‘My end is in my beginning.’
There is no situation in the world that cannot be explained through poetry in general, especially through the poetry of TS Eliot. Sheikh Hasina, one of the longest-ruling heads of state in the world, has stepped down after a month of bloodshed in Bangladesh. It seems her life has come full circle—the former prime minister has taken refuge in India and is likely to visit Delhi.
The beginning is as follows. Humiliated by the West Pakistani establishment despite a decisive victory in the 1970 parliamentary elections, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – Hasina’s father – called for independence and after a year of bloodshed, Bangladesh came into being. Mujib was assassinated; a terrible beauty was born.
freedom is a terrible thing
Freedom is a beautiful thing. It is also terrifying. It rarely exists in the absence of violence. This is more true for South Asia than any other part of the world, or at least it seems so given the sheer numbers. In India’s public imagination, 1971 is all about the Mukti Bahini and the Indian armed forces joining hands to give birth to Bangladesh. It is about Indira Gandhi and Sam Manekshaw.
After Yahya Khan dissolved the Pakistan National Assembly on 1 March 1971, more than 300 ethnic Biharis were killed by Mujib’s supporters, even though Mujib had not even called for a movement. Within a month, the Pakistan establishment launched Operation Searchlight to eliminate Awami League supporters in East Pakistan. It was promoted as a legitimate state action to punish conspiracy and unrest.
This quick calculation is important to understand how even the most noble political causes have their origins in questionable actions and their motives. They often have a legacy of blood. Hasina and some of her family members were rescued by the Indian Army in 1975 when Mujib’s former compatriots and comrades turned against him. Mujib was assassinated in his home on August 15, 1975, along with six members of his family, including his wife, brother and son. It was the same old story of Brutus stabbing Caesar; 32 Dhanmondi was the new Largo di Torre Argentina.
Mujib, once called a messiah, was facing criticism on many counts: corruption, nepotism, mismanagement of the 1974 famine, favouritism, etc. He was accused of becoming what he once opposed – a dictator. This has been Hasina’s history and legacy. Sheikh Hasina may be reminded of this as she flees Bangladesh for safety once again.
it was never going to be easy
Since its inception, Bangladesh has witnessed election-time violence between the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Concerns about Bangladesh’s ability to hold free and fair elections have dominated electoral processes. The number of clashes between supporters of the two parties ahead of the 2024 elections has more than tripled since the 2018 polls. Hasina’s fourth consecutive term was by no means going to be easy. As predicted, the results were disputed by the BNP and other opposition parties. She handled the allegations like any shrewd politician. Student-led protests over quotas in government jobs proved to be her weakness. South Asia is, by and large, quite forgiving of politicians and regimes. But only to a point. As long as governments are seen to be at war only with their political and ideological opponents, voters will not care. When the attack reaches their doorstep, people rise up. They may not always succeed in overthrowing a regime, but they make their intent known.
So, the civil unrest in Bangladesh is a result of historic political feuds between the two largest parties, the military’s continued lust for power, anti-establishment sentiment and genuine concern for the deteriorating participatory democracy in the country. Added to this mix is the peculiar case of secularist authoritarianism. The so-called ‘Bangladesh model’ is praised by the power establishment in India, which is a secular republic, and denounced by Pakistan. But there are some genuine concerns about how the Awami League is using secularism as a calling card to stamp out all forms of dissent. The post-Islamism proposed by Hasina’s party remains a Holy Grail project for Bangladesh: always elusive, always used for mass mobilisation, never achieved.
a deja vu moment
The Sheikh family has now seen and experienced it all – from every possible angle. They have been the oppressed as well as the oppressor. The hunter as well as the hunted.
For Bangladesh, this is a déjà vu moment. And for India, too, it is a déjà vu moment and a moment of reckoning. When reasoning and reconciliation fail, brutal and bloody regime changes become inevitable. The new order may not always live up to expectations; it may even be worse. But the desire to overthrow a dysfunctional system, perceived or real, is an all-pervasive obsession.
Let’s end this with Eliot’s poem:
‘in succession
Houses rise and fall, they scatter and expand,
have been removed, destroyed, restored, or replaced
There is an open field, or a factory, or a bypass.
New building from old stone, new fire from old wood,
turning old fire into ashes, and ashes into earth
which is already flesh, fur and feces,
human and animal bones, corn stalks and leaves.’
(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based writer and academician.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal views of the author
