The India Card
THE honourable leader of the opposition (though this role is yet to be fully played by her in the right forum, the Parliament) Begum Zia deserves some credit for her consistency. Her position has been consistent since the interruption of January 11, 2007, the fateful day when a military-backed government replaced her administration.
Begum Khaleda Zia, since that intervention, has consistently alleged a grand conspiracy against her government and her party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Her decision to boycott the Parliament, not to accept the election of December 2008 as fair (thus the Awami League-led grand-alliance government is not legitimate) etc, are based on such allegations. Now, she has moved on to deduce that all these conspiracies were not just against her and her party, but also against the sovereignty of Bangladesh. The equation becomes clear; the interests of her party are the same as national interests.
In an act of life imitating art, Begum Khaleda Zia dwelt on comparing Rabindranath Thakur with Kazi Nazrul Islam. The echo of a popular song by Shayan was clearly evident. Such a distraction in an otherwise glum press conference can be quite a relief if it were not also an example of demands that are too much to meet, placed on the prime minister by Begum Zia .
India and Bangladesh are going to jointly celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Thakur, the Nobel laureate poet, next year. Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in 1899. The celebration of his 150th birth anniversary must wait for another 39 years as it falls on 2049. In principle, I agree with the BNP chairperson that a joint celebration of Kazi Nazrul Islam's 150th birth anniversary is a good idea. But to expect that kind of foresight on the part of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a meeting happening in 2010 is, perhaps, a little bit too much to expect. Hopefully, future leaders of the two countries will discuss that in the 2040s.
If this was a point about history (and ironically, future), the other is about geography. It is great that both Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia are in favour of regional connectivity, but to demand the inclusion of Sri Lanka to use the ports of Bangladesh is somewhat baffling. I was imagining that, maybe, Sri Lanka would like to import stuff to Chalna Port, take the shipment to Mongla Port using the newly set up infrastructure, and then trans-ship it to Colombo. Or maybe mythical Hanuman can be invoked to carry stuff from Chalna and Mongla to Colombo and other places of Sri Lanka.
There are many important issues in the briefing of the BNP chairperson, which must receive careful consideration of the government. But it is difficult to accept the BNP chairperson's assertion that BNP is not anti-Indian. BNP has been very successful in exploiting and sometimes fomenting the anti-Indian sentiments in Bangladesh, the existence of which predates the formation of BNP.
The thesis implicit in the briefing can be stated in the following words. On January 11, 2007 there was a conspiracy against the national interest of Bangladesh, thus an army-backed government took over political power, which allowed the Awami League-led grand coalition government to take office in January 2009 after, what she continues to claim, a rigged election.
Now in January 2010, the prime minister of Bangladesh has sold Bangladesh out to India. In order to give a dramatic twist and suspense to this thesis she interjects -- sinisterly -- the BDR massacre of February 2009, which saw the gruesome assassination of 57 army officers on BDR duties. Now, on top of all these rather serious allegations, she adds the so-called "secret treaty" during the visit of the prime minister.
Every Bangladeshi must take these allegations of the BNP chairperson seriously because there are many in Bangladesh who will buy her thesis as gospel without raising a single question.
Some of my friends in the BNP camp related the story of how planes were delayed in Dhaka airport so that black-clad soldiers from an unnamed country bordering Bangladesh (does a name have to be mentioned?) could board a Saudi Arabia bound flight (apparently to mislead the innocent minds) and take a long detour back home.
If some serious-looking people can believe that, they will also believe the story of selling Bangladesh despite the fact that a number of guests in various talk shows have reminded us that a country is not a potato or tomato that can be sold.
We have read that America bought Louisiana from France in 1803 and Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867. But neither Louisiana nor Alaska was a sovereign state recognised by the international community.
For the part of the government, a blow by blow response and full disclosure of the treaties and MOUs must be disclosed in print as well as in the official website. The people of Bangladesh who are serious about economic growth of the country to lessen the poverty of the millions must take a stand in favour of rationality. This does not mean that the democratic rights of protest should be put on hold. Those rights must be exercised rationally and sensibly, not based on prejudices.
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