To rein the mouth of the responsible and the comments of Tofael Ahmed
Photo: Barta24.com
Tanzim Ahmed Sohail Taj resigned from the post of Member of Parliament on April 23, 2012 after three years of leaving the post of Minister of State for Home Affairs. The resignation of Sohel Taj, the son of the first Prime Minister Bangtaj Tajuddin Ahmed during the liberation war, is a significant event in the country's politics. Although Sohel Taj left the ministry and the post of Member of Parliament, the party upheld Tajuddin's legacy in Awami League stronghold Kapasia by re-nominating his sister Simin Hossain Rimi.
In order to maintain the image of the party after the eventful resignation of Sohel Taj, the then ruling party Awami League brought forward the heavyweight leader Tofail Ahmed with the responsibility of chief coordinator in Simin Hossain Rimi's election management. At the end of the term, the Awami League tried to mitigate the anger within the party and the alliance by 'rewarding' Tofail Ahmed and one of the leaders of the 14-party alliance, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, as ministers. Naturally, one of the topics discussed by the media at that time, including the party leaders and workers, was the issue of senior politician Tofail-Menon becoming a minister.
In the midst of the uproar of Simin Hossain Rimi's vote in the by-election, we went to his Banani residence to talk to Tofail Ahmed, a few media persons. Media friend Tofail Ahmed came in front of the media workers that day with quite a face. Without giving much opportunity for questions, he started to say angrily, "I am not Muhit Sahib (late former finance minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhit) for talking about all the problems of Bangladesh".
That's it...that's it. Without giving us a chance to speak, he left, telling the assistant as he went, that we should all come back only when we are all sweet-faced. I don't remember if we ate sweets that day, but the words of this senior politician were deeply rooted in our ears.
In today's socio-political environment, infertility has become so evident that even the most common morals and values have been lost today!
Since yesterday (Nov 8) many have reacted angrily to the irresponsible nonsense of a government minister on social media, on the streets, in traffic jams and even at personal level.
The real information is that Commerce Minister and Member of Parliament Tipu Munshi, after the meeting of the National Tariff Policy Monitoring and Review Committee in the Ministry's meeting room in the secretariat, in response to the questions of the journalists, while highlighting the abundance of life of the people of Rangpur in his region, said, 'No one is in trouble in my area, women putting on lipsticks three times daily and changing sandals’ four times daily.’
Due to the rise in commodity prices where the common man, even the middle-lower middle class is breathing heavily; It is natural that such inconsiderate comments of a responsible minister of the government will arouse the anger of the general public. We have been witnessing the competition of needless controversial comments by ministers of various previous governments. That tradition has reached such a stage that these arbitrary comments are a big obstacle for stable political practice. Perhaps no one is thinking about the way in which this battle of words of ministers or political leaders is taking over the entire news organization of the media and narrowing down the areas of news related to public importance or public interest. More worrisome, the newcomers of the new generation who are joining politics are imbibing the same culture and engaging in constant rhetorical wars, making future politics increasingly conflict-ridden.
If we look back in history, one Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as the leader of seven and a half crore people of East Pakistan seeking independence, gained great popularity all over Pakistan due to his charismatic leadership. As a result, we will see Mujib introducing himself as the 'leader of the majority party of all Pakistan' and speaking in a high-pitched voice. But when the Bangalee Bangabandhu Mujib was giving a stern reply to the exploiters of his people, the Pakistani rulers, he addressed in such a polite way, "Mr. Yahya Khan Sahib, come and see how my people have been killed..."
But today the 'custom' of giving hot speeches in the field of politics has no trace of this mutual respect! If the people own all the power in a democratic country, then who gave you the right to mock the misery of the common people who are suffering due to the unbridled increase in commodity prices, even if they are not able to reduce their suffering?
The statement made by the Minister of Commerce may be applicable to a class of people, but it can be challenged that it is not applicable to a hundred percent of people. Then you have disrespected your oath as a minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh government by not accepting the inequality of capabilities of a large section of society.
The main aspiration of a nation that got absolute unity in the great liberation war and the sovereign land called Bangladesh through a bloody struggle was to establish an egalitarian society and state. Although we have become an emerging economic country in South Asia and the world, there should be no doubt that we are far from the establishment of an egalitarian society, the desire of the Great Liberation War.
It is not the first time that we have seen not only the commerce minister in a tendency to mock the helplessness of the people by forgetting those responsibilities without paying attention to all the issues that hinder good governance including money laundering, loan scams, syndicate betting. This kind of trend is being observed frequently. But the government failed to rein in the 'honourable ministers'. From prisons abroad in newly independent countries as the tired Bangabandhu roared back, "I want to give the final blow to these profiteers and smugglers".
Where we do not see this pronunciation in any of you! Why are we failing to catch smugglers even with law enforcement forces equipped with an abundance of modern technology? Just as their reins cannot be pulled, neither can your mouth be reined in by the scotch tape. Then I remembered the words of senior politician Tofail Ahmed, "Bangladesh's problem is all about talking".
