Untold Facts

HARTAL: As I look back

HARTAL is a bad program
None would support HARTAL or shut down of everything as we know in the region. It is counter productive so far as human productivities in economic utilities are concerned. For poor and underdeveloped countries, it is more harmful and in many cases matters of human sufferings and difficulties, particularly, for the millions of daily wage earner laborers. Yet the poorest country Bangladesh remained prone or used to HARTAL in the past and also likely to go in the present.

Personal reminiscences
At this point I recall HARTALs of the mid 1990s. Our eldest son was engaged for wedding in Dhaka city in October 1995 quite few months back. But we failed to fix the exact date due to frequent incoming and going HARTALs one after another not for a day or half but for days together. My son’s would be mother in law took the responsibility to find out and fix the date free of HARTAL. She and one Awami League top leader who later on in 1996 became a Minister happened to be not only both native of the same administrative district but also college class mates. So she succeeded to get a clear day free of Hartal and the wedding solemnized that very day on the 4th October 1995.
For our second son, we had the same difficulty in early 1996. He would study in UK and we fixed the date here in advance for his wedding keeping in view his time constraints for coming and again going back to UK after the wedding ceremony for he was still in the last leg of Ph.D. program. We thought there would be not much difficulty if there would be Hartal during day time as the bride’s parents’ residence happened to be in the Dhaka Cantonment protected area, and so we thought that things would be alright because, HARTAL had no bearing in the area but in civilian area alone. Yes, that was unfortunately the HARTAL day called by the Awami League on the 28th March 1996 and we had no better transport but a tempo, and that also after night fell through the Cantonment Number One Gate to our residence in the civilian area, about 2 Kms away from that gate.
I can recall another incident. I was waiting at the Peshkar‘s office of the Administrative Tribunal at Abdul Ghani Road in early 1996 for it was the day for one of the hearings in my case in relation to my dismissal from job in 1993 that I had challenged there. The incident that I intend to mention was that the Peshkar who clearly sounded to me as an activist of the Awami League let me know in advance that the next Hartal would be for 72 hours unstopped or for three full days and even nights. His advance information came true within days.

Hasina for hartal
Many others like me may have many painful stories about Hartal, apart from loss of properties, productivities, lives lost in infighting or by police excesses in the past. But I recall one of the stances of Hasina in favor of Hartal: HARTAL DILE SHARKARER TONOK NORHE- shut downs make government worried. I wonder, being myself a non political party activist, if Khaleda has hoisted the same signal for the Awami League and Hasina, in particular. I deliberately said of Hasina’s and less of the Awami League party or even the government having had my own understanding that the government is of one person or of one egoist brutish woman who show all the time burning in vengeance and nothing of humanitarian consideration since the day one of the 2009 January. No openness, no democracy, no justice, no rule of law, no humanitarian consideration for any opposition and the millions of dissenting and suffering poor. The only consideration is the ‘I’ and, at best, her deep dream for dynastic continuity at the cost of the country and the nation, albeit, for upholding Delhi’s vested interests as the loyal poodle.
One may further recall Hasina’s 173 days Hatral during Khaleda’s 1991-1996 first tenure of PM’s governance (130 days in the second term 2001-2006 and Khaleda’s 59 days against Hasina’s first term) having support as well among some ‘intellectuals’ who certified that there were no adverse effects of Hasina’s such long Hartals on the overall productivity of the country’s GDP! One must remember as well her public utterance that ‘EKDINO SARKARKE SHATITE THAKTE DIBO NA’- I must not give any scope for any peace to Khaleda’s rule even for a day! People would know that those intellectuals or members of Hasina’s civil society drummed up support to Hasina for such Hartal and break down of peace that led to the LOGI BOITHA culture.

Logi Boitha from Gozarir Lathi
Her father had only TIN HAT GOZARIR LATHI that she innovated further by LOGI BOITHA! The rest of the stories are fresh in many memories and so need hardly be repeated here. The drama of Emergency for two years, the digitally rigged election, the ‘overwhelming majorities win’ by the Awami League in the December 2008 election, the conglomerate and novice cabinet formed leaving out all seasoned Awami League politicians obviously for establishing personal rule and more seriously Indian hegemony strengthened much more than any time ever before.

Left’s disgust of Hasina
If one would take some seriousness about the matters of 23 point election manifesto of the Awami League being continually all violated and people feeling totally betrayed was voiced in a rally held in Dhaka on the 22 May and published as news in Dhaka dailies of the 23 May, of the 14 parties alliance partner Rashed Khan Menon of the Workers Party (One faction). The previous day the other faction of the same party led by Haider Akbar Khan Rono, a bit more hard liner, along with some other left leaning parties and cultural organizations declared their resolve to fight against the misrule, state terrorism and all those the people have been tired of and stood to resist including price rise, crisis of gas, water, electricity, etc. A few days earlier still other left leaning groups led by renowned intellectual Professor Badruddin Omar made another rally and vented their distrust of the Awami League Government of Hasina. He has as well been writing columns in some dailies seriously condemning Hasina for falsehood and betrayal.

Too little too late
Thus the Hartal call given by Khaleda on the 19th May at the Dhaka rally of nearly million people attended who all offered support with spontaneity and Khaleda gave six weeks advance notice of the common grievances of the people specifically mentioned therewith to meet in the time given is considered by many, even independent outsiders, as too little too late.

Caution
There must be some caution to observe by all concerned parties that the 27th June Hartal must be observed peacefully as democratic norm demand. The caution however, is to viewed in the open fear that the government led by Hasina and possibly still more uncultured and so unfit for democratic governance her Home Minister Sahara in charge of all internal security forces, the police, BDR, RAB etc. that might turn under their unusual pressure not for keeping normal the law and order but much more than that to make the Hartal bloody.

Author: Mohammad T. Hussain