A historic leader, no matter how great or powerful, needs to be discussed, debated, and learnt from—not blindly followed. That goes for Bangabandhu, too. Until recently, saying this out loud would have been tantamount to sacrilege in an environment of total adulation cultivated over the past 15 years. But the sheer, unadulterated disregard shown for the chief architect of our independence soon after the Awami regime's collapse has upended all calculations. Perhaps equally telling has been the relative lack of surprise or even sympathy, at least of the kind you would have expected. All this calls for a re-evaluation of Bangabandhu's legacy in this new era of revolution.

An argument can be made about how much of the anger directed at Bangabandhu's statues and murals on August 5 was really aimed at the man himself. Indeed, during the mayhem that followed Sheikh Hasina's escape, many other monuments and landmarks of historical significance were also attacked. Even the parliament building, Ganabhaban, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) were not spared, as mobs swarmed and vandalised them, many making off with furniture, bedding, potted plants, etc.

How has a man who deserves the highest honour for his role in our independence struggle come to be treated with such disrespect? PHOTO: COLLECTED

However, if there was a common target in this outburst of raw emotion, it was the key symbols of power—and what better symbol of it than the personality that Awami League had so unabashedly exploited to assert its supremacy? Many of the estimated 1,220 statues and murals it had erected of him across the country were damaged or pulled down. The historic Mujibnagar Memorial Complex in Meherpur, where he stood tall among other sculpted heroes of the Liberation War, lies in ruins. Even his residence-turned-museum in Dhanmondi was looted and burnt down. 

There are various theories about the men behind this vandalism. One involves angry mobs taking it out on anything associated with Awami League. Another involves a vague, and frankly unhelpful, reference to the re-rise of anti-liberation forces. Some observers simply blamed "miscreants" for taking advantage of a fluid security situation. But it's worth recalling that Bangabandhu's murals and statues had been destroyed even during Awami League's iron-fisted rule. This suggests that the latest vandalism was not just a momentary madness—any resentment was long in the making. And the fact that the national holiday on August 15 would be cancelled soon after, in a unanimous decision by the council of advisers and political parties, further represents the shifting ground beneath the once-inviolable stature of Bangabandhu.

How has a man who deserves the highest honour for his role in our independence struggle come to be treated with such disrespect? At the risk of sounding clichéd, let's just say this is what happens when respect is imposed, legislated, and weaponised. Over the years, we have seen how the Awami regime and intelligentsia cultivated blind, unquestioning adulation, suppressing any nuanced and dispassionate study of the man who led a very eventful life.

How has it come to this? How has a man who deserves the highest honour for his role in our independence struggle come to be treated with such disrespect? At the risk of sounding clichéd, let's just say this is what happens when respect is imposed, legislated, and weaponised. Over the years, we have seen how the Awami regime and intelligentsia cultivated blind, unquestioning adulation, suppressing any nuanced and dispassionate study of the man who led a very eventful life.

We have seen how the personality cult around him was continually enhanced through an infinite mix of Bangabandhu-themed monuments, billboards, textbooks, notes and coins, postage stamps, etc. His posters were churned out and plastered everywhere, his portraits hung in every government office. From hospitals to universities to safari parks to high-tech centres to bridges and expressways—everything bears his name. His words were turned into catchphrases, his speeches tirelessly rebroadcast on state television. His life spawned innumerable books, shorts, and movies, often through state sponsorship, giving him a saint-like status. And anyone who dared to question it would be silenced through various legal tools.

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Beyond Liberation

Even Bangabandhu would have found this deification quite distasteful, had he been alive today.

This is quite unprecedented not just in the subcontinent, but perhaps anywhere in the world. In India, where we saw Congress live off Mahatma Gandhi for decades, he was not subjected to such wholesale deification. In Cuba, you will not see any statues of Fidel Castro. In fact, naming of any street, institution, locality or monument after Castro is prohibited by law. There is then the idolatry encouraged by other communist leaders such as Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin or North Korea's Kim family, but that too may pale in comparison to the ubiquitous presence of Bangabandhu in Bangladesh.

For many in today’s Bangladesh, Bangabandhu was a story narrated to us through a carefully chosen medley of pictures, historical accounts, audio clips, and video footage. PHOTO: Jack Garofalo

For those of us who grew up in recent decades, Bangabandhu was a story narrated through a carefully orchestrated medley of pictures, historical accounts, audio clips, and video footage. It kept you in awe of the person. It kept you at a distance. We were raised to bow before his altar without really understanding him, and marvel at his greatness without knowing, beyond the highlights of his career, what made him great to his people. He was, for us, not someone we could easily relate to, but one shrouded in reverent mystique.

But the way to approach a great leader is not by ignoring his past deeds or his humanness, but by acknowledging how these helped him become the man he was destined to be. A leader doesn't have to be flawless. Englishmen do not deny that millions of Bangalees starved to death in 1943 when Winston Churchill diverted food to British soldiers and other colonies while a deadly famine swept through Bengal. In China, Mao-bashing is very much a thing. Even though he and his descendants mounted campaigns that developed the country and simultaneously elevated his cult of personality, many associate his legacy with mass murder and violent class struggle. Similarly, many other leaders who led their nations to their most glorious moments had to face the bitter test of time as their legacy was subjected to harsher interpretations—often as an opposite reaction to their deification.

Like many revolutionaries who later became statesmen, Bangabandhu had his fair share of mistakes and failures. Sometimes he learnt from them, sometimes he failed to. Sometimes he made bad judgement calls. Sometimes his decisions distanced him from trusted aides, and even had had the inadvertent effect of isolating the very people he loved and fought for. Those were not his brightest moments—those were his "human" moments. But this is precisely what made him someone the new generation could identify with—a man with human triumphs and failings—yet this is the part that was often buried.

For his part, Bangabandhu was known for his remarkable affinity with the ordinary people. The candour with which he interacted with them is legendary. He commanded their respect, rather than forcing it upon them. However, like many revolutionaries who later became statesmen, Bangabandhu had his fair share of mistakes and failures. Sometimes he learnt from them, sometimes he failed to. Sometimes he made bad judgement calls. Sometimes his decisions distanced him from trusted aides, and even had had the inadvertent effect of isolating the very people he loved and fought for. Those were not his brightest moments—those were his "human" moments. But this is precisely what made him someone the new generation could identify with—a man with human triumphs and failings—yet this is the part that was often buried.

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The lasting symbolism of Bangabandhu

The challenge of the post-truth age is that no legacy is innately secure, and truths in politics are invariably contingent. In post-truth politics, you appeal to emotion rather than objective facts to shape public opinion. Emotion excites the mind and lasts for a while, but for a lasting impact, there is no alternative to a narrative based on facts and truths. Bangabandhu as a subject of study should be approached with an openness to embrace truths, however unflattering.

In the new age of revolution, Bangabandhu can be just Bangabandhu—or Sheikh Saheb, or Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, or simply "Mujib"—without the obsessive, cultist praise following him but also without meaningless criticism along party lines. He may still remain the Father of the Nation, but more human, more relatable, more in alignment with other heroes of our independence. And for that, it is essential that he be restudied and reimagined by subjecting his life and legacy to broader interpretations.

Badiuzzaman Bay is assistant editor at The Daily Star. He can be reached at [email protected]

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We can't celebrate yet. Not until there is justice for our brothers who have been killed. Sheikh Hasina's resignation was, of course, a must. But for all the deaths that happened, there must be thorough investigations into the role of the administration, party activists, Chhatra League and others. Once that has been achieved, then we can finally celebrate.

We do not know who will come to power next, but the army is likely to take over in the immediate future. We hope whoever it is, they will take prompt and proper actions to deliver justice for the killings. Those who have been unjustly detained must be unconditionally released.

I don't think there is any country in the world where the government has tried to stay in power by raising its hand on its own students so many times like this. Students are a nation's assets. Students have a special place in people's hearts. This regime didn't just kill one or two students. According to newspaper reports, it killed more than 300—even though we believe the number is higher. Many ordinary citizens have also been killed. It is because this regime killed so many students that people have come out flooding the streets to lend their support. if you look around, you will see thousands and thousands of ordinary people around you—there are no political parties here. Why is that? They are here to support those who have been killed, the students, who are our brothers and sisters. 

No government in the world, I believe, can stay in power by killing its own students. And we have proved that here in Bangladesh.

A university student

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A new dawn rises on Bangladesh

The prime minister had no other alternative but to resign. After creating the situation that she and her party did, how could she speak of finding a compromise? Everything had gone out of control by the time she was willing to listen to the students. So, resigning was the best decision for her. 

All these people have gathered together for independence. A government that shoots at its own people is not wanted by anyone.

A BRAC university student

We are very happy right now for achieving this independence. We achieved thjis victory in return for our blood. Now, we want to celebrate it fully and with everyone. 

Now, we need to ensure that the perpetrators of the killings are held to account, alongside those who gave the orders. Even if they manage to flee the country, they should be brought back and tried properly, so that no one ever dares to commit such crimes again.

A university student

We want thorough investigations into all the killings. Even if any of them were committed by the army, it has to investigate them also. My point is, no one who fired at students and ordinary people should be spared. As a student of Dhaka University, what some law enforcers did in our university over the past few weeks is unacceptable. What the vice chancellor and other responsible persons did must be looked into as well.

Even today, when we went to the campus, people fired at us. Who were involved in these shootings? Do we not deserve to know as students of that university, who were shooting at us in our own campus? Whoever comes to power next, they should know by now the power of Bangladesh's students and its people. So, if they do not investigate these incidents, we will once again unite.

A Dhaka University student

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New student politics demands respect, dignity, and trust

The students' initial one-point demand of quota reform than turned into a one-point demand for Sheikh Hasina's resignation. It turned into a movement to bring back democracy. How could she get away with carrying our mass murders so she could stay in Gono Bhaban? I held back my child from joining the protests before, but not today. We've been here since the morning and we won't leave until she resigns. We've seen a lot of bloodshed; we will not accept any more of it.

Nipa
Housewife from Lalbagh

I am here observing the mob. I am really happy. the students achieved a lot, they have done the hard work of bringing us here. We love our country and we want to save it. The students should work towards establishing peace in the country where no one is suppressed.

Syed Afzalul Karim
Dermatologist

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A walk through free (?) Dhaka

Whatever happens, it has to be done through a peaceful, amicable way and we do not want any military intervention in this whole process. The transition has to be done with the leadership of the students, and with constructive consultation with political parties, civil society, and other actions in the movement.

Dr Samina Luthfa
Associate professor, Sociology
Dhaka University

Vladimir Lenin, after all, was right. Sometimes, there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen. Glory to the martyrs and vanguards of Bangladesh who made it to a possible democracy once more!

In Bangladesh, August is apparently a month when decades happen. Karl Marx famously said, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." If the fall of the BAKSAL (Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League) regime in August 1975 was a tragedy, the boisterous exit of the regime this August is a repetition, this time as a farce. The free fall of the regime is a relief for many; however, there are also darker clouds around in the horizon.

The odds are no less apparent. One of these concerns India, the nation-state's largest neighbour. The facts around the number one superpower, the US, are another concern. But I can't deal with the second topic in this space. Let me rather stay with only India today.

To some, the events of July-August, for all their valour and glory may tell the same old story. But it is not exactly a void in which they disgorge.

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Hasina falls, flees

The coup d'état of 1975 was organised clandestinely. It was a civilian-military combined effort. There is good evidence that it was sustained by a Western power. The current conjuncture seems to involve a broad coalition of radical forces led by university students, sustained by the support of a cross-section of civil society, political parties and the so-called international community. The fallout now is more uncertain than ever, at least compared to what it was a half century earlier.

The Awami League regime in 1975 under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had gone berserk with its one nation one leader "mantra". In 2024, the daughter's regime only went wilder with its sheer ruthlessness. History repeated itself.

It is perhaps too early to say what awaits us even in the not-too-distant future. A doubt pops up, nevertheless. What is the nature of the August 5 revolution? Is it a popular revolution like the French Revolution flying the banner of equality, human dignity, and social justice? Or is it to prove a coup d'etat of sorts, an 18th Brumaire of civil society, midwifed by the "international community", tailored by the armed forces? How different is it going to be from the events of January 11, 2007, events welcomed by the country's biggest neighbour, India? We hardly learn from history. That seems to be the only takeaway from history's department stores.

One does not choose from an empty set. Not a neighbour, at any rate. Nations act, as everyone knows, not as philanthropists or cynics but in their own best interest. Did Bangladesh's inevitable neighbour follow even a rule of its own best interest in underscoring the dynastic autocracy in Bangladesh? Was that the best option it had had? Will it learn a lesson, in all candour, this turnaround? These are questions best left to political pundits in India and beyond.

For us, citizens and denizens of Bangladesh, it is more of a single-payer option. India's unabashed selfishness in promoting a regime that clearly violated all rules of liberal democracy proves highly short-sighted, more now than ever.

What alternatives did India have to choose from is not apparent, or not well-known in any case. But it may even be non-transparent. In 1975, India blatantly ignored its lower riparian neighbour in claiming the Ganga-Padma as a virtually all-India domestic watercourse. That it is an international river, it apparently forgot then. India's stance on other watercourses changed little since then. The waters of the Teesta and many other common international rivers don't flow quietly anymore.

Border killings on a rhythmic scale are not simply a mystic symbol of India's political muscle but of its myopic nature. It is a bizarre thing: "India's Bangladesh Problem," as one pundit called it. Termites, they call their unhandsome neighbours.

India's China obsession, at least ever since her war with China in 1962, could have misled it to its Bangladesh policy. But a people who didn't put up with Pakistan's proto-colonial repressive regime of two and a half decades can hardly be expected (let alone taken for granted) to welcome such a proverbial "subsidiary alliance" as India desires to perpetrate on Bangladesh.

The latest regime change in the wake of a popular mass uprising should provide an occasion to rethink future relations between the two sovereign neighbours in South Asia, adorned by the common historical legacy of many centuries.

The immiseration of one neighbour for the benefit of the other can only be sustained by such regimes as the just fallen one in Bangladesh. India is a habitat, nay a breeding ground, of proverbial wise men. I am sure they will not be deluded by dreams of "Akhand Hindustan". That simply will not work.

The regime change of August 2024 may also provide an occasion to reflect on the question of national identity, a question the think tanks of national security (or regional imperialism if you like) can only ignore at their own peril.

Let history not repeat a second tragedy. The regime change in Dhaka, apparently, will enjoy the blessings of the "international community". But it is unlikely to work well if India does not think today what forces of circumstances will force it to think tomorrow.

India's best interest may perhaps lie in strengthening a new democracy in Bangladesh. At any rate, not obstructing democratic aspirations of a new generation in its eastward neighbourhood is the key point.

Dr Salimullah Khan is professor of general education at the University of Liberal Arts.

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