Shahbagh: A big no to establishment politics
Photo: Habibul Haque/ Drik News
Syed Fattahul Alim
Is what is happening at Shahbagh purely an outburst of youthful energy from a generation that did not witness the War of Independence, but want to be part of it? Is it that they only want to feel the revolution that once inspired their predecessors to rise up in arms and fight the enemies of the motherland? But what compelled those youths to choose that particular moment of time of February 5 to start their agitation at Shahbagh? What was in the verdict against Quader Mollah that stretched their patience beyond the limit?
The young generation have long been fed with conflicting and partisan versions of the history of the War of Independence. They are being confused everyday by the propaganda machines of the two mainstream political forces and their leadership about who played what role and who were the real champions of the War. In the maelstrom, the many vital truths about the war have been submerged. But they want to know the truth. They know that the War was won at the cost of great sacrifices made by the people. They also know that there were traitors who sided with the enemies against the people and their aspirations.
But the post-liberation governments left the issue of settling the score with past mostly unresolved. A general amnesty was announced for the type of collaborators who did not participate in serious crimes like looting, torturing, killing and rape. But the task of bringing the perpetrators of serious crimes to justice remained unfinished. Neither was the politics that had engendered the war criminals dealt with in the light of the post-liberation reality. As a result, the unresolved issues were allowed to fester.
The young generation now assembled at Shahbagh square have been watching the International War Crimes Tribunal (ICT) constituted by the incumbent Awmi League government with great interest and expectation. But of late, the behaviour of Jamaat and its student activists on the streets in protest against trials of their leaders at ICT and the way the police have been responding to it unsettled them. Threat of civil war issued by Jamaat in case the ICT awarded capital punishment to Quader Mollah and the showing of 'V' for victory sign when the Tribunal finally sentenced him to life imprisonment proved to be the last straw. The rebellious generation smelled a rat in the whole business. So they turned out in zillions and started their protest at Shahbagh crossing.
Apparently, the mammoth rally does not have a long list of demands to the government. For the time being, they appear to be confined to a single issue, which is only capital punishment to Quader Mollah.
A deeper look at the unforeseen event unfolding at Shahbagh will reveal something more than what meets the eye. The assemblage of the youths with its following across the nation and beyond, though still nascent in its development and amorphous in its configuration, is rather clear in its assessment of the predominant politics in the country. From that standpoint, the demand for death sentence to Quader Mollah is but shorthand for a “big no” to the establishment politics, whether in power, or in opposition.
That is why no political party is being allowed to grab the stage and use it as their platform.
Small wonder the ruling AL's Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif was heckled by the crowd when he tried to use the platform for his own political agenda. And after that no political party has been allowed any opportunity to address the gathering. And no slogan of any particular political party is also getting any currency among the crowd. The slogans being chanted at the assemblage are being created on the spot.
The common message of the slogans is that they are not happy with the current state of politics and governance. So they are trying to rekindle the spirit of 1971.
Why has that spirit become so necessary now? Because the youths of 1980s and '90s in their teens, twenties and early thirties, are shocked at the behaviour of the official claimants to the legacy of that great Liberation War and the nasty rivalries they are embroiled in to grab state power. They are aghast at the greed, corruption and conspiracies they are involved in in the guise of politics of constituency in the elections. So they have decided to rise up against this evil empire of the capitulationists and time-servers who betrayed the causes of Liberation War, of the people and of building an exploitation-free, democratic and prosperous Bangladesh.
That is why under the rubric of “Hang Quader Mollah” or “Hang Rajakars,” the protesters are actually pressing for a wholesale change in the entire discourse of politics currently in practice.
We have hailed the exuberance and the zest for change demonstrated by the youths at Shahbagh. It is now time they began to think. To decide the next course of action they need to further close their ranks. They need ideas and leadership so that their boundless energy may be harnessed and channelled to build a new Bangladesh.
Shahbagh: A big no to establishment politics
. Some cheap packets of tehari is nothing
you did not clarify who did i label ? typical politician 
