Unbridled tongues bring disaster

THERE is a process to how people speak. It works like a factory where spoken words are selected to be produced, have their phonetics formulated and then finally are articulated by the motor system in the vocal apparatus before delivery. When our home minister spoke last week about the collapse of that fateful building in Savar, he threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing. He chose his words and formulated their phonetics, but got himself miserably confused at the articulation level. God knows, the man sounded like someone who has lost it.

Many people have scathed the minister for his inane remarks, some of them his own party colleagues. But it's not alarming that what he said didn't make sense. What's worrying instead is that the cultivated mind of a thoroughbred bureaucrat could speak like that and actually believe he was going to make sense. God knows what he was thinking when he said that the building caved in because BNP and Jamaat men shook its pillars and gates. Only possibility that comes to mind is that he was possibly thinking about the building in one mind and talking about trees in another. Shaking can dislodge a lot of things. A building is seldom one of them.

It's unfortunate that one national tragedy became three. While the dead and the wounded were still being rescued from the rubbles, our politicians got busy creating their bubbles. The government tried to say that the owner of the building never belonged to the ruling party. We saw a similar reflex after the killing of Bishwajit Das in Old Dhaka. This is what created the second tragedy. The politicians are more interested in saving the miscreants instead of finding out if they have wronged.

The third tragedy was when everybody started talking about who should pay how much compensation to the victims and their families. The BGMEA members agreed to chip in. One opposition leader promised to pay two million taka to each victim and his or her family provided his party returned to power. The government has also made its share of commitments. It sounded as if the poor people live or die only for money.

But the home minister's prattle has failed to bring us even the comic relief. If you come to think of it, he shook down quite a number of structures that embellish decency in our mental landscape. It was obvious that he was resorting to deception. It was obvious that he wasn't telling us the truth. It was also obvious that he didn't have much respect for us as citizens because he thought we were as flimsy as his excuses.

All said and done, the minister's remark has revealed his poor judgment. If that is how silly he can be to assess the gravity of one of the deadliest tragedies in this country, one can easily question whether our law and order is safe under his leadership. When he came to know that the building code was violated during the construction of the building, he should have focused on that particular piece of information and gone after the culprits.

It's sad that incoherent speaking is becoming a national phenomenon, and that is because lack of accountability for our actions is now being translated into words. If people can get away with doing anything, why can't they also get away with saying anything? And, that is now a common concern about the country's politicians who turn their tongues like spinning a roulette wheel.

People in all countries of the world, politicians in particular, have got the tendency to lie or cover up when convenient. But our minister said something that only exposed him further. It only made us realise that behind the gravitas of a seasoned bureaucrat who has a doctoral degree is the wit of an overgrown boy pulling childish pranks. Whether he realizes it or not, the home minister's comment about the building collapse was outrageously inappropriate.

If this minister truly means business he should engage his ministry to find out what happened to those who are missing after the accident. Are those people still buried under the wreckage? Are they dead or alive? He can a helpline be set up at the nearest police station to help their families? The Rab has done a commendable job arresting the building owner, an achievement that rightfully goes to his credit.

This particular minister is only a tip of the iceberg. The government should decide whether all its ministers need to talk to the press outside their respective lines of work. The king of Egypt had sent a sacrificial animal to Pittacus and asked him to cut out the fairest and foulest meat. Pittacus sent him the tongue, the instrument of both the greatest good and the greatest evil.

The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star.
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