An open letter.
the oppressed and the deprived, notes Sh | Saturday, 9 April 2011
the oppressed and the deprived, notes Sh
At the outset, let me assure you that I do not belong to any of the high- profile members of the society. I am almost certain that many of you are likely to differ or disagree with my observations but surely in a democracy, as propounded by you, I am entitled to express my point of view. We are proud of you and sad at the same time: proud because of your individual achievements, but sad about your failure in making any real contribution to the nation at large. You are as good as they come anywhere in the world. But yet I have this feeling that something is amiss here. Of late, your minds brilliant as they are, it is my impression that they are clouded and weighed down by coterie and partisan thinking, some more than the others. It is indeed disheartening to see that many of you have lost that cardinal element essential for an intellectual, the power of independent thinking. The present day society needs you more than ever before. It is time for you to play a more proactive role. The society today is fragmented and people are disillusioned. There is so much social injustice all around. It is time to raise your voices, in no uncertain terms against all kinds of injustice. Young girls continue to be stalked on way to schools and elsewhere, some even took their lives due to sheer feeling of guilt and shame. You have to do more than just organizing Manab Bandanas (human chains) here and there. You have to do more than arranging talk shows and round table discussions. You have to reach every fabric of the society including the power that is and influential members building pressures on them for justice in uncertain terms. What good is it if the people are not benefited by your superior intellect and the privileged place you occupy in the society? Look at the history of the world and follow the paths of the likes of Voltaire, Rousseau, Edmund Burke and Joan of Arc. To champions of our culture and heritage, I have a similar message. Your pursuits of the theatre arts make us proud. But you have to do more. You have a public image that is unmatched. Take advantage of it and spread your voices of dissent against all kinds of injustice in the society. No nation worth its name can progress without proactive involvement of its intellectual community in the affairs of the society and lead it from the front. You are the conscience of the society. You must come out of all kinds of partisan thinking. The future of our coming generations is in your hands. Our younger generation of today has lost direction. They are becoming more and more undisciplined. They are into everything except education and learning. They are into partisan politics of the worst kind. They are even murdering their fellow mates on the slightest pretexts. Students from the school levels down to the highest seat of our education have become some sort of mercenaries. The entire society is plunged into "dirty" politics. We need your collective efforts to save the society from this downhill journey. The government does not seem to have either the will or the commitment even to acknowledge the deteriorating state of affairs. This is all the more reason as to why you have to play a special role. While the percentage of students passing from high schools has considerably increased, there has been no qualitative change in our education. We seem to be exalted by our success in O and A level examinations. We must look beyond O and A level success stories. It is shocking to see how the standard of education has gone down over the years. Today, in all job openings and employment opportunities a graduate of the late sixties is preferred against a Masters' of the 70s and 80s. To the intellectual community of teachers and high-profiled civil society members, I make this fervent appeal, "Please help cleanse the academic environment of our educational institutions. Keep them free from partisan politics and all kinds of political pollution". After all, education is the backbone of the nation. Look at our neighbour, India, and see the how their civil society members and the intellectual community are contributing to developing their society. In many ways their politics do suffer from the same constraints as we do. They too are not free from the stranglehold of corruption, yet their all round academic environment is far better than ours, largely free from the evils of politics of all dimensions. Their literature, arts and culture in most respects is superior to that of ours. Despite the relentless turmoil in politics and political management, the Indian state of West Bengal marches ahead. For God's sake, take lessons from there and fulfil your physical, moral and ethical obligations to the country and the society. With due respect, I wish to point out that time is running out. Please come out of the shell and your comfort zone and stretch your strong hands of support to the wronged, the oppressed and the deprived. May God be with you and bless us all! ( The writer can be reached at e-mail : chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com
At the outset, let me assure you that I do not belong to any of the high- profile members of the society. I am almost certain that many of you are likely to differ or disagree with my observations but surely in a democracy, as propounded by you, I am entitled to express my point of view. We are proud of you and sad at the same time: proud because of your individual achievements, but sad about your failure in making any real contribution to the nation at large. You are as good as they come anywhere in the world. But yet I have this feeling that something is amiss here. Of late, your minds brilliant as they are, it is my impression that they are clouded and weighed down by coterie and partisan thinking, some more than the others. It is indeed disheartening to see that many of you have lost that cardinal element essential for an intellectual, the power of independent thinking. The present day society needs you more than ever before. It is time for you to play a more proactive role. The society today is fragmented and people are disillusioned. There is so much social injustice all around. It is time to raise your voices, in no uncertain terms against all kinds of injustice. Young girls continue to be stalked on way to schools and elsewhere, some even took their lives due to sheer feeling of guilt and shame. You have to do more than just organizing Manab Bandanas (human chains) here and there. You have to do more than arranging talk shows and round table discussions. You have to reach every fabric of the society including the power that is and influential members building pressures on them for justice in uncertain terms. What good is it if the people are not benefited by your superior intellect and the privileged place you occupy in the society? Look at the history of the world and follow the paths of the likes of Voltaire, Rousseau, Edmund Burke and Joan of Arc. To champions of our culture and heritage, I have a similar message. Your pursuits of the theatre arts make us proud. But you have to do more. You have a public image that is unmatched. Take advantage of it and spread your voices of dissent against all kinds of injustice in the society. No nation worth its name can progress without proactive involvement of its intellectual community in the affairs of the society and lead it from the front. You are the conscience of the society. You must come out of all kinds of partisan thinking. The future of our coming generations is in your hands. Our younger generation of today has lost direction. They are becoming more and more undisciplined. They are into everything except education and learning. They are into partisan politics of the worst kind. They are even murdering their fellow mates on the slightest pretexts. Students from the school levels down to the highest seat of our education have become some sort of mercenaries. The entire society is plunged into "dirty" politics. We need your collective efforts to save the society from this downhill journey. The government does not seem to have either the will or the commitment even to acknowledge the deteriorating state of affairs. This is all the more reason as to why you have to play a special role. While the percentage of students passing from high schools has considerably increased, there has been no qualitative change in our education. We seem to be exalted by our success in O and A level examinations. We must look beyond O and A level success stories. It is shocking to see how the standard of education has gone down over the years. Today, in all job openings and employment opportunities a graduate of the late sixties is preferred against a Masters' of the 70s and 80s. To the intellectual community of teachers and high-profiled civil society members, I make this fervent appeal, "Please help cleanse the academic environment of our educational institutions. Keep them free from partisan politics and all kinds of political pollution". After all, education is the backbone of the nation. Look at our neighbour, India, and see the how their civil society members and the intellectual community are contributing to developing their society. In many ways their politics do suffer from the same constraints as we do. They too are not free from the stranglehold of corruption, yet their all round academic environment is far better than ours, largely free from the evils of politics of all dimensions. Their literature, arts and culture in most respects is superior to that of ours. Despite the relentless turmoil in politics and political management, the Indian state of West Bengal marches ahead. For God's sake, take lessons from there and fulfil your physical, moral and ethical obligations to the country and the society. With due respect, I wish to point out that time is running out. Please come out of the shell and your comfort zone and stretch your strong hands of support to the wronged, the oppressed and the deprived. May God be with you and bless us all! ( The writer can be reached at e-mail : chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com