Who in the world holds the strings in this republic

You might think a government's foremost duty is to protect its citizens, especially those brave enough to speak the uncomfortable truth. However, in today's Bangladesh, that script has flipped. The law no longer prevails. The loudest rule by dint of their nuisance value.

Take Nadira Yeasmin's case, for instance. A college teacher in Narsingdi, editor of a feminist magazine, Nadira wrote about equal inheritance rights. Sounds simple. Not in 2025 in Bangladesh. Her words ignited a firestorm.

The government promptly submitted to a 48-hour ultimatum for her removal. There was no investigation. She never got her right to reply either. Just a swift transfer order uprooting her from Narsingdi Government College to Satkhira. But students there erupted in protests. They vowed to block her arrival and submitted a memorandum demanding her exclusion.

The government response? Another transfer. This time to Tangail's Saadat Government College on June 1.

By June 2, protests had erupted in Tangail too, a replay of the shameful script.

What happens next? Will the government finally stand up? Or will it kneel again? How long will this merry-go-round of protests and transfers continue?

It does not take much to incite a mob nowadays and stage a protest, which appears to be enough for the government to back down, if only to buy their silence.

In Narsingdi, the voices against Nadira grew deafening. She must have been terrified. Yet the education ministry offered no protection. Instead, it did the bidding of the mob, turning governance into a game of appeasement.

Just after last year's July uprising, there was a string of forced resignations and threats tore through dozens of educational institutions. The new government utterly failed to protect its teachers even then. But that was soon after the uprising and tempers ran high while the police was in no position for a confrontation with the students.

Now, nearly ten months later, nothing has improved. The same ministry refuses to take meaningful action to secure educators' safety. This persistent abandonment of teachers like Nadira Yasmin exposes the government's failure to uphold justice.

Officials have made grand declarations before. The home adviser said in April, "No more mob justice". There have been admonitions and reprimands and warnings and a lot of finger wagging but sadly, no action.

Nadira's platforms, Nari Angan and Hisya, were created to spark dialogue, not discord.

"We never saw ourselves above accountability," she told Prothom Alo. But accountability requires fairness, something she was denied.

This is not just Nadira's fight. It's a warning shot fired at every woman, every teacher, every free thinker in Bangladesh who dares challenge entrenched power.

The ugly truth is governance today isn't about leading. It's about reacting. The government no longer leads, it obeys the loudest threats and bows to the fiercest protests. Our republic is ruled by fear, not by the law. It is ruled by strength, not by principles.

The message is clear—courts, institutions, and democracy itself are losing ground. And if you think this is an isolated incident, you are fooling yourself.

This is not a mere collapse of law and order. It is a slow but certain decay of democracy.

If the interim government truly wants reform, it must act. And it must act now. It should stand for Nadira because her exile today is a threat to every voice tomorrow.

The choice is, of course, theirs. But the consequences, will be ours to grapple with.

Arafat Rahaman is a Journalist at The Daily Star. He can be reached at [email protected]