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Dr. B and some questions

30 November 2003, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By MM Rahman, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Dhaka University
30 November 2003, 18:00 PM
The recent utterances of former President Dr. B Chowdhury have received attention from various quarters in various ways, though there is actually nothing new in them. The Awami League as well as some other political parties have been saying the same thing for quite some time. Professor B Chowdhury's utterances are receiving attention because he is effectively speaking against a party which owes its growth to him to a large extent, and which ousted him from the post of the president.

Most people enjoy this sort of situations, and they are waiting eagerly to see how the game develops further. I do not think many people believe that the former president will be founding another political party, which could take over the government in near future. Dr. B may at best get some satisfaction by embarrassing the BNP leadership. I wish the doctor realised that the ideologies that were imbued in the ranks of his party under his leadership are not all democratic and ethical.

I can recollect a BTV programme prior to the 1996 election, wherein the moderator asked Dr. B repeatedly whether his party would accept the results of the elections if it lost, and he consistently insisted, "BNP cannot lose the elections." I hope he now realises that democracy cannot function if the political parties are not ready to accept defeat in elections.

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Crime and corruption are the evils which appear to be the major problems of our country. However, in my opinion, there is one more serious problem that has made us incapable of fighting these evils. The fact is that the whole nation is divided into two streams in the same country. One stream believes that Sheikh Mujib is the father of the nation, and his murderers and those involved in the jail killing should be brought to justice. The other promptly avoids this topic if it is raised and loudly declares that Ziaur Rahman was the declarer of liberation and restorer of democracy in Bangladesh.

To solve the political problems, it is essential that we write the history of the Liberation War correctly, and learn and make our children learn to recognise the roles of the freedom fighters properly and honour them accordingly. Will Dr. B speak out with a clear conscience on this issue? What about our nationalism? Bangalee or Bangladeshi? What about Allah Hafez and Khoda Hafez? Has he got any suggestion about how to unite the people on these issues?

I think the civil society and the intelligentsia can make a contribution in this regard, and hope the nation will be willing to accept a verdict given by them. The political parties may not then have any option but to accept this verdict. Only after the nation becomes united on these issues, can we fight crime and corruption .

The nation is eagerly waiting to see whether Dr. B is anything different from a typical Bangladeshi politician!