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KALEIDOSCOPE

Lingering colonial mindset

Syed Fattahul Alim
IT is not common nowadays to see people waiting with bated breath to have a glimpse of a leader they love. But that does not mean that we have no leaders these days. Surely we have and a plethora of them, who stomp around with their money and muscle posing as leaders. Many of them even go through the process, however manipulated that may be, called election, to get the seal of official
approval as an elected public representative. So, through an official procedure, if not in an spontaneous fashion in which people place a person they love in their heart as a leader, they acquire the official right to be called a leader. But how far they are really loved and respected by their people is another matter. Even so, these official holders with 'leader' appellation have no less craving for being adored by the common people like real leaders are. Small wonder, by using their official power, they try to create an artificial aura around themselves. And to satisfy their ego, they often cause common people including children to suffer.
So, school children from some 140 educational institutions of Ishwardy, along with their parents and teachers, had to undergo an unnecessary ordeal for long three hours and a half in the biting cold of January morning as they stood in a queue to receive land minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif Dilu. The experience was undoubtedly not pleasant for the children or their guardians. But what is that to the local administration, the party apparatchiks or even higher school authorities, let alone the minister in whose honour all the small sacrifices had to be made!
When showing honour to someone of consequence is so important, why should one mind at all if these little children of Ishwardi and their parents take the small trouble to welcome the homecoming of their fellow man who, by becoming a minister, has only made them proud? And can a man not demand this minimum show of'love' and 'respect' from children and adults from his own constituency? Is it also not the part of a long tradition to receive a minister or a high profile government functionary coming from the headquarters down to the local level in this manner?
It's not surprising that soon after the Ishwardi event, a repeat of it took place at Bagha upazila of Rajshahi on January 24. Here, it was the state minister for foreign affairs who was at the centre of the reception show. And as usual, school children were again made to suffer without food till
afternoon. The recipient of the honour in this case, however, was apologetic to the children for being the cause of their distress. But the question remains if the organisers of the reception, the school authorities and the local unit of the ruling party, had any qualms about what the children were put through.
Following publication of the first of the above mentioned reports on such receptions using children in the January 22 issue of this paper, an editorial comment was made on the following day questioning the justification of the entire exercise. The January 26 issue of this paper carried another critique of this kind of reception with reference to the Bagha event.
The sight of school children or employees of various institutions waiting in line to welcome a dignitary may be pleasing to the beholder, especially for whom it is all meant. But it's not so with those who are made to stand in this way against their will. It is worthwhile to note that there is a government order of 2009 against the use of educational institutions as well as children standing in queue for such purposes. But who cares?
Talking of tradition, we should go into its history to see if there is still any justification for holding on to such tradition that harks back to the colonial times. It was purely a masterslave relationship between the colonial officials, high or low, and their native employees that was manifested through this kind of reception given to visiting government dignitaries in those times. But habituated to these slavish exercises of the olden times as they were, our post-colonial government officials have not yet been able to rid themselves of such colonial hang-over. They simply don't understand that this shameful exercise is demeaning as human beings for those who are kept standing in this manner to welcome someone 'special.' Moreover, it does not at all go with the citizens of an independent country, and more so in a democracy.
Being still steeped in the colonial legacy of bureaucratic culture, the local level administration may be excused for the time being for this particular mindset. How may one condone someone who claims himself to be a public leader for committing the same sin? For don't they often harangue against the colonial past and its traditions and also froth at the mouth speaking for democracy? How can they forget these basics when they indulge in such reception extravaganzas? They surely don't believe that children or adult members of the public keep standing there in line of their own volition to look at their beloved leader? Or do they, really?
The writer Is Editor, Science & Life, The Dally Star.
E-mail: sfalim.ds#gmail.com