Cultural policy and national identity

One definition of cultural policy is: "[S]omething that describes the values and principles that guide any social entity in cultural affairs. Cultural policies are most often made by governments, from school boards to legislatures and the executives of cultural agencies, but also by many other institutions in the private sector, from corporations to community organizations."
As culture is such an integral factor for truly comprehending a nation, cultural policies reflect how its livelihood and philosophies emerged and continue to exist. So cultural policy is important because not only does it hold testament to a nation's heritage and tradition, but also defines where the nation stands and what direction it will follow in future.
As Tessa Jowell has said: "Culture gives us a national identity which is uniquely ours. Culture defines who we are as a nation. And only culture can do this." When discussing the cultural policies of Bangladesh, it is important to understand how this concept of national identity is so profoundly interwoven with the history and, in turn, to the justifications of the cultural policies of this country.
Bengal, formerly a province of British India, was separated on August14, 1947, on the independence of the Indian sub-continent. It comprised of present day West Bengal, a state of the Republic of India, and former East Bengal a part of Pakistan to be known as East Pakistan. East Pakistan later became the People's Republic of Bangladesh, a sovereign state, on March 26, 1971, through an armed struggle.
Although Bangladesh is quite a young country on the world map, it shares the heritages of the great Indian civilisation. However, its distinctive features are also evident. It is located at the north-eastern corner of the sub-continent and is somehow secluded from the mainstream trends in the civilisation. It is inhabited by a large majority of Muslims. For in Bangladesh, as also in the other countries of the region, it has been observed that social and cultural phenomena have been closely related to political events.
Bangladesh, even as far back as the colonial rule of the British empire, when it was known as East Bengal, was inhabited by a vast majority of Muslims, who were mostly peasants and commonly illiterate. During that time, when Kolkata, the present day capital of West Bengal was gradually emerging as the leading centre for political and cultural activities of the then Bengal, Muslims in East Bengal had no participation in it. Muslims of the then East Bengal gradually became more aware of their religious identity, and they approved of the division of the sub-continent on the basis of religion which resulted in the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947.
Pakistan was founded purely on the spirit of communal identity. Rulers propagated Islamic heritage while disowning everything belonging to the Hindu and Buddhist cultures. The traditional culture and heritage of Bengal, which was, by and large, secular in nature, was subjected to continuous harassment. Urdu was declared as the national language, while Bengali, the mother tongue of the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who were the majority, was discarded as a language of Hindus.
People of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) suffered from identity crisis right from the very beginning. They wire in a fix, and could not decide whether they were first Muslims or Bengalis.
But, gradually the people of East Pakistan started realising that they were being exploited and discriminated against by the rulers, who generally belonged to the other part, i.e. West Pakistan, on communal considerations as they took people of East Pakistan to be lesser Muslims because their cultural heritage was very close to that of Hindus and Buddhists.
The people of East Pakistan also sensed a conspiracy to wipe out their separate identity as Bengalis by destroying their language and other cultural heritages which had a distinctive secular character.
As an outcome of these, the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) waged a movement to preserve their own cultural heritage. Many people of East Pakistan laid down their lives on February 21, 1952, to uphold the dignity of their mother tongue. Subsequently, Bengali was accepted as one of the official languages of Pakistan as per the demand. In honour of the martyrs of that movement, and to uphold the importance of that event, February 21 has been accepted and is being observed as International Mother Language Day throughout the world every year.
In continuation of the above, similar movements were waged, not only to protect but also to propagate the traditional secular cultural heritage. Political activities also took a turn to salvage national identity on the basis of Bengali culture and not on the basis of religion only, which resulted in the demand of complete autonomy or self-rule for East Pakistan.
The said movement was seen by the military rulers of the then Pakistan as a conspiracy by a section of political leaders of East Pakistan to join with Hindu-dominated India, and was handled with utmost brutality. Ultimately, the movement for autonomy was turned into the struggle for independence and a new nation, Bangladesh, was born with a distinct identity, not only political but of secular cultural heritage of its own.
Against the above historical backdrop, it is obvious that the very creation of the country was based on its cultural distinction. The above account also gives a glimpse of the political, social, and cultural context under which the nation of Bangladesh was born.
It is very sad to note that though the creation of the nation was based on its cultural distinction, no official cultural policies, or any political guideline to be followed in this respect, were ever formulated by the governments of Bangladesh. Some unwritten guide- lines being followed: protection of cultural heritage and facilitation of the spreading of the same; promotion of healthy growth of contemporary art and practice of local cultural activities; development and enrichment of Bengali language and literature; preservation and development of archeological sites; collection, preservation and display of antiquities; collection and preservation of national documents of historical importance; and development of public libraries. The emphasis is on conserving national identity by preserving heritage and by facilitating growth of contemporary arts, crafts, music, dance, drama and all other sorts of cultural activities of Bangladesh.
But, it is evident from the reality that, with the passage of time, not only are we losing sight of our cultural heritage but great confusion and controversy regarding issues of national identity already settled through our War of Liberation have also come back. It seems that the whole nation has been put to uncertainty again as to whether we are Bengali first then a Muslim or a Muslim first then a Bengali. It has also been made unclear deliberately in order to confuse the time-tested proven fact that the people of Bangladesh are historically secular and not communal.
On the basis of the said identity crisis, a distinct divisiveness has been created among the population of this country, unsettling our national unity and disturbing our otherwise homogenous society. This whole thing is being orchestrated by some vested quarter that sided with the Pakistani army against the people of Bangladesh during the war of liberation in 1971. Those collaborators still believe and propagate the political philosophy of the undivided Pakistani regime.
The government of Bangladesh should never miss the point that the birth of the nation was based on its national identity on the basis of secular cultural distinction, and its preservation should be among its highest priorities.
Shams Bin Quader is Junior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB).