The singular thought that fills the mind on Independence Day

Bangladesh today is observing its 40th Independence Day. Every year, it is found to be an occasion to be celebrated with great ardour by Bangladeshis. All generations of Bangladeshis take pride in it, get inspiration from it. Indeed, the people of this country are the ones who made the most sacrifices to make independence for this Bengali nation a reality. Of course, titanic leadership was there some four decades ago to preside over this majestic struggle of the people. But it was the role of the people supremely on the roads, in the trenches, in the battlefields and everywhere that led to the triumph of this nation of 75 million of that period who number over 150 million today and who are distinguishing Bangladesh in the comity of nations in so many and varied fields. All hats, therefore, are to be taken off to show admiration and respect to the indomitable and able people of Bangladesh who have been contributing to national accomplishments in different spheres. The people of Bangladesh deserve to be specially recognised and congratulated for their various enterprising activities which have taken their country far down the road to national well-being and advancement in different areas. These signs of progress are to be noted everywhere and are too many to be included within the narrow confines of this column. It should suffice, to say, that the same would be obvious to those without mind-sets or who are prepared to wholeheartedly accept the progress made mainly through people's endeavour during the last four decades. There is no doubt that Bangladeshis in all of these years have quite successfully fulfilled the criterion of nationhood. They did not just lose their will or got overwhelmed by different internal and external choking factors to feel resigned to a sense of hopelessness. Far from it, Bangladesh today presents a spectacle of zest reflected in the various energetic activities of its people notwithstanding the odds. Proving the Malthusian dictum between overpopulation and famine or Henry Kissinger's famous expression that Bangladesh was destined to be an everlasting case of international charity, today's Bangladesh is seen very much as a self supporting nation. It nearly feeds its doubled population since 1971 with its own food grain production, has substantially boosted its GDP and increased its per capita income despite heavy population growth, has an impressive record of debt servicing -- very punctually -- unlike many other developing countries and funds a major part of the expenditures for developmental activities from its own resources and not from external charity. It has developed a world class export oriented apparel industry, third biggest in the world. Other industries like shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals and Information Technology (IT) seem to be at nascent stages with very great possibilities. Most importantly, its people on the whole seem to be yearning to utilise their energies in gainful entrepreneurial activities to take the country further and quickly up the economic ladder. Unfortunately, these conditions and mood of the people to work for a take-off of the country in the economic sense has been put on hold by the failings of successive governments. Only self-seeking government leaders, political elites in leadership positions, the bureaucracy and other interest groups, have been frustrating the moves of the people on the whole to accelerate progress in different fields. Bangladesh's moving up to the status of a middle income country and its further significant attainments in different spheres, depend supremely on overcoming this lack of dedicated, scrupulous and able leadership. Thus, the singular prayer for Bangladeshis on the occasion of Independence Day ought to be for a metamorphosis of their leadership. Bangladeshis in their different fields of activities have proved their great abilities and potentials. Indeed, Bangladesh today is seen as enjoying the conditions for an economic take-off based on the zest of its people. But they are being held back in their march forward by governments who promise the sky but deliver very little or nothing in the form of supports to ones in the population with entrepreneurial abilities. The inspiration for the creation of Bangladesh was based on the finest human values: love for the country and everything positive it represented. The ones who were first pulsated by a conception of Bangladesh were fired by the passions of patriotism without which no people can stand up with their head high and work for their well-being and prosperity. The movement for Bangladesh progressively gathered force from ideologies like Bengali nationalism, democracy, non communalism and winning of the economic emancipation of the people. The struggle for the independence of the country intensified guided by these core aspirations. A supreme objective of the liberation war was that a truly welfare state would be set up where the state would seek to fulfill the basic needs of all in the country. Rule of law, a pluralistic society based on democratic governance and tolerance, were the other cherished values that would be sought to be established in Bangladesh. Thus, all the liberal and worthwhile values and objectives were prominent as the founding principles to guide the country. Bangladesh is celebrating its Independence Day today. It marks the day of triumph against occupation forces and the emergences of Bangladesh as a sovereign country. But there have been also largely negative developments in Bangladesh in these forty years when gradually all the high values of the independence struggle were sought to be weakened. Bangladesh today presents a picture of nihilism in governance. The struggle against autocratic governance was prominent in the eighties. But autocracy has not been replaced with democracy in the real sense of the term. Four elected governments from the nineties have ironically presided over great corruption ; violation of the civil and political rights of people ; waste of state resources ; successive dysfunctional parliaments ; attempts to influence the judiciary to carry out party agendas; politicization of the administration to ensure civil servants' loyalty to their political masters ; awful exploitation of consumers through underhand syndicates of hoarders and profiteers of essential goods ; putting productivity of the economy at great risk from insufficient power production ; paving the way for dynastic ambition in ruling over the country, etc. Thus, the singular thought that fills the mind on the occasion of Bangladesh's 40th observation of Independence Day is whether this nation that created history in 1971 through a heroic war of independence could utilize its enthusiasm and energy better to achieve faster progress in national development in all spheres. The goals for which independence was won prominently included a better life for the people in every sense or basically aspirations for their higher standard of living, wealth and economic opportunities. Other nations in our Asian neighbourhood could travel far in the last forty years to a remarkably elevated state economically. South Korea and Malaysia, for examples, are now regarded as developed countries. But their overall conditions resembled our own only four decades ago. Why then we did not make so much material and social progress which we were capable of and when other nations have showed that it is possible to take a short cut route to economic and social development? The answer must be explored in our political sphere, in the lack of dedication and vision of our political leaders because these are the areas where the failings have been the greatest. Blessed with able, committed, dedicated and somewhat selfless and cooperative leaderships, Bangladesh could perform no less than the Asian success stories of today. The rate of advancements in different spheres could be much higher if the country's political leaders were truly enlightened, well-intentioned and tolerant to cooperate with each other. The politics of a country can be the single most important factor for its rapid socio-economic progress. But Bangladesh remains handicapped by a political environment the characteristics of which are the intolerance of its political leaders, their unbridled chauvinism at the cost of the country and their lack of vision. Therefore, it would seem that the greatest need for this country is to have the sort of leadership it needs to really take it forward on a sustainable basis in all respects. This would be the strongest aspiration of those who take time out to ponder the state of the nation on occasions such as the Independence Day. Our people shall have to once again show improved political consciousness. This time they must build up a movement for a new stream of positive, enlightened and dedicated leadership to steer the country with much greater success in the future. This, in fact, is the biggest challenge facing Bangladesh today.