[Reader-list] Ashfaq Wares Khan on Baul Statues

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

DAILY STAR
Monday, October 20, 2008 09:47 PM GMT+06:00 	

Time to take a stand
Ashfaq Wares Khan

WHAT next -- Aparajayo Bangla? The Shaheed Minar? The Smriti Shoudho?
Wait, what happens to all those "statues" in our temples and churches?
What is at stake here is not only the future of these important
monuments to our history and our faiths, but the daily rituals that
constitute our way of life.

The agitation which culminated in the removal of the five baul
sculptures in front of Zia International Airport strikes at the heart
of a society built on the foundations of religious tolerance that has
developed over a thousand years of adaptation of a diverse set of
cultural and religious practices.

The Islamists have already threatened to shut down Pahela Baishakh and
they came mighty close by bombing the Ramna Batamul in 2002. Who knows
what or who they are going to attack next.

If we are to believe Fazlul Haque Amini, the head of the IOJ and a
group that calls itself the Islamic Law Implementation Committee, then
don't expect to see any of this when Islamists take over. Most people
say, well, they will never take over. Fine. But, the problem is that
they don't have to. They are being handed out favours for free.

The government's concession to the Islamists on Wednesday is part of a
larger victory for the hard-liners hell-bent on transporting
Bangladesh back to the middle ages in the Middle East. What's worse,
the middle ages in the Middle East were perhaps more tolerant and
liberal than the society envisioned by these radical Islamists in
Bangladesh.

This government, along with its democratic and non-democratic
predecessors, has consistently conceded and cravenly acquiesced to the
slightest and strangest demands made by Islamist fringe groups who
seemingly pull more weight than the vast majority here who do not
prescribe to their radical agenda.

This has been facilitated by an appeasement policy run by mainstream
political parties. The governing principle apparently being that
appeasing the hard-line Islamists, along with a nominal number of
arrests, would repel the greater threat of terrorism.

But, even though they object to the full installation of the Islamist
agenda, in the long run, by conceding these ostensibly small but
significant defeats, the appeasers are conceding and participating in
the slow but steady erosion of the tolerant and secular soul of
Bengali culture.

This practice of Islamising Bangladesh (and, that too, a narrow
interpretation of Islam that is peddled for political ends) at the
cost of a secular society is not new. In the 1970s and 1980s, this was
represented by the changes in constitution. In the last decade, the
attacks have become more bold, more outrageous, and more violent.

Successive governments have not only maintained silence about these
attacks, but at times actively encouraged the attacks on other
religious communities and secular intellectuals.

The last BNP-led government not only silenced but arrested journalists
for publishing news on the violence against Hindu communities in
2001-2002. The same government banned Ahmadiyya religious texts, and
also tacitly encouraged the attack on the Ahmadiyya community by the
same group that tore down the baul statues. The attackers of Humayun
Azad were never really chased.

This isn't really unexpected in a country when most politicians and
administrators refer to it as a "moderate Muslim nation." How the
country became a "Muslim" nation, no one knows. But in reality it has
and it's not far from the truth. But to call it moderate? Please!

The double standards here are farcical. The Election Commission has
been haranguing over the need for religion-based parties to adapt
secular constitutions. Every time the government needs a cultural
symbol, it boasts of the grand historical achievements of the
country's writers, playwrights, artists, singers and (surprise!) baul
music.

Yet, when push came to shove, the government didn't waste a second to
dispense with the country's pride and joy when pushed by the
Islamists.

The fact that Wednesday's event took place in front of the airport
takes on added significance because the location offers the visitor
his or her first impression of Bangladesh.

The signs and symbols leading out of the airport are meant to showcase
the best of Bangladesh. Instead, the statue-wreck outside the airport
showcases the worst of a country at war with itself.

Wednesday's event is scarily reminiscent of the Pakistani government
ban on Rabindranath Tagore in the 1960s. He wasn't Islamic enough,
they said. Now after nearly 50 years, people are again being provided
a false choice of Bengali versus Islam.

It's a false choice because Bengal, and later Bangladesh, has
seamlessly combined religious and cultural practices. One of its
richest and most potent expressions is found in baul philosophy, which
espouses religious tolerance and the power of humanity to heal the
wounds of religious divisions. That's why the demolition of baul
figures is a potent reminder of our larger threats.

The artists and intellectuals who came to protest in the aftermath of
the demolition need to be lauded for their efforts. They are rare and
courageous at a time when the government has wilted in the face of
fear.

But, sadly, this is not enough. The calling to act is an agonising and
dangerous vocation in Bangladesh. We don't have to act with guns or
platitudes. If they take down one statue, we must erect another ten as
symbols of our firm dissent when faced with fear.



Ashfaq Wares Khan is a freelance journalist.