Cancellation of national days

Not all national days are government holidays, but some are. Of the eight national days set for cancellation, only two ---the March 17 birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujib and the August 15 anniversary of his death ---were government holidays. Yet national days are special in their own unique ways. The way deposed PM Sheikh Hasina imposed some of the national days smacks of dynastic monopoly in setting those. But not all of those can be pressed into the narrow confine of Sheikh family. If she arbitrarily earmarked the birthdays of the members of her family as national days, the fault lies with her. This does in no way diminish the importance of the historic 7th March address by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib at the race course of that time nor does this justify undermining the man who led from the front in the uncompromising struggle against Pakistani misrule and acted as the guiding flame in the country's Liberation War.
The advisory council of the interim government has taken the decision to cancel eight national days including Bangabandhu's 7th March Address which in fact was the declaration of the country's independence, the November 4 National Constitution Day, the August 15 National Mourning Day. On the question of Sheikh Mujib's status as the Father of the Nation, one of the anti-discrimination movement's coordinator-turned advisor has flatly dismissed the honorific attached to the name of the supreme leader of the Liberation War.
Sheikh Mujib may not be particularly successful as the chief executive of a newly independent Bangladesh but without him Bangladesh would perhaps never become liberated. So decisive was the charisma of his personality and unquestioned commitment to freeing the people of this land from Pakistani yoke that questioning that role is to question the very foundation of Bangladesh. It is also true that his comrades-in-arms were deprived of the respects they deserved but that is no logic for relegating him to the history's back burner.
About the five of the eight national days cancelled, there will hardly be any controversy. Although the 12 December Smart Bangladesh is free from any dynastic tinge but people are not expected to grumble if that is scrapped. Different organisations and eminent persons have already protested the cancellation of the national day marking the historic March 7 speech, the National Constitution Day and the August 15 National Mourning Day. The first is integral to the War of Liberation and the second is the instrument of the identity of an independent nation. It is not the constitution's fault if it is tampered with. This charter at the hands of efficient and honest people could serve the nation well. The third is a tribute to the man slain in a most tragic manner. Cancellation of the first two, in particular, would send a wrong message to the people. Some have smelt revisionism in the move to do away with those national days.
Well, the six-day and five-day holidays on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr respectively are popular issues and can be effected by executive order. The two-day holiday on the occasion of the Durga Puja falls in the same category. But yet these are not priority agendas for the interim government. The national days, particularly the ones that are inseparable from the making of this nation and its commemoration are a class apart. Those could not be glorified or sanctified more.
The interim government could leave such issues alone because it will divide the nation at a time when there are more pressing issues demanding urgent redress. A decision on such issues has to be arrived at on the basis of a national consensus. Even an elected government should put such sensitive issues to people's vote before taking a decision.

[email protected]