History and Bangladesh
A few days back, one of my Facebook friends sent me a mail. An article by him in Bangla, published in a newspaper, was attached to it. The article was on ‘bangabandhu’ Mujibur Rahman’s contribution in liberating Bangladesh and also his undaunted leadership in rousing aspirations of the people of East Pakistan and ultimately leading them to the Liberation war.
My friend sent me the article to know more about the liberation war since ‘not much materials are available these days’, he said in one of his Facebook posts. He approached me since I was a war correspondent for Kolkata’s ‘Anandabazar Patrika’ to cover the liberation cry. I reached East Pakistan four days before the Pakistanis started calculated massacre of the people.
I was surprised reading the article and wondered, how a newspaper, if it is not a mouthpiece of a party or of a person, could print an article blacklisting many major positive happenings, when much water has flown down the Buriganga foduring the last 40 years. If going by the twisting and retwisting of history in the hands of the rulers of Bangladesh starting from Mujibur down through Zia, Ershad, Hasina , Khaleda and even the so called care takers, this article may not surprise any.
I wonder, because the young writer, in his mail, looked serious and genuine, and I know many books, journals and research papers genuinely recorded abundantly the facts leading to this War, but how come this amateur historian does not find them? Have these been destroyed during the process, I brand as twisting and retwisting?
This Youngman has written the article entirely based on hearsay, and managed to get them published for larger circulation. But I wonder, to cite a few, how people of today would know that there was a Moulana Bhasani, who blended Marxism and Islam for the benefit of millions of religious Bengalis, who were known as East Pakistanis? Who would narrate the power of leaderless student community who hastened the fall of Ayub Khan’s shrewd rule? Who would give credit to Ayub Khan for hastening the Independence of Bangladesh? It was he who boosted the young emerging political force by establishing educational institutions to every district and down further to sub-divisions and thanas, even to villages. It was he who benefitted country’s youth force by helping them connecting each other through an efficient newly constructed road network, when telephones were for limited affluent and radio was under government control.
It’s really painful that Bangladesh is struggling to read its own history that has been distorted and destroyed by her own people.
