It is a traumatised Bangladesh where life has become insufferable. Notwithstanding the daily doses of trials and travails they were subjected to following the Covid-19 epidemic and Ukraine war, even the underprivileged and the marginal people hoped for better days to come. After the tumultuous five days of strife, death and destruction since July 19 all that has changed forever. Here is a psychological crisis, a crisis of confidence, a crisis of soul that leaves human spirit benumbed. It is such a place where the living are lifeless and all who died in the conflict continue to challenge the very fabric of this society for its selfishness, scepticism and compromise with injustice.
However, this land where a poet was born in to live a short life of only 21 years who can give voice to the feeling of his generation more than 60 years ago by declaring "janmei dekhi khubdha swadeshbhumi" (no sooner was I born than I saw the country explosive) and then "bidroha aj charidike, aami jai tari dinpanjika likhe" has witnessed the rise of the youth time and again starting from 1952. Movements---one after another---were spearheaded by students and political leaderships thankfully made good use of the spirit in turning it into an avalanche of national movement. This created this sovereign country. Even in the days of autocracy, it was the students who were the frontline fighters to depose it in favour of a democratic dispensation.
Unfortunately, no one learns from history. No matter how powerful the rulers may be, undermining the collective will of students by extension that of the youth have invited their doom. True, many young people suffer from frustration and have degenerated because there are irresistible lures of drug and sexually explicit contents all around. It is the elders who are responsible for their inability not only to guide their wards properly and also to plug the route of substances.
Yet the aberration has not taken over the majority of the youth. Well, politics has made a select group corrupt in order to advance political stakes. The enviable legacy of their seniors in the pre-independence Bangladesh they have failed to uphold. Thus tailism and thuggery have become their forte, courtesy of indulgence of the worst order from powerful quarters. Only a tiny fraction has become susceptible or vulnerable to such lures. The majority of youths still harbour in their bosom a sense of righteousness and are ready to fight for a just cause. Theirs is no demand for coterie interests but one that is likely to benefit all members of society ultimately. This is clear from the recent movement that has swept the country.
Anyone who undermines this non-partisan and just sentiment fails to read the inherent message. Well, their spirit has been recognised through the verdict of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court but only after the country was plunged into an abyss of lawlessness, violence, turmoil and great tragedy. What insanity and brutality! This is what has traumatised the people.
Now is the time for all, particularly those whose decisions matter most, to do enough soul-searching and come clean on this dark episode in the country's history. The first thing would be to accept truth ---not half truth but full truth. There is no way the common people can be misled. Still there is time for a negotiated settlement although reconciliation is a tough ask. But the way the country's economy has gone on a tailspin will harm all. It had been in a moribund state before the escalation of the quota reform movement and since then things have slid almost to the nadir. Before the economy takes further battering and falls beyond recovery, there is a need for the authorities to act and act decisively.
They should know how they can take the students, who are once again coming on to the street, into confidence. The law enforcement agencies would consider students their adversaries only at a huge cost. That is by no means desirable after what has happened in the five stormy and vicious days. The country certainly needs a new beginning courtesy of as much reconciliation as possible and it should not be unknown to the seasoned politicians.
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