South Asia Citizens Web

Marginalisation and manipulation of our minorities are neither new concepts nor recent practices. We might have had secularism as one of the pillars of the Constitution, but even Bangabandhu himself made considerable concessions to safeguard the interests of the majority at substantial cost to our minorities. The two military dictators, General Ziaur Rahman and General H.M. Ershad further solidified this practice of using Islam to legitimise their positions in power, and thus began a gradual but consistent process of de-secularisation in Bangladesh. Secularism was dropped by Zia from the Constitution, to be replaced by the words, “Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all action.” Ershad declared Islam as the state religion during his regime.

Conspiracy theories are a handy standby when one wants to avoid the effort of critical thinking. So Tavleen Singh would rather rely on “the foreign hand” — that old bogey out of Indira Gandhi’s box of tricks — than examine facts that reveal uncomfortable truths. Lamenting the closure of the Vedanta aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh, Orissa

During the past decade the nature and content of the speeches and pamphlets of American fascist agitators have been subjected to intensive research by social scientists. Some of these studies, undertaken along the lines of content analysis, have finally led to a comprehensive presentation in the book, Prophets of Deceit , by L. Löwenthal and N. Guterman.2 The over-all picture obtained is characterized by two main features. First, with the exception of some bizarre and completely negative recommendations: to put aliens into concentration camps or to expatriate Zionists, fascist propaganda material in this country is little concerned with concrete and tangible political issues. The overwhelming majority of all agitators’ statements are directed ad hominem. They are obviously based on psychological calculations rather than on the intention to gain followers through the rational statement of rational aims. The term "rabble rouser", though objectionable because of its inherent contempt of the masses as such, is adequate insofar as it expresses the atmosphere of irrational emotional aggressiveness purposely promoted by our would-be Hitlers.

The new Constitution declared, with great éclat, the country to be a secular republic. What mattered, though, was the empirical correlate of the declaration. Under a secular dispensation, the State, one would have thought, will be totally indifferent to, and maintaining an equal distance from, all religions. What eventuated was nothing of the sort. The nation’s new leaders, with the prime minister donning the principal role, interpreted secularism to mean maintenance of equal proximity with each and every religion. The vibe went out that the State was not indifferent to religiosity; on the contrary, it reveres all religions and will protect the prerogative of a citizen to practise whatever religious faith he or she opts for. Jawaharlal Nehru put the seal of formal recognition on this meaning of secularism by constant rounds of temple-hopping, dutifully followed by constant hoppings of mosques, dargas, gurdwaras, churches, synagogues, et al.

The rise of extremist Buddhists in Sri Lanka is truly disturbing and does not bode well to the sense of national resilience that the government is trying to foster, at least in its rhetoric.