'For whom the bell tolls'

The shopping malls of the city have worn a festive look and are frequented by trendy young men and chic women for their classy collection of brand names. They will once more get a chance for the brazen display of their profligate lifestyle. Undaunted by prohibitive price tag of over one hundred thousand takas they will not stop short of now-fabled 'Lehenga.' Never ask where the money comes from for the fortunate few and who are they, after all. We, the lesser mortals should only be interested in their being there -- nothing more, nothing less. Why unnecessarily stepping into a forbidden zone where things beyond our comprehension can happen? The sky is the only limit where unfettered hedonism is the way of life.

However, at the other end of the spectrum an ever-growing underclass of our society gasps for mere survival and is considered spoiler for the celebration ahead with their ugly appearance. The policy of the establishment also seems to be to sweep all the sleazes and ugliness under the rugs. It does not even recognise the existence of any blackspot in the society. For the establishment, everything is hunky-dory in the country except whatever slur has been smeared on its face by a nagging opposition. But even if the opposition has played its part of "cheap politics on human misery," the ground reality does not conceal the hollowness of the government claims of alleviating people's suffering whether it is with regard to their safety and security or a constitutional right to get the essentials of life at affordable price. The coming celebration has only sharpened their sense of deprivation.

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For the teeming millions in the country battered by grinding prices of the essentials of life, the celebration only compounds their problem -- the problem of kindling smiles on the face of their near and dear ones while confronting the most basic problem of getting their both ends meet. Any celebration is but a cruel joke in a country steeped in thousand miseries and particularly at a time when near-famine condition stalks the northern districts of the country. Lashed by an unprecedented price hike which is still rising even the city dwellers find the situation a nightmare. In monga-hit northern area a mother lashed by hunger is reported to have sold her own child. People have succumbed to death or disease by filling in stomach with inedible things. Driven by hunger, disease and unemployment the hard-hit people of the area have been herded off towards relatively solvent urban centres to swell the number of destitutes there. In the meantime, terror, extortion and lawlessness rule the roost in this country. What's left with the people to really celebrate?

The socio-economic disparity is nothing new in this country. In an inherited socio-economic system from our colonial rulers we lived with such disparities for ages. Although all political movements in this country were launched, among other things, to bridge up the gap between rich and poor as much possible, the gap only widened. Yet we seldom yearned for a doctrinaire equality; neither was that possible even in socialist system. But a kind of social equilibrium cutting down the number of super rich and dirt poor is an overwhelming imperative for a much needed balance in the society and the survival of the polity. Unfortunately the thrust of the politics in our country has always been to create distinct classes: patronised and deprived.

Unless universal, the happiness on Eid or any other occasion can hardly get in itself. It is something to be shared with as many as possible. Or else even the fortunate will not be spared of the compunction that results in from monopolised happiness. They will be haunted in their sub-conscious by the human beings reduced to a bundle of bones by hunger, those sunken eyes and jaundiced face they see around them. With those images haunting one it is difficult to go merry-making even during the Eid without certain qualm.

It is pointless to cover festering wounds of our society with sophistry and mendacity. Let the authority gather courage to call spade a spade. Let it unburden its conscience by laying bare the facts. There is no disgrace in admitting that the people are indeed experiencing silent famine in the country and there is skull duggery with regards to relief materials. The government's insistence or self-proclaimed 'achievements' and its ability to prolong its rule will not take them anywhere. It will only smear them with ignominy.

Only an honest admission of how the country's teeming millions are today faring in their struggle for bare existence may perhaps open a window of salvation with the people's collective wisdom. Nothing else matters more for a people for whom the bells are already tolling. The society is withering away and polity is on the brink of disaster with chaos reigning supreme in all sectors of governance.

It's certainly not the time for claims and counter-claims and for blames and counter-blames. It is solemnly a time for introspection preceding a massive rescue operation for the society and polity. Let the polemics over politics be over with the hatchet buried.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.