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What have We Done with Our Victory?

Mont of what dividea ua today ia avoidable. Avoiding them would be good for the country. Both partiea and their leaders know it. Yet the rhetoric goes on — increasing, uncaring and unthinking . . . For all practical purposes we have squandered the last 26 years. Whatever good we did at one stage, we more than undid them at a later stage. AU this while the world has changed

by Mahfuz Anam
ONCE again we will be celebrating our Victory Day. Lots of money, energy, and effort will be spent to extol the significance of the day. But as has been the case so far, each political party will be celebrating it from their own narrow, distorted and partisan angle Not that they will be fabricating facts, but only that each of them will tell part of the story. Much like the proverbial blind men each describing an elephant only in terms of the portion of the animal they were touching. The critical difference in this case is, these are not men or women blind in the eye but in the MIND.
Not only will they stick to their convenient interpretations of history, they will spend equal energy, if not more, to condemn the perspective of others Thus, we are afraid, a combination of distortion and venom will constitute what will pass off as Victory Day celebrations by political parties today. Experience tells us this will be the case. However, nothing would suit us better than to be proved wrong.
Happily others will also celebrate the Day. especially organisations that belong to the genuine Mukti Joddhas and cultural bodies which try. however feebly, to represent what 16th. December meant for the whole nation 26 years ago.
What did this day really mean to us when our Liberation War ended with victory over
the Pakistani army in 71? As a Mukti Juddha I 1 was at a training camp at a place called Murti, as a part of the second batch - popularly called Second SS - of war time recruit as commissioned officer trainee.) this Day for me - 26 years ago -meant THE REALISATION OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DREAM THAT A HUMAN BEING CAN HAVE.
Once independent we were to build a Sonar Bangla where our people would not be so poor, so oppressed, so illiterate, so ill, so malnourished, so dependent. so powerless and so thoroughly humiliated. We were never again to discriminate against another human being on the basts of religion, creed, colour and race Above everything else with our 'victory' we finally had the chance to show the world what we the Bengalis were made of. and to remove forever, the indignity and disrespect that others have showered on us throughout history only because we were not independent.
As I heard the news of surrender of the Pakistani army on that terribly cold day In our
mountain camp, and as uncontrolled tears rolled down my face, and of all other campmates who were all glued to the low battery powered radio that broke the news. 1 felt like the most lucky person on earth. On that Victory Day. we were a Thousand Feet Tall Nation . We were united as a people-united to do everything necessary for the betterment of the country and its oppressed and poor people.' Even today I can almost feel It in my bones, the spirit of self sacrifice and Desh Prem (love for the country) that permeated the air and filled our nearts and minds. Our spirit soared higher than the tallest of mountains and the beating of our proud heart could, we imagined, be heard in every part of the world.
What can be more meaningful. more beautiful, more a source of pride and confidence than to become independent. If we think of it. It is to gain or keep freedom that nations have, throughout history, fought wars, sometimes for centuries. If there is one continuing thread that bind all history and all peoples together it Is this
thread of wanting to be free. On this day 26 years ago the eternal flame of freedom that was ever lit in our hearts took the form of a State for us to live and prosper within
I have deliberately talked at some length about the spirit of Victory Day 26 years ago only to remind our readers how far away we have come from that spirit. What have we done with our Independence? What sort of an account of ourselves have we given to the world? Far less than we could have. When natural calamity or some overwhelming social reality — like population growth (which could also have been prevented with time action) — keeps us back, we can understana. But when we ourselves keep us back, by creating problems and controversies that can easily be avoided, by preventing the operations of the elected government lust because It will make the otner party look good, falsify history and distort institutions and norms to suit ourselves: that is what we find so very depressing
The single biggest blunder of the post liberation govern-
ment was the Constitutional amendment to introduce one party state. That set the course of events in a totally different direction, and provided the needed opportunity to the enemies of our Liberation War to strike. And they did, with supreme brutality and ferocity.
That brought in the military into our politics which lasted for good 16 years till democracy was restored in '91 following a long a protected anti-autocracy movement
The distortion that was brought into our democratic evolution first by BKSAL and then by military coups and counter coups continues to haunt us. Many of the divisions in our politics, with one significant exception of that between freedom fighters and razakars. originate from this period. Instead of solving them, over the years, they have become more acute and violent. Today as we celebrate our 26th. Victory Day. we cannot but express our deep anguish at the great political divide that our people faces.
Most of what divides us today is avoidable. Avoiding them
would be good for the country. Both parties and their leaders know it. Yet the rhetoric goes on — increasing, uncaring and unthinking.
For all practical purposes we have squandered the last 26 years. Whatever good we did at one stage, we more than undid them at a later stage. All this while the world has changed.
When we gained our independence the Berlin Wall divided the world and ideological battlelines were everywhere. Today so much of the world of '70s is non-existent.
Just look at China. It was one of the most ideologically rigid and economically closed country in the world. It was the leader of one of the ideological camps. Yet today, it has totally reversed it ways. Why? Because it wants to develop and provide a better life for its people. Is our ideological position more rigid than that of China. The net result of it all is that everybody has changed, or is changing, except us. Perhaps one reason for our rigidity is that China's ideological positions were principled and our's was purely opportunistic and partisan.
On this Victory Day. our only prayer and hope is that we truly understand what a matter of pride, privilege and opportunity it is to be INDEPENDENT. We also hope that we have the good sense to build on it. and squander it in a politics of bickering.