I have the following comments on the DS commentary "A Dismal Walk and Some Hope" of Jan 1, 2004. It is easy to judge history by hindsight and then draw conclusions. What is important is not to be hasty. In fact reading this piece, I felt that the editor had decided what to write and then took the walk.

This does not mean what he wrote is untrue. Nazrul's tomb is neglected; the Uddyan is a jungle, etc, etc. But the reasons for such neglect are not so simple. Like, how did he come up with the conclusion that President Zia planned the Shishu Park for reasons as he has subscribed? Or that Swadhinata Stambha is in neglect because Prime Minister Khaleda Zia wants it that way? The editor's conclusion that there is a serious anti-intellectual movement underway in Bangladesh is also hasty. Then there are also many reasons that are not that easily discernible for the intolerance. We must look at the historical facts objectively and be cautious in relating these for drawing conclusions. We need to reflect upon events of 1971 dispassionately. We won a liberation war that was largely unplanned. We turned our conservative Muslim society overnight into a secular and so-called progressive state on winning independence. I still remember how the state owned BTV started airing messages from Dr. Ahmed Sharif, for intellectual freedom and secularism, in place of readings from the Holy Koran in the early days of our independence.

The activities of these so-called intellectuals who equated the independence of Bangladesh with freedom to open the floodgates of a Calcutta-based culture hurt deeply the sentiments of a large section of our people.

The point I am making is that given that the trend in the 1970s and even later, the move towards religion is logical. Yes, there is intolerance now but this is a response to the initiatives seen in the early days of our independence when in the name of intellectual freedom and secularism, attempts were made to neglect our religion. What is happening here is Marxian ( and Hegelian) logic of thesis and anti-thesis leading to a synthesis being played in the larger canvas of statehood.

The problem in Bangladesh is not Islam or intellectual intolerance. It is our elites, that include journalists, civil servants, businessmen , politicians and yes, intellectuals. We all speak of the lehengas; yet attend marriages where these are demonstrated disgustingly. If you ask me why Nazrul's tomb is dirty and Surhawardy Uddyan a jungle (incidentally for generations of 60s and 50s and before it is Race Course Maiden!!), the simple answer would be these are so because we have the most closed and regressive elite system in the world where the elites demonstrate an unmistakable characteristic-- hypocrisy.