Victory Day in a new setting
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
The nation today celebrates the Victory Day that marks the triumphant emergence of Bangladesh as a sovereign state in the comity of nations, following a nine-month bloody liberation war with the Pakistani occupation army. On this day, the occupation forces surrendered to the Bangladesh-India joint command at the historic Ramna Race Course, which was later renamed as Suhrawardy Uddayan. On this auspicious day, a grateful nation will recall the supreme sacrifices of the valiant sons of the soil and make a renewed pledge to materialise their dream for a prosperous, happy and exploitation-free Bangladesh. Tributes will be paid to the martyrs of the liberation war by placing wreaths at the national mausoleum at Savar, bringing out processions and rallies and organising discussion meetings and seminars.
But those rituals apart, how far has the nation so far progressed in fulfilling the dreams of the liberation war heroes? This would rather be an embarrassing question for the people who had been in-charge of the task of shaping the future of the nation for all those years. It would be unfair if anyone tries to totally ignore the gains achieved during the last 37 years since liberation of the country. But what saddens the majority of the population most is that despite having enormous potentials, the country is lagging far behind due to a number of factors, including massive corruption and poor leadership having no vision and farsightedness. The Victory Day has always offered the nation an opportunity to search its soul. But the people who matter most in the affairs of the state have hardly availed themselves of that opportunity. Events and developments that have taken place do amply indicate to the fact none is ready to understand the true significance of the freedom achieved at a huge cost.
More than 40 per cent of the population who once strongly believed that freedom would ensure them prosperity and happiness are still caught up abject poverty. Their daily average income is still below one US dollar despite the fact that the country's economy recorded an average 5.0-6.0 growth annually for over last 18 years. Thus, economic growth does not have that much of relevance to the living conditions of a big chunk of the population. This is viewed as one of the major weaknesses of the country's economic planning and management. The benefits of the so-called economic growth have bypassed the poor, leading to the rise in income inequality. Corruption and lack of vision on the part of the leadership, among others, have largely contributed to the lopsided economic growth that has helped the plunder of national wealth by the influential people, political or otherwise.
The celebration of this year's Victory Day has come in an altogether different setting. Deprived of their democratic rights for nearly two years under emergency rule, the people are now eagerly waiting to elect their own government through December 29 polls. However, they do not know what waits in store for them after the election. For, the same old vested interests who were instrumental to common men's miseries in the past would again be in-charge of shaping their destiny. The people, however, will hope that the politicians, who also have suffered this time, would learn from their mistakes and correct themselves to deliver goods to the nation and be true to their pledges made in their respective election manifestoes. There is no denying that managing the affairs of this nation is one of the toughest jobs on earth. Yet the job can be shouldered well if the persons at the helm are sincere, honest and dedicated to the cause of the people. On this auspicious occasion, people can only expect that politicians would not belie their hopes in the days ahead.
But those rituals apart, how far has the nation so far progressed in fulfilling the dreams of the liberation war heroes? This would rather be an embarrassing question for the people who had been in-charge of the task of shaping the future of the nation for all those years. It would be unfair if anyone tries to totally ignore the gains achieved during the last 37 years since liberation of the country. But what saddens the majority of the population most is that despite having enormous potentials, the country is lagging far behind due to a number of factors, including massive corruption and poor leadership having no vision and farsightedness. The Victory Day has always offered the nation an opportunity to search its soul. But the people who matter most in the affairs of the state have hardly availed themselves of that opportunity. Events and developments that have taken place do amply indicate to the fact none is ready to understand the true significance of the freedom achieved at a huge cost.
More than 40 per cent of the population who once strongly believed that freedom would ensure them prosperity and happiness are still caught up abject poverty. Their daily average income is still below one US dollar despite the fact that the country's economy recorded an average 5.0-6.0 growth annually for over last 18 years. Thus, economic growth does not have that much of relevance to the living conditions of a big chunk of the population. This is viewed as one of the major weaknesses of the country's economic planning and management. The benefits of the so-called economic growth have bypassed the poor, leading to the rise in income inequality. Corruption and lack of vision on the part of the leadership, among others, have largely contributed to the lopsided economic growth that has helped the plunder of national wealth by the influential people, political or otherwise.
The celebration of this year's Victory Day has come in an altogether different setting. Deprived of their democratic rights for nearly two years under emergency rule, the people are now eagerly waiting to elect their own government through December 29 polls. However, they do not know what waits in store for them after the election. For, the same old vested interests who were instrumental to common men's miseries in the past would again be in-charge of shaping their destiny. The people, however, will hope that the politicians, who also have suffered this time, would learn from their mistakes and correct themselves to deliver goods to the nation and be true to their pledges made in their respective election manifestoes. There is no denying that managing the affairs of this nation is one of the toughest jobs on earth. Yet the job can be shouldered well if the persons at the helm are sincere, honest and dedicated to the cause of the people. On this auspicious occasion, people can only expect that politicians would not belie their hopes in the days ahead.