Hasina & Khaleda: “The End of the World” in Bangladesh.
Mohammad Gani (USA)
SCOPE: If 165 Millions of people of Bangladesh were of “one opinion” and only 2 persons were of the contrary opinions, wouldn’t be justified in silencing those 2 persons; if those 2 persons had the power silencing 165 million people? You see, here is the real dilemma between Freedom of speech and democracy! In Bangladesh, the only “Teaching of Democracy in Practice” is full blown “transfer of blames“, denials, denials of denials, lies and deceits. I'm amazed at our global and native patriots those are stalwart defenders of their leaders lies and deceit. But the truth is that “only the truth” could set a nation free. Aren’t we allowing ourselves to be manipulated by the powerful few?
God doesn't give leader(s) a position of authority to abuse and exploit it but to make their own nation better. But then again, you can't sacrifice what you don't have! Both Hasina and Khaleda are operating under the delusion that Awami League and BNP always oppose each other and also that their means are different too but I can assure you, their goals are exactly the same: Grabbing the power, reigning and ruining this poor nation to a slow-bleeding death with no compunction.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: So what is the story behind this story? In a sense, there are "2-way evils" in Bangladesh: one is doing injustices to and another is "quietly" suffering from it! Obviously, doing injustices is a greater evil than quietly suffering from it but both are evils in the book of human civilization.
There are enough mentally dysfunctional voters in Bangladesh who do not ruminate but keep voting these serial failures into the highest office expecting that they will change. Instead of quietly suffering from injustices, this poor nation need to escape it and could only escape it by ACQUIRING POWER over these 2 political evils through replacement of a visionary leadership. Sadly, the majority ordinary people (voters) of Bangladesh are either plain dumb and can not understand or do not try to understand that Mujib/Zia “family brand name” do not automatically make them MP or Prime Minister. It is the ordinary people who elect them and if they choose not to elect these families, they can not lead this nation. Instead, what we see is the resurgence of the same corrupt, uncaring, hateful, selfish, greedy, murderous, deceptive, idiotic political toxic and values going on that has drug the whole nation down to the nightmare.
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Now, why are Mujib/Zia dynasties getting brickbats in Bangladesh politics? It is very simple, our senior politicians have wickedly been playing and pretending brain dead! Another example is our notorious politicians those are truly culpable, especially in BNP which is a unique collection of "opportunists and crooks", originally drawn from various ideological roots. These crooks would have left each other dead before killing their own Party (BNP) if once gawky and freckly house wife Khaleda was not drawn into these drama series!
After the brutal assassination of Mujb/family, all cowards but solid & patriotic Awami League super stars instantly vanished into fox holes and to our good neighbor India procrastinating crusades of establishing “Secularism and Democracy” in Bangladesh! As the dust settled over time, these toady political orphans and original struts of democracy were helplessly wondering around the inner cities of Bangladesh for politician's jobs. The entire leadership of Awami League became out of action. Their attempts of resolving the conflicts ended up with bloody noses in free style wrestling shows. At the end, Awami League spelled into many feuding factions and failed to rebuild itself at least for 6 years (1975-1981). Being fearful of more losses in future lucrative political business, these exhausted odd couples suddenly became friends, united again and jointly apprehended the world champion of Secularism and Democracy, Sk. Hasina Wajed from India to rescue and secure their patriotic mission. Neophyte Sheikh Hasina assumed the party leadership, although in a sense of poignant circumstances similar to Begum Khaleda, she immediately exercised her firm authority to prevent the party from further disintegration.
Since then, these 2 scurrilous “Monarchs for life” run the country from their party holes only. They hide their ugly faces behind the huge billboards of Patriotism and Pro-liberation forces. I truly find them value deprived, mindless buffoons with “empty upper chambers”. They will forever remain testaments to the stupidity, arrogance, greed and narrow mindedness in Awami League/ BNP leadership along with their lieutenants those shall also share the toasty quarters in the hell of eternity for unjustly depriving this poor nation. Well, the “stupidest” never learn, even from their own family history of the past. I hope they go away real fast, climb down into a dark little hole and never come back out. In a civilized democracy, these 2 intransigent ladies would have been incarcerated long ago. You easily can see through their strutting, bragging and obstinate ego. They did more to destroy the vision & mission of our FREEDOM and SACRIFICES than our enemies of freedom materially did. This nation now need to be vigilant against Hasina & Khaleda, our home-grown threats that fester in the political underbelly Bangladesh.
IDEALS: Leaders must recognize that success in politics can be painfully ephemeral (example: Mujib & Zia‘s fates). Politicians understand pretty well that a nation's adulation one day can turn all too quickly to rancorous jeers the next. Very few times in generation, a politician emerges whose fame seems to be destined to last as long as the political game is played. But in the annals of Bangladesh politics, perverse Hasina and Khaleda are strangely the only 2 exceptions, emerging with the circular turns, promoting “Parliamentary dictatorship” in the name of Democracy and Patriotism. The prevalence of their lust for the power has now led to grave concern of many of us that they surely have an aggressive instinct for it. Like many notions of inheritance of a kingdom, it appears that both Hasina and Khaleda have an irresistible greed and penchant for power and equally toward the acquisition of wealth for themselves and for their cronies, which is somehow built into their chromosomes. Sadly, their late father/Husband are the ultimate generating force delivering these powerful upper hands.
CONCLUSION: It's not that whether I am angry or sardonic - it's how long do this nation continue tolerating these betrayals. As the renowned American historian Howard Zin said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism“. The people of Bangladesh feel increasingly alienated from Hasina government which is ignoring the “state of public minds” and refusing to address their exigent problems. All these are sending wrong signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response. And that is exactly what this confused nation have been watching these days.
Growing up is painful. Leaders have to leave all their criminal minds behind; explore and move forward into a future of true accomplishments. Unfortunately, we are not even at the threshold of it yet. We indeed are lost in the forest and now desperately need directions from a nonpareil leadership. This leader should be intelligent, charismatic, warm, genuine, and most importantly, optimistic about the future of our country. I hope, someday we shall be mature and passionate enough to elect the best possible leader for the nation’s highest position who could rescue a beleaguered but indeed an ebullient nation.
Mohammad Gani (USA)
