Samsuzzaman spoke for you, not against you

A journalist has been picked up, later confirmed to be arrested in a DSA case, by plainclothesmen for a report on sufferings of people due to exorbitant prices of daily essentials published on 26 March. The reporter, Samsuzzaman, is a correspondent of Prothom Alo. Before his arrest, we witnessed numerous media and social media trials. The report contained a comment of a wage earner saying, “What I would do with independence when I am starving? We need freedom for (purchasing) fish, meat and rice”. The comment was later used in a card with a picture of a minor boy for a social media post.

It could be termed as a technical mistake or to some extent poor judgement of using the picture along with the comment. But what about its content? Isn’t the price of daily essentials bringing people to their knees? Aren’t the low-income people suffering immensely due to price hike of every single thing, you name it?

The social media influencers and several media were straying from the content and were debating over why the reporter used wrong picture with wrong quote. Some travelled to different tangents to term it as a long-planned conspiracy.

The main content of the report was the ridiculous price increase of almost all the commodities. Various media reported last week that the price of rice, atta, vegetables, onions, green chilly, garlic, lentils and all types of meats went up.

One kilogram of coarse rice was sold at 48-50 taka on the first day of Ramadan. A fine variety of MIniket rice was sold 70-80 taka while Najirshail at 80-90 taka.

On the same day, atta price ranged from 58 to 70 taka, lentils from coarse to fine quality ranged from 105 to 140 per kilogramme.

Non-government research organisation South Asian Network on Economic Modeling-(SANEM) has revealed on Wednesday that 74 per cent of the country's low-income families are borrowing to tackle the pressure of inflation. The study found that, the expenditure of these families has increased by 13 per cent in the last six months, but their income remained the same.

How much does a daily wage earner or a rickshaw puller earn a day? Dare to estimate the income and cost ratio for a four-member family for one day and then play your key-board game on social media which is nothing but an outcome of ‘trick or treat’.

Why was this report so explosive that the reporter had to be picked up in the middle of the night? And how could those money launderers, murderers and loan defaulters of billions slip through the grip of this overactive law enforcement?

What did Samsuzzaman do? He wrote about the objections of low-income people regarding inflating commodity price?

What is wrong in being an objector? That is what a citizen does - asks questions, seeks rights and objects about anything done otherwise. Citizens are not meant to be minions. What is this collective blindness that prevents to see that Samsuzzaman wrote something that goes in favour of the common people not against them?

Why don’t these same eminent citizens find any conspiracy when a female office assistant is picked up and tortured to death in Naogaon in law enforcement custody? A conspiracy against the people’s right to safety within the state they pay taxes for?

A person is picked up by law enforcers without case filed or arrest warrant. If this is not violence, conspiracy against people’s right and violation of basic principles of constitution, what else is?

Sultana Jasmin was an office assistant of Chandipur union land office in Naogaon sadar upazila. RAB detained her from Muktir Mor (intersection) in Naogaon town at around 10:30 am on Wednesday. She died under treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on Friday morning.

If the state or authorities feel uncomfortable being asked questions, its their responsibility to correct themselves, to make amends. The media is not meant to stand against citizens and be a tool of the government. Media should act as the voice of people. When one person cannot be loud enough to be heard, media makes those voices reach people. The duty of a journalist is to document, file and publish the actual scenario of the country, make people aware and stand for what is rightfully theirs.

Those media playing accomplice must remember, the oppression you never speak out will one day be the ghost to be haunting you. And that Frankenstein is your creation.

Social media is a new revolution. Those influencers who have thousands of followers, a significant number of people read what they write or post, yet if they cannot speak the truth, do not have the guts to take a stand or just gang up and spread malice, they should be left in their own make-believe world until it turns to be self-loathing hell. After all, a smart opportunist can be an intellectual moron as Gambian proverb says.

Anything unlawful imposed by the state is never meant for one victim, it is a form of weapon that operates with a motto: scare one, the rests will automatically be set straight.

Not just in Bangladesh, systematic oppression has become a new weapon all over the world. A folk singer Neha Singh Rathore from UP, India has been served legal notice for making music about different irregularities of the UP government. Russia detained hundreds of anti-war protesters, France police are clamping down on protesters.

Magsaysay winning journalist Ravish Kumar (Pandey) in his book ‘The Free Voice: On Democracy, Culture and the Nation’ rightly said, “Citizen or robot; democracy or tyranny - the choice is ours.” There are people who through their arts, music and write-ups kindles the fire for us, to show the right path.

In this era of intolerance, oppression and masquerading muscle power, choosing the right path may make us alone or sometimes left petrified. Still it is worth it. 

Sycophancy will not save any individual or organisation as bigotry and oppression are like wildfire. It engulfs everything that comes to its way.

It’s time we choose our sides wisely. Two can be silenced and two others can be killed, but truth never dies. Even the dead can tell stories.