When government stands with people

THE honourable prime minister has done an honourable thing. It was because of her large-hearted generosity that three wretched girls of Nimtoli got married at her official residence last Wednesday. The wedding pictures may have struck as anticlimactic, yet it was good to see those girls were treated so well after they had suffered an enormous tragedy.
But that's not the only reason why I would like to thank the prime minister for this act of nobility. I would like to thank her also because it has conjured up in my imagination the rare phenomenon we are waiting to see for forty long years. This was but an example of what it's like when the government stands with its people.
Thanks to the prime minister that the goodness of her heart has given us a chastening glimpse of that momentous bliss. The case of those three girls is but an extreme example. Nothing we do can compensate for their loss. But the least we can do is show that we care for them. The prime minister is doing exactly that and her gesture has already touched millions of hearts across this country.
How can I not wish this were the case every time! Whenever the weak is oppressed in this country, whenever a poor farmer is dispossessed from his land, whenever a woman is raped, whenever an innocent man is thrown in jail, they need a government. They wish someone came to their rescue. They wish the sleight of a strong hand saved them from the stranglehold of their miseries.
Of course, none of these is comparable to the tragedy of Nimtoli. But these are tragic nonetheless, because it could mean life and death to each one of the victims. Not to speak of this government alone. I am talking about every government, which came in the past and shall come in the future. If they cared, God knows, this country should be like a paradise to people.
I say it, because the way government works in this country, one person's wish is command for many. When the prime minister speaks, everybody listens. We know it from the brisk preparation for the wedding of those girls. Things moved fast, high-level people got involved, everybody paid attention, and the work got done on the dot.
Only if we could recreate that magic over and over again, half the ills of this country would be readily gone. Only if the court clerk knew the government was watching. Only if the police knew the government was going to get them. Only if the real estate companies knew that the government was standing tall behind its people.
In fact, people have no effective power in their own republic. Every day their lives are singed by injustice. Everyday their lives cringe in horror of inequality. These people don't know if they can count on anybody. Imagine if the prime minister of the country took the initiative to instruct her ministers and parliament members to stand beside one aggrieved person every week in their respective constituencies. Imagine if the prime minister had instructed the PMO to offer protection to anyone who needed it.
Each example could create its own multiplier effect, and soon the news could spread that the government was going to stand up for its citizens. That is one thing that crossed my mind ever since I read the news. What if the government cared for its people in the same way the prime minister was doing for those three girls? What if the prime minister could pay personal attention to other tragedies as well?
I know it's not physically possible. The prime minister runs a country, not neighbourhood vigilance. Still it's a fond wish of every citizen that their government cared for them. And if future prime ministers, being heads of their governments, lead the way like this prime minister has done in this particular instance, I am getting emotional even to think what can happen.
If anything, this country is failing to show care at an incremental rate: government for people, teachers for students, doctors for patients, lawyers for clients, bus drivers for passengers, police for victims, so on and so forth. If we are eating more, we are also cheating more. If we are wearing better clothes, we are also more nakedly showing our greed and hatred. We are driving fast, but slowing down in our thoughts. We are traveling far, but also narrowing down in our imagination.
Let us pray those three girls live happily ever after. Can we also hope to see a new dawn in our political culture? The government of the people, for the people and by the people will also stay with the people. Must we wait for another tragedy before we see a glimpse of it again?
Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a columnist for The Daily Star.
Email: [email protected].