Let’s start with a story of a helpless businessman. He is 73 and has been engaged in business for 50 years. He used to run a big garments factory in Narayanganj. However, in the period of Covid-19, he suffered a loss of Tk 35 crore, which was followed by a series of crises. At first he was engaged in conflict with the company directors. Then, the pressures from banks, insurance, debtor, creditor and other parties became so severe that he wasn't able to bear it. Suddenly, he was attacked by a stroke. He tried to lead the business again after recovering a little bit by taking treatment at home and abroad as he and his son have to go to jail if the debts of the bank aren’t paid off. Furthermore, he had to put all his permanent and temporary assets into mortgages and moves from his banks to central banks several times to solve the issue. Under this huge pressurized situation, he was attacked by a stroke once again.
The assurances that the corrupt officials of the Central Bank had given him in 2023 and the way he mortgaged his last assets to the bank on their assurances were reversed after the change of scenery in 2024. While trying to negotiate with the new arrivals, he suffered a stroke again and after recovering a little, he came to me to learn about the country's politics. Looking at the gentleman's face, I was in tears. His entire face was distorted due to the stroke. His wife died long ago. The eldest son lives outside the country. And he lives in his own house in Uttara with his younger son and his son's wife, which is mortgaged to the bank. His 28-year-old younger son has not yet understood the business properly. However, if the gentleman dies, he will have to go to jail for debts as he’s the director of the company. With this thought, the gentleman fell ill once and again with the same thought. He has been running around for the last six months to have mercy from the banks. So, in his dire situation, I was very surprised to think why he suddenly came to me to learn about politics.
The gentleman understood my state of mind. He told me that his fate now hangs on politics. After the fall of the Awami League government, everyone started working for the first two to three months. But since November 2024, banks, insurance, government offices, and courts have not been functional properly. On the contrary, they are creating new problems in making various decisions. For example, he said that his banking problems might have ended in July 2024. Again, when he started spending again after the August Revolution, everyone assumed that the current government would last for 2-3 years. But the reality of 2025 is that all the calculations of the country's politics have been reversed and the laxity or lethargy that has started from everyone's position is gradually destroying the country.
After listening to the gentleman, I regained my composure. That uncertainty has also arisen in my own business and politics, and from my own position, I feel like I am traveling to an unsafe, uncertain destination and an unimportant one that has never happened in my life before. From the big industrialists of this country, top politicians, intellectuals to the marginalized people I have met in the last few months, I had the question: what is going to happen? What is happening? How we will survive, what we will do, what will happen to us etc.
A few days ago, there was a local meeting with some top leaders of the BNP. There, a politician, a top business leader of the country suddenly said, "Okay Rony Bhai, tell me what will happen to us," I jokingly said, "You will run away again." Hearing my words, the gentleman's mouth went dry. A top leader sitting next to me said, "Write down that the election will be held in 2025 and it will have to be held." I countered by asking, "Suppose the election is not held by 2025. What will happen then?" This time his confidence flew like the wind. He said if we cannot hold elections by 2025, then there is no need to say how many years the elections will be held.
During our aforementioned conversation, another top leader said, “I can't bear it anymore. I don't feel good. I am losing my mind.” Like the top leaders of BNP, the top leaders of other parties are also very uncomfortable. Even those in the government's advisory council, I have not seen anyone in a confident and happy mood for a day. Rather, the fear, anxiety and helplessness that prevail among the common people has increased manifold and is creating tremors in every center of power every moment. As a result, many people have lost their easiness while getting tense with posts on social media like Facebook or Youtube. The aim of some people's weapons is being reversed gradually and thousands of rumors are being created daily, burying the real truth.
The cruel reality of today is that almost all of us have missed the political train. Secondly, I don't understand whether our political train is now running on the common land or on the canals, rivers and streams. Just as I don't know who the train driver is, I don't know whether the driver can drive the train. Our nature and environment have become such that we don't recognize each other. We never imagined that people can change so much with time.
In the evolution of time, the self-proclaimed heroes are trembling like cowards. And those who were trembling and turning into Parkinson's patients earlier, some of them have started roaring like tigers, some like lions and many have started to turn society into an African forest in a terrifying way like wild buffaloes or saber-toothed pigs.
The pain of verbal terror has become unbearable in our country, time and society. Those who have a tongue are trying to speak, and while speaking, they are trying to scare their opponents by yelling like a hippopotamus as much as they can. Children are teaching the old people about life, livelihood, politics and economics. And the old people, trembling with fear of the children, are causing one after another panic. As a result, anarchy has emerged everywhere. Terrorists are attacking police stations here. Police station OCs are running away in fear of the terrorists. Students are shouting at teachers, beggars are kicking the beggars' cars hard after not getting the alms they want, and parents are trembling in fear of their children. In order to understand how much the politics of the country is being controlled by the Radha Chakra in the above-mentioned situation, you have to remember your childhood memories as a rider of the Radha Chakra. When a child goes to a village fair and is eager to ride a Radha Chakra, the excitement that drives him turns into screams of fear and panic after riding the Radha Chakra. No matter how painful it may be for the victim, the audience gets a lot of entertainment. Secondly, the riders of the Radha Chakra cannot stop the cycle in the middle of the way as they wish and get off; however, there is no example of the spectators also being moved by the tears of the riders and trying to save the passengers by stopping their laughter at any time. Therefore, the way Bangladesh's politics is now caught in the grip of the Radha Chakra will make many of us cry as well as entertain many of us.
We have come to the end of today's discussion. The way the ongoing politics is making our nationhood, independence, sovereignty, self-identity, social bonds, family relationships and individual identity more and more complicated is definitely leading the entire country towards a disastrous outcome. Only Allah, the Lord of the Universe, can say when the positive trend will return from here.
(The writer is a former Member of Parliament and political analyst)
Translated by Lutful Hoque
Bd-pratidin English
