Delhi, Jan 7 (IPS) – History seems to be chasing Bangladesh even as the interim government struggles to resolve the real problems of governing a country in turmoil.
Last July, the South Asian country faced upheaval when a student movement ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from office.
Protesters took to the streets over government job quotas. Their insecurity brings disproportionate benefits to the descendants of freedom fighters.
As political parties and fundamentalists jumped in, the focus shifted as protesters demanded Hasina’s resignation.
Hasina was forced to leave the country she had ruled for 15 years. She landed in India for what was then designated as temporary refuge. As Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the Indian Parliament, “only for now”.
In his native Bangladesh, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken on the task of clearly governing a nation at a crossroads. That is, either shaking up the legacy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or charting a new path without the baggage of history.
Against this background, reprinting Bangladeshi currency requires examining the new narrative of the interim government.
The new banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Bangladesh no longer feature the customary image of Bangabandhu – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the former leader who led Bangladesh to independence. In general terms, Bangabandhu means friend of the Bangla people.
Bangladesh Bank officials described the move as “phasing out,” and Alamgir, 70, who witnessed the liberation war, called it “altered history” – hitting the erase button on Bangabandhu’s legacy.
It may be a bit of an overstatement to say that the daughter’s sin had a negative impact on her father’s legacy. Because Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a controversial figure in his own right.
The folk hero turned dictator failed to solve Bangladesh’s real problems. Instead, he became an authoritarian and had his rights suspended. As prime minister, his daughter Hasina followed in her father’s footsteps.
So the anger of the people who took to the streets last year was a huge blow to both Sheikh Hasina and her legacy.
For one thing, many on the front lines of student protests in Bangladesh are outraged by the excessive space allowed to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, especially when Hasina ruled. Not only do they want to erase his traces, they also want to rewrite the bloody chapter of history and, if possible, liquidate it.
In this context, is redesigning banknotes the first practical step of the Yunus-led interim government?
Fazal Kamal, former editor-in-chief of The Independent and Bangladesh Times, doesn’t think so. “The government did not take the initiative. This is the fierce reaction of the people of Bangladesh to Hasina’s claim that Mujib’s seal must be guaranteed for everything. It is this overkill that Bangladeshis want to end. “The provisional government is just following along,” he told IPS.
If we are allowed to use the term hullabaloo, we should point out that this is not the first time Mujibur Rahman’s mugshot has been removed from banknotes.
The series of notes introduced in 1976, a year after the assassination of Bangabandhu and some of his family members, did not contain his image. It was not until 1998 that he returned to Taka and has been active ever since. Taka is the basic currency unit of Bangladesh.
So when Fareed Hossain, a former minister at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, called the currency issue “making a big fuss about nothing”, he was not missing the mark.
“On the ground, people want governance. They want law and order and a currency that can buy more than what image it carries,” Hossein said, adding that the move meant the interim government had “bowed to pressure” from radicals. He added that he does. .
For many, Hasina’s ouster is nothing more than a “second independence.” But there is a large section that opposes what Hossein called the “wholesale erosion” of history and heritage. “Today, Bangladesh faces ideological divisions and buried stories that seem to have reemerged from years ago.”
In other words, today’s generation in Bangladesh wants to resurrect the real face of Mujibur Rahman and strip him of his majestic legacy. And the Provisional Government actively participated in this.
“The intention of the provisional government is to tear the country away from its historical heritage. The current regime has pandered to its unruly student followers who have trampled on all the symbols of history,” says political analyst Syed Badrul Ahsan.
For bowing to pressure, the interim government is in the eye of the storm on another issue: the thorny and sensitive issue of Hasina’s extradition.
Bangladesh has sent a letter to the Indian government requesting that Hasina be brought back to justice. A memo is a diplomatic communication from one government to another.
As Kamal points out, there have been ongoing calls for the leaders of the previous regime to be brought back and tried. Call it revenge politics if you will. But public sentiment seems to be that Hasina should be sent to the gallows.
India and Bangladesh have an extradition treaty, but it exempts them from political vendettas.
Article 6 of the treaty states that extradition may be refused if the alleged crime is of a political nature. No wonder Hasina is being tried for political crimes. “Words alone are not enough. The Provisional Government has no authority. It is about managing and steering reforms, not indulging in politics. “But it seems like we are giving in to the radicals’ side problems.” Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty told IPS.
The former ambassador said India was unlikely to accommodate its neighbor on the issue.
He also did not rule out Yunus using this as a “pressure tactic” to tell India to stop Sheikh Hasina from making political statements on Indian soil.
In a virtual speech last month, Hasina said Yunus was running a “fascist regime” that was promoting terrorists and fundamentalists, according to records. Interestingly, extradition requests soon followed.
Both issues appear to be unresolved yet. The new currency notes have not yet been printed and the Indian government has remained silent on Hasina’s extradition.
As for Mujib’s legacy, his statues may be vandalized, his images may be defaced and his daughter’s sins may denigrate his legacy, but Bangabandhu’s footprint on history, no matter how controversial, is indelible.
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