My ‘primary crime’ was to write a column on former chief election commissioner (CEC) Nurul Huda, who was behind the scam of nighttime voting of 2018. Nurul Huda had become very angry over me for my write up titled ‘Nurul Huda's five-year-old History.’ However, I didn’t say anything about him on the write up. Rather, I mentioned him as a good person who worked for Awami League at its grass root-level during the elections of 2008. I also mentioned that he was a guest in my house during 9th national elections and gave his relentless effort to assist my electoral fight according to the direction of Sheikh Hasina. Hence, there was a family bonding built up between him and me.
In the above circumstance, I had the right to get justice, humane treatment and cooperation from him. But instead of doing that, he lured Sheikh Hasina with the alluring night votes or secured a nomination in my constituency in the name of his niece as a precondition for organizing a historically disgraceful election as the chief engineer of Sheikh Hasina's night votes. Not only that, during the entire election, he used his administrative power to make my life and that of my family a living hell. As a result, instead of voting, I had no other option but to pray to Allah alone to survive.
When Sheikh Hasina appointed Habibul Awal, excluding Nurul Huda, I wrote an article called ‘Nurul Huda's five-year-old History.’ After reading the article, Nurul Huda's head probably got hot and the garbage in the stomach of her niece, the so-called MP of the night votes, went to her head. The respected reader will understand how the destruction pattern of Genghis or Halaku had in common with the way the then DC of Patuakhali district Kamal Ahmed, Executive Magistrate Abdul Qaiyum and UNO of Galachipa upazila Ashish Kumar rushed into the village where they planned to target my village house and raze it to the ground.
On the morning of July 19, 2022, without any prior announcement, the district administration and upazila administration appeared in front of my house with a few bulldozers. Several hundred hammer-wielding men were hired to demolish the house. Another 20 to 25 people were brought in for looting. When the bulldozer was used without giving time to remove the many memorable furniture, money, gold and jewelry, and documents stored in the building built in the 1960s, which was occupied by three men, then, the ‘Hammer Gang’ and looters started a rampage. My 75-year-old sick mother, brother, sister-in-law, and two young daughters who were living there somehow ran for their lives and started wailing in front of thousands of people.
On the day of the incident, I was in Dhaka. Hearing my mother's cries on the telephone, lightning started to strike my head. My seven-year-old niece started running like a half-mad and lost her mental balance due to the suddenness of the incident. My younger brother Sarwar used to run a pharmacy shop in front of the house. He never bothered about politics. Having lost everything, he also started crying profusely. My wife came to that house as a bride in 1986. She also cried hysterically and made me dizzy. We are seven brothers; no one else is dependent on my identity or my politics except me. They all service, do business, and go to their ancestral home in the village 2-3 times a year to organize festivals during the Kalabhadra festival. Their property was destroyed due to my politics…especially the crying of my old mother made them very much sorrowful. The way everyone called my wife and cried, it seems like the world turned into hell for me in an instant.
I have never seen my mother cry. Mother, who is used to a happy, lead a simple life, never beat our brothers. She never quarreled with her father. Among the similarities I have with my mother's character as the eldest child, are the habit of not breaking down easily, not crying, and not getting into arguments with anyone, which is ingrained in my bones. On July 19, 2022, I could not cry. But the way I was speechless, the way my chest started to ache and my arms and legs went numb, made me feel like, "Oh! If only I could scream and cry a little."
My father was quite well-off. We are all well by the grace of Allah. We have lost many times more money in business than the financial value of the house. We have spent a lot of money in politics. Allah has also given me many opportunities for Zakat-Fitr, charity and donations. Therefore, the financial value of the house did not hurt any of us. But if those who demolished the house with the memories of our ancestors in broad daylight could have understood the helplessness of our sudden homelessness in addition to the cries of our hearts, tears of our eyes and social humiliation, they would not have done that evil deed even for the whole world.
We have cried and are still crying for our demolished home. Our crying will continue until the Day of Judgment and on the Day of Judgment, we will complain to Allah with our families. Our desires in this world hurt us moment by moment. Our daily happiness and peace are disrupted. The sigh that comes out when we remember our home may pierce the light and air of the world and go to the throne of Allah. I don't know where former Election Commissioner Nurul Huda is and how he is doing. What is the current situation of his nephew or that DC Kamal? But no matter what their situation is, we are all better than them.
I am a person who believes in destiny. I believe that if people do not take revenge in their own hands and give the responsibility of judgment to Almighty Allah, then the balance of the world will naturally be well-organized. Although there is a right to take revenge…even though people have the ability, if they do not take revenge and leave the responsibility of judgment in the hands of Allah, then a judgment comes from the heaven which brings peace to the hearts of the affected people and due to their generosity, fear of Allah and reliance on Allah, Allah Himself becomes the best advocate for His oppressed servant and the one who is responsible for his successful work in this world and the hereafter.
Due to the above-mentioned belief, I have not become vindictive in the changed political situation. I have requested my activists, supporters, relatives and friends that under no circumstances should the houses of those who have messed up with me be damaged in the slightest. I have restrained myself with utmost patience so that no action like lawsuits, threats or intimidation should be taken against the people who have done fault with me. And because of doing all this, I cannot express in words how it is acting as a regulator in my inner peace and fearless movement, blessing in livelihood and increasing respect and dignity in family and social life.
The main purpose of narrating a tragic incident from my life to you on this day is that what is happening in the name of vandalism across the country is not acceptable under any circumstances. These actions will increase problems. Peace will be disturbed. Social order will break down and clashes and fights will take the form of civil war in the houses. The consequences of those who are celebrating vandalism will also be the same as the miscreants who committed vandalism in the past. Just as there are jealousy, revenge, looting, robbery, usurpation and greed behind every vandalism, there are also a cry, scream and wail from the family of every victim. Especially if someone takes advantage of someone else's weakness or flaunts his Allah-given power, position and status and starts a frenzy to destroy people's honor, residence or employment, then Allah Himself stands on the side of the oppressed. Although the oppressed may have been an oppressor once and as a result of his oppression, new oppression has become inevitable, the new oppressors are not protected from Allah's curse in this world and the Hereafter.
According to the law of nature, the fall of the oppressor is the greatest achievement of the oppressed. Secondly, if the oppressed is given power, it becomes the greatest cause of shame, humiliation, mental anguish and punishment for the oppressor. But if the oppressed person starts behaving like a tyrant after gaining power, then the law of nature turns against the new tyrant and in favor of the former tyrant, i.e. the new oppressed person. In the thousands of years of human history, the aforementioned law of nature has created milestones on the face of the earth, literally and without any deviation. But alas, we have not learned from history.
The writer is a former Member of Parliament and Political Analyst
Translated by Lutful Hoque/Bd-pratidin English
