Imbroglio in Bangladesh
Bird, Kai
Imbroglio in Bangladesh KAI BIRD The assassination of Sheikh Mujib Rahman was as brutal as it was unexpected. But democracy did not die with the charismatic founder of Bangladesh; it had been...
...Nationalism alone could not elicit the kind of selfsacrifice needed to bolster Bangladesh's post-liberation economy...
...Nor does it seem likely that Bangladesh's new elite will give democracy a second run—the middle class reminisce about the "old days" under Pakistan when law and order, stable consumer prices, and jobs in the civil service or armed forces were assured by Pakistan's strong-armed military rulers...
...to date jute and tea production are below the levels attained before the 1971 war...
...Of the other three pillars of "Mujibism," only nationalism really had an indigenous base of support and a viable tradition...
...It would be superficial, however, to blame the dismal failures of Mujib's three-and-one-half-year adventure on Henry Kissinger's anti-Indian prejudices or the needs of big power politics...
...They have an emotionally militant and critical nature so that as soon as a man comes to power, he loses 50 per cent of his popularity...
...At the same time, though he had adopted socialist policies, he could not enforce the kind of regimentation and sacrifices necessary to make a planned economy work...
...If anything, Mujib benefited from big power rivalry with more than $3 billion of international aid...
...What happened in Bangladesh last August was the result of Mujib's inability to reconcile the four pillars of "Mujibism"—secularism, nationalism, democracy, and socialism—with the internal divisions of religion and class...
...During the first year the jute industry, utility companies, shipping firms, banks, insurance corporations, and transport network were all nationalized...
...Otherwise, their brutal act of violence last August will undoubtedly be repeated...
...Imbroglio in Bangladesh KAI BIRD The assassination of Sheikh Mujib Rahman was as brutal as it was unexpected...
...It is this extreme form of Bengali chauvinism, the type of nationalism which resulted in the 1972 student vow to speak, write, and read only Bengali, on which Mujib capitalized to lead a unified Bengal out of the Pakistani union...
...Regardless of whether the parliamentary system is revived by the military officers (who were educated and trained in Pakistan), Washington is relieved that the "balance of power" in the Indian subcontinent will soon be restored after more than three years of Indira Gandhi's staunchly neutral hegemony...
...The Hindu and other minorities did not receive a proportionate number of civil service jobs, though they were often better educated than the Muslim Bengalis...
...In Bangladesh the communal issue is very much alive...
...In fact, nationalism was the sole basis on which Mujib formulated his 1966 Six Point Demands, which led to the separation of East Bengal from Pakistan...
...A socialist economy in Bangladesh never even began to work...
...Nevertheless, the dream of "Sonar Bangla" —an independent and viable Bengali state—did die with the execution of Bangladesh's "royal family...
...Forceful population control, a nationwide flood prevention dike system, redistribution of the land, the introduction of higher-yield rice, and stimulation of the jute industry are the major economic necessities facing Mujib's military successors...
...Mujib's attitude towards the ten million Hindu minority was one of tolerance, but the Hindus continue to suffer the kind of economic discrimination dating from Pakistani rule...
...Nation building is no easy task, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, where religious and class divisions are much more important than factors of national unity...
...Secularism is still a weak ideological force in Bangladesh...
...But Mujib's assassins must still demonstrate to Bangladesh's worried middle class that they have the ability and will to set the country on the path of economic recovery...
...As a result of this religious and cultural bigotry, the far leftist Naxalite (Maoist) guerrillas found considerable support among the minority communities...
...It did not adequately feed the people, it did not rebuild the country from war, and it did not restructure the feudal agrarian system...
...The last pillar of Mujibism produced the most severe contradictions and economic consequences...
...The economic crisis was aggravated by government corruption and lack of initiative...
...The Bihari community, the tribals of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and the tribal Santals in north central Bangladesh remained outside the economy and political life under Mujib's rule...
...Socialism in Bangladesh was executed by men who did not believe in socialism...
...From the time of Muhammed, Muslims have not been politically satisfied without an Islamic state...
...The Islamic emphasis proclaimed by Dacca's new rulers suggests that even less importance will be placed on population control than under Mujib's ostensibly secular rule...
...The weakness of nationalism is that it is a fine unifying force against external enemies, but only sows discord and strife when used by a charismatic leader to forge unity on domestic bread-and-butter issues...
...But these nationalized industries were run by Awami League bureaucrats with no business experience...
...Unfortunately, Mujib and his Awami League so dominated the parliamentary system that few opposition politicians found the role of the "loyal opposition" politically viable...
...Because the Awami League was forced by its radical student wing and the course of events in 1971 to adopt a "socialistic" economic order, Mujib was unable to harness the entrepreneurial talents and ambitions of his middle-class constituency to stimulate the economy...
...Mujib's own middle-class, urban-oriented character tolerated the growth of a new wealthy elite—Awami League officials and even members of Mujib's family who supplemented their salaries with valuable government import licenses, commodity hoarding, and smuggling of jute...
...American aid was even increased after Mujib imposed presidential rule and disbanded parliament...
...In Bengal the democratic tradition consists of what Muzaffur Ahmed, the president of the now banned National Awami Party, refers to as opposition-minded involvement in politics: "Bengalis are very much an opposition-minded people...
...The young military officers who carried out the coup d'etat against Mujib's increasingly autocratic and corrupt regime will undoubtedly lead the country towards renewed ties with Pakistan...
...Within a year of the liberation it became clear that extra-constitutional tactics would provide the only effective means of serious political criticism...
...The jute industry in particular was mismanaged...
...Islam, as a religion, is not exclusive, but the Islamic political state has a tradition of exclusivity stretching back for centuries...
...it had been extinguished eight months previously by Mujib himself...
Vol. 39 • December 1975 • No. 12
