladesh, have long been voting with their feet, and continuously leaving for secular India, especially Assam and West Bengal.
Mujib case of fighting against Pakistan had finally given way to a Bangladesh which never denied its Islamic character. On the surface, while Hindus imagined a new secular democratic prospect, Muslims suffered from a bankruptcy of leadership, which threw them eventually into the clutches of Mustaq Ahmed, Ziaur Rahman and others after Mujib’s death. It was a pity that Bangladesh came out as a country and a state with an overt Islamic identity.
The minority community in Bangladesh participated in the War of Liberation with the expectation that in the newly liberated country they would enjoy equal status and rights along with the majority community. But in practice, the persecution of the minorities continued even after independence. The forms of oppression of the religious minorities in Bangladesh are manifold. Constitutionally, they have been downgraded; economically, they have been crippled through different discriminatory laws and practices; politically, they have been segregated and alienated from the mainstream; they have been made a non-entity in different government and non-government services; culturally and socially, they are insecure. They are totally deprived of the privileges of the participation in the top positions of government, and nationally they are used as subjects tortured through communal riots organized by the government for counteracting political unrest against the ruling party. As a consequence of the discriminatory policies, combined with land grabbing, looting, arson, rape, murder and attack on religious institutions of the religious minorities with the collusion, if not instigation, of the government or semi-government agencies, there has been a continuous exodus of the minorities from Bangladesh.
