Reflections on Victory Day 2014

In this month of victory, a call on mobile phone was received one evening from a civic rights activist known to this writer from the beginning of the 21st century. She is determined to lead repeated movements for elimination of corruption, campus crisis, and for implementation of the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War. She, along with her husband, was leading a happy family life with nice children, fighting against odds without compromise.
But life did not go smoothly. She fell in trouble, after the death of her husband, but later managed her family well and kept participating in the rights movements. With her income gradually eroding, she, at one stage, said hesitatingly it would not be possible for her to bear the cost of studies of her daughter awaiting admission to university. This scribe wanted to know if the NGOs she knew would come forward to help her out. She replied in the negative.
The episode points to the usual plight of the honest middle-class people in our society. Her father had been a National Awami Party (NAP) leader since 1957.
SCENARIO IN THE FIFTIES: After the partition of the sub-continent in 1947, the Muslim League government in East Bengal could not come up to the mark like its earlier counterpart in West Bengal, India, in maintaining electoral schedule. It abolished the 'zemindari' system by enforcing the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950. But the government behaved in such a way in tandem with the central government of Pakistan that people started feeling West Pakistan was the state's metropolitan wing, and East Bengal its colonial part.
In 1952, police opened fire on the students' procession demanding Bangla as the State Language of Pakistan. This atrocity led to the defeat of the Muslim League government in the first general elections held in East Bengal in 1954. Out of 237 Muslim League seats, the Jukto Front (combined front) won 223. But it did not ensure political stability and an effective provincial legislature, as the pre-electoral alliance was a hindrance to picking up competent candidates.
SPIRIT OF THE SIXTIES: As members of the Dhaka University 1961 batch which had grown up in a serene academic atmosphere and democratic culture, we joined professional life, participated in political and cultural activities, while discharging official duties and responsibilities under the rules in public interest. While observing the Language Martyrs' Day on the 21st February every year, some of us dreamed of having a Bengali nation-state in the spirit of Bengalee nationalism unifying the territories as dictated by geography and history. We dreamed of achieving sustainable socio-economic development for the region in a peaceful manner.
A lot of others promoted the idea of a sovereign Bangladesh in the erstwhile East Bengal (later East Pakistan). Actually, those were the feelings prompted by the strong influence of the socialist camp. Those were the times of the Cold War.
The second Indo-Pak war in 1965 destabilised the situation in East Pakistan, with the Enemy Property Ordinance under the Defence of Pakistan Rules coming into effect. This led to the launch of the 6-point demand in 1966 by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. At this time, he was elected the Awami League (AL) president for the first time and Tajuddin Ahmed the general secretary of the party. In a way, Sheikh Mujib followed his leader Maulana Bhashani after the death of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.
TOWARDS LIBERATION IN 1971: Every year was a step forward which finally led to the national elections on December 7, 1970, under the regime of President Yahya Khan. The AL won the elections by a landslide to form the government. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, chief of Pakistan People's Party winning the second position, expressed his willingness to share power with the AL, which led to confrontation with tragic consequences.
On March 25, Yahya's armed forces attacked unarmed Bengalees. Sheikh Mujib was arrested that night. In the evening of March 27, Major Ziaur Rahman in a radio broadcast urged people to join the War of Independence under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was a people's war fought within the country; many crossed the border to the adjoining Indian states and lived in camps, supported by the Indian government. An all-out armed struggle against the Pakistani occupation forces in East Pakistan (already declared independent Bangladesh) began. After a 9-month-long bloody independence war involving freedom fighters, the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan surrendered to the eastern command of the Indian Army at Race Course in Dhaka on December 16, 1971.
That day of victory marked the emergence of the free and sovereign Bangladesh in Dhaka upon supreme sacrifices of the multitudes. From then on, every year the 16th December is celebrated as the nation's Victory Day and 26th March as the Independence Day. The Bangladesh government-in-exile in Kolkata, India, came to Dhaka with its employees, who included many self-seekers too. They could hardly feel the sufferings the people in the occupied Bangladesh had undergone. What do we see in the country on its 43rd Victory Day in the context of economy and socio-political uplift? The general view that prevails hardly makes us feel upbeat.
STATE OF DEMOCRACY: The democratic values for which we have fought and got Bangladesh in 1971 are fast vanishing. Successive governments have remained busy devising ways on how to cling to power, thus weakening the time-honoured democratic institutions. If we want to allow democracy to flourish in the country like in neighbouring India, it will benefit the whole South Asian region. We hope the international community will support our steps taken in the interest of both domestic and regional peace and development.                
The writer is an economist, advocate and columnist.
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