Cultural heritage as the fountain of intellectual activities
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Gopal Sengupta
So many questions and concerns have been raised by local artists over Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan's performance with many Indian stars in the Army Stadium in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka. A great excitement was noticed among the people of Bangladesh around the show. But, the renowned Bangladeshi stars declined to perform on the same stage. This show has, thus, left many questions to our cultural heritage.
No country can progress by overlooking its own cultural heritage. Culture is the base from which all intellectual activities develop. Without understanding this base, how can we expand upon it and progress? We should, no doubt, also create a new culture suited to modern needs but we should not totally reject our old culture. We should only reject that part of our old culture which is hindering our progress, for example, superstitions, communalism, and regionalism.
Bangladesh has all the potential to become a modern industrial giant. We have a good number of eminent scientists, engineers and technicians; we have large raw material reserves; and we have a huge population that can serve as a market. Thus, we have all the resources required to become a modern industrial country. Why then have we not become one? This is a vital question for all intellectuals to ponder upon.
The main reason for this is that there have been powerful divisive forces at work since the days of British rule. They have sown the seeds of discord among our people and made them fight with one another on the basis of religion, caste, language, and other factors. The effects of the divide-and-rule policy deployed by the British rulers still exist, even after independence. This is the major cause for our extremely slow process of industrialization.
The importance of the cultural struggle -- that is, the struggle in the field of ideas -- cannot be underestimated. For instance, great thinkers like Rousseau and Voltaire had a major role in the creation of modern Europe. Similarly, our intellectuals must now play such a major role. They must promote Bangladesh's rich and composite culture and combat the divisive forces that are trying to weaken and break up the country.
All Bangladeshis who genuinely love their country are should join such a nationalistic intellectual movement. The participants in this movement must have the spirit, and function like humble servants of the nation with no personal interest in mind. They may not see the rise of India as a great nation in their lifetime, but they will have the satisfaction of having contributed to that end.
(E-mail: gopalsengupta@aol.com
So many questions and concerns have been raised by local artists over Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan's performance with many Indian stars in the Army Stadium in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka. A great excitement was noticed among the people of Bangladesh around the show. But, the renowned Bangladeshi stars declined to perform on the same stage. This show has, thus, left many questions to our cultural heritage.
No country can progress by overlooking its own cultural heritage. Culture is the base from which all intellectual activities develop. Without understanding this base, how can we expand upon it and progress? We should, no doubt, also create a new culture suited to modern needs but we should not totally reject our old culture. We should only reject that part of our old culture which is hindering our progress, for example, superstitions, communalism, and regionalism.
Bangladesh has all the potential to become a modern industrial giant. We have a good number of eminent scientists, engineers and technicians; we have large raw material reserves; and we have a huge population that can serve as a market. Thus, we have all the resources required to become a modern industrial country. Why then have we not become one? This is a vital question for all intellectuals to ponder upon.
The main reason for this is that there have been powerful divisive forces at work since the days of British rule. They have sown the seeds of discord among our people and made them fight with one another on the basis of religion, caste, language, and other factors. The effects of the divide-and-rule policy deployed by the British rulers still exist, even after independence. This is the major cause for our extremely slow process of industrialization.
The importance of the cultural struggle -- that is, the struggle in the field of ideas -- cannot be underestimated. For instance, great thinkers like Rousseau and Voltaire had a major role in the creation of modern Europe. Similarly, our intellectuals must now play such a major role. They must promote Bangladesh's rich and composite culture and combat the divisive forces that are trying to weaken and break up the country.
All Bangladeshis who genuinely love their country are should join such a nationalistic intellectual movement. The participants in this movement must have the spirit, and function like humble servants of the nation with no personal interest in mind. They may not see the rise of India as a great nation in their lifetime, but they will have the satisfaction of having contributed to that end.
(E-mail: gopalsengupta@aol.com