Fortyfour years ago on this day a nation was in the making. Bangalee ethos reached its climax to gain the ultimate prize in the shape of independence. It symbolised the triumph of Bangaleeness over the religio-politico-cultural concoction of an entity called Pakistan. The birth pang began at midnight of March 26 to have a happy culmination in the emergence of a nation-state called Bangladesh. A nation completed a bloody and arduous journey nine months later on December 16 through its victory over a most repressive and brutal occupation army of Pakistan. What else other than this momentous event can be an occasion for celebration!
Celebrate the nation must but the nine months' imposed war on the Bangalees is full of travails and heart-wrenching memories. Its background is no less fascinating and the stages were set for the final act one after another through the language movement, student movement and mass uprising. But the fountainhead of all such movements was definitely the language movement of 1952.
The sacrifice this nation had to make in so short a time is near unparallel in human history. Only the Nazi holocaust compares with the genocide in Bangladesh in horror, rapaciousness, mayhem and dehumanisation. So the memories are both bitter and sweet. For Bangladesh and countries aspiring for liberation from oppressive rule, this should have been a lesson worth learning. But sadly, the country has learnt nothing from the bloody war and muscle-flexing by the military. On several occasions power was seized by the military, hampering the development of a democratic political culture.
Although the nation agreed on representative governments, intrigues and dictatorial mindset have ruled the roost and is still haunting political engagement here. A bi-polar structure had all the makings of shaping polity after the Tory-Labour or Democratic-Republican models. But tunnel vision and parochialism have not been of much help in institution building -- a sine qua non for giving democracy a solid foundation. Frenzied obsession for power has got the better of sound judgment concerning the welfare of the majority or the nation itself. Politics has evidently been lagging miles behind the country's social sector and economy. This hard reality becomes further reinforced if compared to the phenomenal progress made by the island state Singapore under the just-deceased leader Lee Kuan Yew who brought his country out of the Malaysian federation and made socio-economic miracle happen. This he could do without sacrificing Asian values and synthesising those with the virtues of Western democracy. And all this notwithstanding, the fact that the island nation lacked many of the ingredients to become a nation-state with diverse interests of peoples of different ethnic origin. There was hardly any need for an incendiary to ignite the communal flame. But he managed to establish peace on the strength of socio-economic prosperity and discipline.
Bangladesh on this count was more fortunate to draw strength from a near monoculture and language. But leaderships have failed in succession to bring the people together to cement their socio-cultural bond as a rock-solid foundation. Economy has done comparatively better because the people here are hard-working and open to new ideas and technology. Farmers in particular have taken the responsibility of feeding the nation despite the shrinkage of arable land, thanks to the role of the rice research institutes in the country and beyond. Their sons and daughters have acted as the driving engine of economic wheels in the shape of overseas employment and the main work force of the country's garments industry.
The success story in the economic sector is written mostly by these boys and girls with little or no education at all. Their sterling performance has unfortunately not been matched by scholars and the educated class. Education here teaches to be opportunists. Amidst this gloomy picture of creativity and productivity, development of private sector entrepreneurship has of late been a refreshing endeavour. Opportunities for fundamental research or technological innovation were next to nothing in the past. So the talented students and teachers willing to contribute to science and research had to go abroad in order to pit their genius against the very best in the world. Success came by the way but the country could hardly claim its share in their pioneering and innovative works. The situation is, however, changing in favour of the country now. In business, science and technology university graduates are excelling in some specialised areas. Geneticist Maqsudul Alam led the way by returning home to head a team of scientists engaged in gene sequencing of jute and the fungus that attacks jute plants.
Following him, others are taking interest in developing research facilities here. Sure enough, Bangladesh is not lacking in talents but doing so in terms of facilities. If the country's positives thus outdo the negatives, politics will be compelled to radically change itself or go to the dog. There will be hardly any option for it. The fact is economic power has started empowering the masses - a phenomenon unprecedented in modern history of this part of the world. In social sector, too, things are undergoing matching changes in terms of health, hygiene and longevity. But where the progress lacks most of all is in its cultural domain. Without cultural reawakening, economic prosperity alone cannot bring about the desirable transformation of society. Politics for the people, of the people, by the people can provide the touchstone needed for the purpose.
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