I don’t know how to start it. Should I talk about Awami League or BNP? Or should I talk about Jamaat or the interim government? Who do the people really want to listen to? Are they (people) got influenced by so called Helicopter Hujur-Fake Saint-Shrine Merchant and porn video makers in Youtube or they run by their own conscience, intelligence and humanity? I’ve also become unstable now like what millions of people have become due to the complexity of present times.
As a result, what I see seems to be not believable to me. What I hear is becoming the reason for disease for the ears. The normal pace of life and livelihood is getting stopped. And, the flow of fear and mental pain have encroached over the mass people due to thousands of gossip, slang, verbosity, big shout from ‘small moth’ and silence from ‘big shots’ amid this complex situation.
In the above circumstances, I suddenly recalled the novel Lalsalu. The destruction caused to society by the religious merchants of Bengal during the British era was depicted by the immortal novelist Syed Waliullah in his incomparable creation, ‘Lalsalu’. If I wanted to tell you how the poisonous fumes of Lalsalu, published in 1948, have consumed us in 2024, then it would take my breath away to imagine how the ghosts of the Majid, the main character of that story, the religious merchants, could fly in a helicopter and attack my house. Syed Waliullah was lucky enough to write these immortal novels in distant France during the British era and passed away in Paris, the capital of France, in October 1971. If he had been alive or if he had been buried in Bengal, only Allah Almighty can tell what havoc the religious extremists groups who deliver fatwas would have caused.
At the beginning of the discussion, I said that the boundless instability of society has thrown me into a mess like everyone else. As a result, I did not even realize that I had entered into another discussion while discussing the title. Now I cannot think of how to compose a prose by connecting minus two and extremism, militancy, religious business, etc. with it. However, since I have started, I try to move forward with my trust in Allah. Before going into the depth of the discussion, it is necessary to briefly mention the significant events of the current period.
For almost two months, there has been extensive discussion and debate about the ‘new minus two,’ the new one-eleven or two-twelve. The boundless hopes and aspirations that people had after the July-August revolution of 2024 are gradually fading away and are now turning into a nightmare. The unnecessary and redundant topics that they are deliberately dragging out to hide the government's inexperience, laziness, incompetence, and incompetence, etc., are increasing people's suspicion and distrust over government itself. Even the most innocent creatures of nature, from the street-bound insane juveniles to the wandering animals in search of food, can understand that the deterioration of law and order is a man-made situation and that there is no human effort or lobbying can improve it.
If you see a house on fire and the people in the house are just dancing instead of trying to put it out, or if you see a boat leaking in the middle of a river, and even after knowing this, no one is stopping the leak, but the boys are singing and the girls are tying their hair, what would you say? Psychologists have done a lot of research on these incidents and have come to the conclusion that when people are frightened by the suddenness of the incident, they behave strangely to release their fear. When the Roman Emperor Nero saw that his capital was on fire, he was so frightened that he started playing the flute to relieve from his fear and tensions. Many stories, poems, and novels have been written about the strange act of Emperor Nero for almost two thousand years. In almost all cases, he has been described as a complete lunatic. Many have alleged that he himself set the city of Rome on fire. As a result, he played the flute with joy after seeing the all-consuming flames of the fire.
Emperor Claudius Nero is one of the most successful statesmen in history. The development of Rome during his time, the unity of the state, and the success he showed in rebuilding the burnt city of Rome are rare in world history. Secondly, his stepfather and his teacher were the greatest philosophers of all time in the world. Due to the excellence of his teacher Seneca, there is no room to question Emperor Nero's qualifications. However, if the people appointed to run the state of Bangladesh in 2024 had thought about how such a great statesman played the flute amid the event of fire, the debate about the new one-eleven or the new minus two would not have started.
Apart from Emperor Nero playing the flute out of fear of death, I will tell you another historical orchestral incident. That is, the melody of many charming flutes and musical instruments. Many of you have seen the Hollywood blockbuster movie Titanic. When the captain of the ship was 100% sure that the ship was sinking and there was no way to survive, he organized an orchestra to make death joyful. I am talking about a scene from another movie besides Titanic. In the famous Bengali movie Antarajali Jatra directed by Goutam Ghoshe, an old man on his deathbed is taken to the banks of the Ganges to be punished and the singing begins there.
In contrast to all the problems that have been flashing in Bangladesh in November-December 2024 or January 2025, the whole country is abuzz with debate and criticism about whether those who are rushing to hold big concerts, big religious gatherings and all the things that are not needed at this moment are trying to overcome their fear or are showing unnecessary business to hide their failure, inefficiency and laziness.
We have almost reached the end of today's discussion. Before going to the conclusion, we are discussing some special things of nature and some behaviors of humans. When you are very scared and reach the point of losing consciousness, you will suddenly burst into laughter and sometimes cry for no reason. You will try to please everyone and shut down your conscience and do whatever you can to please everyone, especially those who can scold or beat you. Many people in such situations voluntarily take off their clothes to escape the beating and start dancing at the command of the terrorizer. People do not only laugh and cry because of fear. They also make boast of themselves. They lie and oppress with all their might. In 99.99% of cases, those who are bitten by poisonous cobras do not get hurt but only tremble out of fear or panic. Fear causes several other changes in people. Children behave like old people and old people start talking illogically like ignorant children. Women think like men and men become shy and taciturn like women and go behind the scenes.
In view of the above situation, a terrible emptiness appears in society, tradition and state and nature does not tolerate emptiness at all. As a result, nature maintains the balance by getting softer sometimes and getting harder in rest of times. The 1/11 of the past or the ‘minus two’ of the past of Bangladesh is not the creation of a single person. The anarchy-instability-emptiness that was created due to the many actions of many people, many complex situations, many injustices and many sins, led to 1/11 or minus two in the play of nature. So, the respected reader must have already understood why that emptiness of the past is reappearing once again.
(The writer is a former Member of Parliament and political analyst)
Translated by: Md. Lutful Hoque Khan
Bd-pratidin English
