Whose Bangladesh is it anyway? The Bangladesh of the mob that destroyed the home of the nation’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman? Or the solemn crowds that have, year after year, marked the anniversary of his assassination on 15 August 1975?
The crowds that danced to Bollywood numbers as Dhanmondi 32—the memorial—went up in flames? Or a people who carved out a nation to protect their mother tongue, becoming perhaps the only country in the world that celebrates a language with a national holiday?
Whose Bangladesh is it anyway?
The men who killed bloggers like Avijit Roy? Or the Shahbag protesters who fought for secularism and for punishment of war crimes of 1971 by members of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which opposed the dismemberment of Pakistan?
The men who plundered East Pakistan and raped its women? Or those who fought valiantly for liberation in 1971?
Today’s Bangladesh must, like Hamlet, confront the question that haunted him.
To be, or not to be, the Bangladesh birthed by 75 million dreams in 1971?
Or its caricature?
Also Read: Mujib’s house demolished. Not Yunus, Bangladesh’s shaky secular foundations are at fault
5 February
What erupted on 5 February in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 32 was a fresh battle for the soul of Bangladesh, all 170 million strong today. Thousands upon thousands of youth—mostly men and a sprinkling of women—descended that evening upon the house where Sheikh Mujib had been assassinated along with his wife, two sons, and several other family members. It was a house that his daughter Sheikh Hasina had turned into a sombre memorial.
The mob first attacked it with hammers and rods, then set fire to it, and finally, the bulldozer came.
The threat to pull down the memorial had come on 4 February, soon after the Awami League announced that deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently sheltering in New Delhi, would address her party workers live on social media platforms on the evening of 5th February to mark six months since she was forced to flee Dhaka by rioting mobs. Hasnat Abdullah, one of the prominent leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that brought down Sheikh Hasina, wrote on social media: “The opportunity for Sheikh Hasina to make a speech is India’s war against the anti-fascist people of Bangladesh…. The speech could be dangerous for the people of Bangladesh.”
But the fact is, even before Hasina started to speak, her father’s home was under attack, and one would have to be blind not to see that the assault was pre-planned. Nothing else explains the presence of huge speakers in the vicinity of Dhanmondi 32 and the absence of the army, the police, and even the fire brigade.
Sheikh Hasina’s plan to speak that day seemed to be a convenient excuse to launch the assault on what many in Bangladesh say was the last remnant of any memorial to Sheikh Mujib. If she had decided not to speak, some other excuse would likely have been found.
The ransacking continued through the night, the demolition frenzy spreading to other places in Dhaka and to Awami League-linked addresses across the country.
Blame on India?
The response of those in power in Dhaka—the interim government—came Thursday evening. Its condemnation of the incident sounded like mere tokenism, and the blame for it was, predictably, on India for not restraining Sheikh Hasina from making a public address.
“The inflammatory statements made by fugitive Sheikh Hasina from India against the July uprising have created deep anger among the people which has manifested in this incident,” the Bangladesh government’s first statement said.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry has also asked India to stop Hasina from making “false and fabricated” statements from its soil.
India has condemned the 5 February incident in Dhaka but will have to walk a razor’s edge to convey its dismay without burning bridges with its neighbour.
Ordinary Bangladeshis and the vandals
For ordinary folks in Bangladesh, diplomatic compulsions and ideological clashes are of little consequence. What’s paramount is making ends meet every day.
Inflation has made two square meals a challenge in many homes. It rose to 11.38 per cent last November, the second-highest level of inflation in the last 14 years. In December, the figure dropped to 10.89 per cent and then to 9.94 per cent in January, but daily necessities like eggs and sugar remain out of reach for many.
According to an acquaintance in Dhaka, eggs cost 135 taka per dozen, which is 11.25 taka per piece. Sugar is 135 to 140 taka per kilo, soybean oil is 190 taka per litre, and mustard oil is 230 taka per litre. Rice costs nothing below 60 taka per kilo, and potatoes are 20 taka per kilo.
So, who were the people in the mob that vandalised Dhanmondi 32? There are alarming reports of the crowd waving flags of extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (which is banned in many countries), as well as ISIS and even Pakistan, from on top of the rubble of Dhanmondi 32.
In the vicinity, huge speakers blared Bollywood numbers like Munni Badnaam Hui, to which the youth danced with abandon. The next morning, a woman who came to the spot and expressed shock at the vandalism was manhandled in the ugliest fashion; worse may have happened had some young men and a newspaper photographer not rushed her to safety. The video of this incident, now viral, is disturbing—and uncomfortably reminiscent of Afghanistan not long ago.
Who are the Bangladeshis putting their country to shame?
Whose Bangladesh is it anyway?
What’s the solution?
The situation begs the question—who is in charge in Dhaka? Is it Muhammad Yunus? Is it the anti-discrimination student groups that fuelled Sheikh Hasina’s ouster? The Jamaat? Or is Pakistan pulling the strings?
The last possibility is particularly worrying for India, given the manner in which Dhaka has warmed up to Islamabad. Bangladesh has given access to its ports for Pakistani cargo ships, direct flights from Islamabad are on the table, and recently, a senior ISI delegation reportedly visited Dhaka.
What could be a solution to this situation? Elections, say observers. The longer elections are delayed, the greater the chances of eruptions like 5th February—something Bangladesh can ill-afford if it wants to avoid the tragedy of being labelled a failed state.
Monideepa Banerjie is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. She tweets @Monideepa62. Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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