Sheikh Hasina was no progressive. She knelt down to Islamic fundamentalists, created a demon

Just like Frankenstein, Sheikh Hasina has been devoured by her own demon. She has fled Bangladesh and saved herself. Now this demon will seek to crush all progressive thinkers in the country.

File photo of Sheikh Hasina | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Most Indians believe that Sheikh Hasina is extremely progressive and is fighting against Islamic fundamentalism. This belief stems from the fact that she had once arranged for the death sentences of some war criminals who happened to be Islamic fundamentalists. She had also portrayed herself as a crusader against jihad by ordering the killing of dozens of jihadis involved in the brutal attack on foreigners at the Holey Artisan Café. This is why people against Islamic fundamentalism hail her.

But what did she actually do sitting in power for a long 16 years? She knelt down to the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh fanatics and donated vast amounts of land and huge sums of wealth to enable the building of more madrasas. This would enable more children to be taught the Quran for higher levels of indoctrination, and more and more children could be brought up in the ideals of Islam. She did not think twice before throwing away the ideals of secularism and bringing the education system to ruins just to please these custodians. Bangladesh anyway had more than enough mosques and madrasas, but she chose to build more. She declared that she would govern the country according to the Madina Sanad (the Charter of Medina) and that she would construct 560 new model mosques. She made degrees from madrasas equivalent to degrees from regular universities. No previous government had dared to do this.

She allowed hundreds of Islamic preachers who were anti-women and anti-Hindus to indoctrinate young people in Waz Mahfils, to hate women and non-Muslims. And she gagged free thinkers when we critically scrutinised Islam.

It was during her tenure that works of many Hindu authors were erased from school textbooks and replaced with those by Muslim writers. She had fulfilled every agenda of Islamic fundamentalists to stay in power. She had even made way for fundamentalists in her own party. She created a wing called Bangladesh Awami Olama League to nurture the mullahs and maulvis. Unfortunately, these are the people who turned against Hasina. The custodians who benefitted from her largesse, the students and teachers of the many madrasas that she built, planned a long march to Dhaka to pull her down from the throne. She had earned the title of “Qawmi Mata” for recognising the Qawmi degrees of Qawmi madrasas. Her “Qawmi children” took to the streets demanding her resignation and stormed her official residence.

Watch: The why, how & what next with the fall of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh & implications for India

Silence through turmoil

Hasina kept quiet when Islamic fundamentalists brought down the statue of Lalon Shah. She looked away when they tore down idols of Durga, Kali, and Saraswati inside Hindu temples. She chose not to speak when they broke the idol of Bagha Jatin in Kushtia. When they demanded the removal of the idol of Lady Justice from in front of the Supreme Court, she obeyed dutifully. She installed her father’s statues all over the country. For the last two days, as anti-Hasina protesters have been tearing down these idols around the country, she has had nothing to do but remain silent.

It was not only the Islamic fundamentalists who were part of the anti-Hasina protests. The movement primarily included students from colleges and universities and the general public, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, or class. They were angry at the Awami League leaders and the utterly corrupt government officials. People fled the country with billions of rupees, and Hasina did nothing to bring them to book. She was enjoying her life in the company of flattering stooges. She conducted farcical elections, ensured the decimation of opposition parties, and throttled freedom of speech and expression in the country. She ensured the incarceration of anyone who dared to raise a voice against her. Even people criticising her father were jailed. The countrymen dreaded Hasina.

Finally, students took to the streets demanding the reform of the country’s quota rules, many of them being shot dead by the police. Smelling danger, Hasina did reform the quota regime, but the students did not leave the streets. They then sought to avenge the killing of students. They were joined by all political parties opposing the Awami League, including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party, the Communist Party, and various Islamic groups. Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist organisations also joined the rallies. Every major city in the country witnessed swelling crowds on the streets, waving the national flag, with the national anthem and patriotic songs on their lips, steadfast with one demand — the resignation of the prime minister.

She finally understood that it was not possible to withstand this crowd with her police, army, or even a barrage of bullets. The way the waves of anti-discriminatory protests surged forward left her with no other option but to flee for her life. She could have stepped down honourably, but she did not do that. She had to escape undetected. I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for the way Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s statue has been hammered down and his personal residence in Dhanmondi—Bangabandhu Memorial Museum—has been put to flames. It is not surprising that undemocratic political regimes meet such fateful ends.

Not another Pakistan

The situation could have been very different if Hasina had not bowed down to the fundamentalists in the beginning and had fulfilled her poll promise of reinstating the secular Constitution of 1972. She did nothing progressive, nothing to ensure women’s equality; she did not attempt to reform the personal law, which includes marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance that are based on religion and discriminate against women, and she did nothing to implement a uniform civil code based on equal rights. She did not remove the state religion from the constitution and introduce secularism instead. Because of having a state religion which is Islam, Hindus and other non-Muslims were treated as second-class citizens. It was during her tenure that one after another free-thinking bloggers were hacked to death by jihadis. She did not utter a word for them. On the contrary, she accused the bloggers, blaming them for their own deaths. The state needed to be separated from religion. Hasina did not do that despite being at the peak of her popularity.

She has left the country in the hands of the fundamentalists. She has created an Islamic demon like Frankenstein’s monster. Just like Frankenstein, Hasina has been devoured or unseated by her own demon. Hasina has fled the country and saved herself. This demon will now look to crush all progressive thinkers in the country. Fundamentalism in the country has increased manifold in the last 16 years with no sign of reduction. Hasina’s regime has seen an unprecedented increase in religious fanatics, adorning themselves in burqas, hijabs, and Islamic attires. Non-Muslims have not been provided enough protection against communal riots in her regime. After she left, the anarchists looted almost everything from her residence, attacked Hindu houses and shouted Allahu Akbar as they destroyed properties and statues.

Let not the country become like Pakistan. Let not the military come to power. Let power remain with the political parties. Let them come to power and bring back governance based on democracy and secularism. Many say that the country will be governed by Jamaat-e-Islami. Maybe that’s the fate of Bangladesh. The country has been going through a phase of Islamisation for several decades. Even if not active subscribers to the Jamaat-e-Islami politics, a majority in the country have grown up with Islamic values. Atheists, freethinkers, rationalists, and intellectuals are very few in number.

The Islamic mindset has infiltrated the inside of Hasina’s party and has also crowded the outside of it. It is no surprise that the Jamaat-e-Islami will rule Bangladesh and implement the Sharia law. I do not foresee secularism in Bangladesh anytime soon. But there will be a day when a group of people can endure the Islamists’ atrocities no more, when they have their backs to the wall, the day when their backs on walls are bruised, and the bruises ooze blood and pus, causing unbearable pain. The pain may give birth to secularism, the pain may give birth to good sense, free thoughts, equity, equality, and humanism. Even if delayed, I believe the day will arrive, one day.

The author is a writer and commentator. She tweets @taslimanasreen. Views are personal.

(Edited by Prashant)