Extreme nationalism and bigotry, two sides of the same coin

The news of the week has been about a ruckus over the national flag. A nation doesn't have a flag, a state does. We call it our national flag because we see the state as our nation. Just as a company, a social organisation or a political party has a logo, a state has a flag. We generate emotional attachment to this flag. There are times were we love a flag with all our heart, or we hate it with all our might. In recent times we saw this outburst love and hate over the flags of Bangladesh and India.

We often do not express our thoughts out of fear. We are worried about how the 'mob' will take it. After all, mobocracy reigns in the country at present. There is no saying who they are going to target, who they are going to thrash. Suddenly a group of people decide, come let's go there, slaughter a cow and hold a 'milad'. People will readily gather for a free meal of beef and polau.

I recall once Sheikh Hasina's people dumped garbage in front of Kamal Hossain's house in Eskaton. The same thing happened in front of the Supreme Court. I remember, BNP chairperson started off in a convoy of cars to a rally in Khagrachhari, protesting against the Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty. At the behest of Sheikh Hasina, Shamim Osman's people blocked her way by placing trucks across the road. She was stuck there the entire day.

Sheikh Hasina grew a strong penchant for trucks. When she came to power in 2009, she devised an astonishing way to block the front of Khaleda Zia's house in Gulshan with sand-filled trucks and then did the same in front of the BNP Gulshan office. These are all ploys to teach the "enemy" a lesson. How will you explain these? People's behaviour depends on their taste and upbringing. Laws can't teach this.

The people of this country are, for various reasons, anti-Indian. One of the major reasons is the Hindu-Muslim fracas. This has been on and will continue on for as long as people give priority to their religious identity. India has become a Hindu state, Bangladesh a Muslim country. That is why when the mosque in Ayodha is demolished, temples are damaged here. We often write these off as isolated incidents.

We claim the cool breeze of harmony sweeps over us here. It is just a handful of bad people who stoop to destroy the harmony among us. The problem is that these isolated incidents take place in a regular basis. Those who carry out these misdeeds, say that well, India did that.

Things heated up in Bangladesh over the ISKCON issue. A Hindu religious leader was arrested in a sedition case. This provoked strong reaction in India. Mamata Banerjee called for UN troops to be deployed in Bangladesh. All these days Mamata ruled the roost in West Bengal relying on the "Muslim vote bank". She fasts ('roza'), sacrifices animals and sends trains to Ajmeer to facilitate people of pray at the Khwaja Baba's mazar (shrine) every day.

Meanwhile, BJP captured the "Hindu vote bank" in West Bengal and is gaining ground. That got Mamata worried about losing this big bank. So she suddenly reverted to being a "Hindu". And in the meantime, BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi called for UN forces to be deployed to protect Bangladesh's high commission in Delhi.

Politicians who change their colours as convenient are called demagogues. That is exactly what Mamata is. And everyone knows, there really is no leader in the true sense in this region. There are demagogues everywhere. Right now the contest is on as to who will turn the heat up in the political arena. Then there is the matter of gaining attention. All in all, there's an overall war-like feel.

War is not good. War means killing, destruction, loss. In March 1971, many of those who had called out aloud on the streets, "valiant Bengalis, take up arms", rushed off to Kolkata after the 25 March crackdown, leaving 70 million people back in the country to fend for themselves. Those who want war do not take part in the war themselves. But they are the first to pocket the spoils of war. We are seen them up front.

There are many people out there ready to create chaos in a calm country, tearing it asunder. Someone left a flag somewhere in BUET so that people would find it and desecrate it. The retaliation popped up in Kolkata and Agartala. The Bangladesh mission there was attacked, Bangladesh's flag was desecrated.

A population loves and respects its own flag deeply. But when the flag is of an "enemy state", then it is nothing more than a doormat. Flags generate hatred now. Only recent Bangladesh-India relations had supposedly reached a height of friendship. Are they enemies now?

Bangladesh-India relations have never run smooth. There have always been ups and downs. India has not learned to live at peace by the side of a small and weak neighbour. Bangladesh has not learned the strategy of living as equals by the side of a large and powerful neighbour.

The majority of this region's people are peace-loving. There are certain people who do not want this. They cannot wait until there are quarrels and conflict. They are always plotting and planning, instigating trouble and creating chaos. I do not know who came up with the idea of stomping on the national flag, but what was achieved by this? An instigation of extreme nationalism. This has nothing to do with patriotism.

Patriotism is an ethereal matter. What is the need of patriotism that does not promote people's welfare? Then there is religious bigotry. Extreme nationalism and bigotry are two sides of the same coin. For many years extreme nationalism and religious bigotry have been cultivated in this region. A certain class of political opportunists are benefitting from this. They are rising up in leaps and bounds.

Religion is in the blood, the bones, the marrow of the people of this region.  No one can practice politics in this country ignoring religion. That is why communist politics never gained ground in this country. The Communist revolution of the Soviet Union crossed its jubilee, but still could not block the revival of religion. That is reality. But the ploy to evoke people's religious sentiment to gain political interests has not stopped. It is on a steady rise.

Some delve into the scriptures, saying this is a symptom of the capitalist system. But the people of this country understand neither capitalism nor imperialism. There are those who claim to understand these, but their understanding is questionable. We are hearing the same song for the past 100 years.

The "progressives" are not increasing in number. On the other hand, communal violence is increasing by the day. We have plunged into a grievous malaise. But what is the use of harping on about this like a minstrel of conscience. Who listens? The country is steadily heading to the brink of danger. And in the meantime, there are many gloating at all this from a distance.

* Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and researcher
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir