At the end of World War I and before the outbreak of World War II, Rabindranath, seeing the plight of humanity around the world, asked in his poem 'Prasna', "Those who have poisoned the wind, but the light / Have you forgiven them, are you better?" His eyes were full of tears that day, he said. That happened in 1931. Almost a hundred years have passed since then but the misery of mankind has not abated at all. 1939 brought another world war, caused by the capitalist-imperialist competition for possession; then there was not exactly a Third world war, but the exploitation of capitalism-imperialism took the form of numerous local and regional wars. Today they are not only endangering the air and light, but also spoiling the water, scorching the earth in miserable form. The summer in 2023 was reported to be the hottest in two thousand years; And the fear is that this year's warmth will break that record as well.

Rabindranath's ‘Prasna’ was to God. In this era, globalization has increased, people no longer approach God with questions, they ask people. In this case, man has now taken the place of God. People have a lot of power; especially since they can vote, vote their preferred government into power. But do people have the ability to choose? America is the 'ideal' land for democracy; there is an election coming up; the people will once again have the power to elect the president of their choice. But who will they sit? Either Biden or Trump. What is the difference between the two? He is nineteen twenty.

If you look at their position on the Palestinian question, it can be understood that it is not nineteen twenty, but nineteen thirty and twenty. Trump says America won't exist unless he's elected; that is, the racist America that Columbus's European allies once established in the lands they had conquered would not exist. Trump's voice is, vote for me if you want to preserve white supremacy. Biden doesn't exactly say it that way, but there's no doubt that he wants to keep white supremacy intact. And India, which is said to be the largest democracy in the world, the current prime minister has been re-elected there too, on the shoulders of two different parties, but not by playing the drum of development, which he used to play the previous time. He didn't do it this time because he couldn't bring about the development, the easier and more effective way he thinks is that if he doesn't come, the Muslims will become powerful, will take over all the country's wealth, the ghost propagates this fear.

Bourgeois electoral systems have pretty much become useless all over the world. In the national election in Bangladesh, I saw that the ruling party, Awami League, competed against the people of its own party. Local elections are also contested among party members. We know that they will take many times what the winners spend in elections; An Awami League leader from Thakurgaon rightly said about what happened in many cases in the local elections: "People do not trust the vote, the trust has gone." Two-three votes are counted throughout the day, in the afternoon it is made from 300 to 3000 thousand” [Ajker Patrika, May 17]. Between 300 and 3000 thousand there is only one zero gap; The matter also stands like an empty Aquarius. Zero Aquarius sounds louder, because there is less stuff inside.

The real truth, however, is revealed in the headline of a daily: "Where there is one Awami League and BNP". The points of commonality mentioned in the news are that in the upazila elections (a) the field level leaders of the two parties are not following the party decision, (b) no one from the government party has been punished for disobeying the instructions; and (c) BNP is on the path of expulsion but the expelled leaders are giving counter-responsibility”. The main unity, however, is not in this news; that is initiation into capitalist development. In this case, both parties are fellow travelers; they support the development that increases inequality, increases isolation, pushes down patriotism. There is no difference between Awami League and BNP in that policy of development, as happened in Srinagar area of Munshiganj, where the leaders of the two parties occupied public land and built a shop together.

Liberals talk about reforms, but it is very clear that reforms will not work. Playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote a play called Wild Duck in 1884, i.e. 140 years ago today. In the play he showed how capitalism works at that time. The drama shows that the Ekdal family is a victim of the capitalist fraud system. The old man used to do business with his friend Worl. Worl is pure capitalist. He went into the illegal business of wood-cutting; the work was caught. There is a case. Worl had a lot of money; He was acquitted by the force of money, but Ekdal was sentenced to ten years in prison. Ekdals became completely destitute. Not only that, but the rich Worl man was very much a consumerist; He sexually assaulted his housekeeper Jeena. When Jeena became pregnant, he quickly married her off to Ekdal's son Helmer. Jeena gives birth to a daughter. He would have found out that Jeena's husband, Helmer Ekdal, was not the biological father of the daughter. But Helmer did not find out. He was living in a dream world.

He was spending his days with Jeena and the daughter. Occupation was photographer. The dream was to invent a photography machine, which would bring a lot of money to their family, honor and happiness for the family. But Helmer's childhood friend Worl's only child is Gregors father's feat. He caught it. This son hates his father very much; he loves his friend Helmer deeply. He is idealistic and reformist. He wanted to rescue Helmer from the web of falsehood, tell the truth and establish the married life of his friend on complete understanding. So one day he called his friend Helmer and told him the 'truth' about Jeena's child. As a result, Helmer's painstakingly-arranged family broke up, Helmer's condition was half insane; He drove away his much-loved daughter in disgust, declaring his wife unfaithful and decided to leave home.

The 14-year-old daughter did not understand what had happened, why it was happening, but felt that her father no longer loved her, could not bear it. The girl's suspicion is that maybe she is not her parents' child, her mother picked her up. In a sudden realization, the helpless girl committed suicide. All the reformation efforts of the father's genuine friend fell on helpless daughter, which she did not have the capacity to bear. The idealistic son breaks the heart of the family, which the prodigal father has put on the path with the help of money, the idealistic son.

There are various interpretations of this famous play; But its statement is very clear that what Gregors, the idealistic son of a spoiled father, brings about in reforming his friend's family is nothing short of a terrible disaster. If the capitalist system is to be reformed, the result is not better than this. Gregors could have done his friend Helmer a favor without resorting to reform, provided he could afford to help financially. Scientist Darwin, after discovering the scientific truth about changes in the natural world, warned mankind to let nature be as it is, not to interfere; Capitalists did not heed that advice, they abused nature in many ways, resulting in the present predicament. 

At the beginning of the anti-quota student movement, the government ignored it. The Awami League government usually does not pay attention to demands or any movement at any stage in the beginning. They have faced various movements during their four consecutive terms in power, but they did not pay attention to any movement in the beginning. After trying to thwart the movement in various ways, they stopped all the movements by using force. The student movement on quota also fell into this continuity at one point.

At first, the movement was suppressed by the Chhatra League, but the results were reversed. Chhatra League was beaten, forced to leave the campus. It became a spark when the police quelled the movement. Instead of being afraid of the police baton-gun, the chest allowed it with indomitable courage. The police fired, but did not move despite the threat of more fire. The police fired again. Rangpur Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed sacrificed his life in this way. The sacrifice of his life did not break the spirit of the protesting students. In addition, the fear of death in one death is gone for everyone else. Gun-stick-bayonet-tear gas has become insignificant. The government has moved towards using more force to control the situation. BGB was called in, later the army.

Various educational institutions have been closed by official orders. Students were kicked out of the campus by trickery and force. But still the movement did not stop. Rather, the campus movement has spread across the country. Common people also united with the demands of the students. Many have taken to the streets. Various forces including Police-RAB-BGB have faced the collective resistance of the students.

This is not the first time Awami League has fallen in front of this tremendous form of student power. In 2018, after two movements, it retreated. The anti-quota movement forced the government to cancel the quota system. Students also won another movement in the same year demanding road safety. It is worth noting that this time the quota movement was started by those who developed the road safety movement by their hands. They were secondary school students then. This time they are at the university.

The government did not agree with the movement and the demand to cancel the quota this time. Rather, the 2018 circular issued by the government was quashed by the High Court, and due to the quashing of the circular, the quota system came back. Although the government abolished the quota six years ago in the face of agitation, the government remained in favor of the abolition of the quota despite a different judgment of the High Court. The appeal against the judgment of the High Court is proof of that. Then the students did not care at first when they started the movement. As a result, the matter remained pending until the appeal. There was no special initiative of the state side to bring forward the hearing. However, as the agitation continued to grow, the Appellate Division stayed the High Court's judgment, and set aside a month's wait for a full hearing. Then when the situation got out of hand, the initiative was taken to bring forward the appeal and the actual final judgment at the last Full Court hearing. The Appellate Division in the final verdict ruled by keeping 7 percent quota.

The government's role before the final verdict was controversial. As the Prime Minister's speech brought up the issue of giving priority to the grandchildren of the brave freedom fighters, the agitators thought that the quota was back. Where there is no list of Razakar in the country, it is natural to doubt the intentions of the journalists who raised the question about Razakar's granddaughter. The most discussed issue among the quota agitators was the 30 percent freedom fighter quota. In this opportunity, many people did not miss the opportunity to insult the brave freedom fighters of 1971. Many questioned the purpose of their participation in the liberation war. Freedom fighters get many benefits from the state, why their children and grandchildren will get special benefits in terms of employment, raised the question.

As the leading party of the liberation war, the Awami League and the government saw the issue as a battle of egos, so there was a faint voice to bring back the quota. Although the issue was not official, the Prime Minister's statement and the statements of various ministers raised doubts. As a result, the students became angry with the indication of the return of quota.

The Awami League government took this student movement lightly, and thought that it could be thwarted by the BCL and the police. Obaidul Quader's various speeches showed this ambition of theirs. He said that the Chhatra League will look into the issue of the agitators, which has spread anger among the agitators. He then told the party leaders to deal with the matter politically and ordered them to form a ward-by-ward resistance. He commented that BNP-Jamaat has entered the students' movement. Ignoring the student-power, his statements and instructions added fuel to the fire.

Ignoring student power comes largely from the recent history of countering anti-government movements. Ahead of the 12th National Assembly elections, the government ignored all anti-government political forces, including the BNP-Jamaat, despite their exclusion. Before that election, many foreign powers, including the United States and the European Union, took a stand against the government, but in the end elected the government and formed the government again. As the government takes this path of confronting the opposing political forces, egoism has arisen in them, a mentality of not caring about any power has developed. This mindset has been adopted by seeing the student movement in the same way.

The government thought by Executive orders students can also be suppressed by threatening the police by closing the educational institutions and vacating the campus. But due to the closure of educational institutions, the movement spread from the campus to the entire country. Students of private universities also declared solidarity with the movement of public universities. Along with all university students, school-college students also came down on the streets. The student movement took the form of a student uprising.

Although the control of the movement was not ultimately in the hands of the students, if it had been resolved in time, there would have been no loss of lives and loss of public and private resources, and the country would not have suffered in many ways, including economically. The uncontrolled, unstable and abnormal situation going on in the country could not have happened if the right decision was taken at the time.

The allegation that the Awami League in power does not care about anyone has been proven once again during this student movement. He failed to give the proper guidance that was needed from the party's general secretary Obaidul Quader. Awami League as a party and the state have to pay the price. An ordinary student is now pointing fingers at the opposing political forces in such a dangerous form of agitation. They may be involved in sabotage, but can the responsibility of the Awami League government be denied for bringing this movement to that stage? As the Awami League leadership is now focusing on the politics of responsibility-impression, on the one hand, the organizational crisis is being hidden; on the other hand, the issue of the government's failure to control the situation is also being hidden.

No matter how angry the students are, at least they won't engage in sabotage. Not to set fire to KPI areas, not to damage metro rails, not to attack television buildings, not to engage in night clashes, not to attack prisons and loot arsenals and rob prisoners; There will be someone else. The government could not prevent them; neither politically nor administratively. Although they deny responsibility for this failure, it is not a matter of denial. Now the information about damage to state assets is coming forward, the government is showing interest here. Evidence of damage to ambassadors and diplomats of various countries is being shown. Does it hide the huge loss of life? But just as the responsibility of the government is to safeguard the state assets, it is also the responsibility to ensure the safety of the lives and property of its citizens.

The student-power should not have been ignored as this movement proved to have lost control of the government at one stage. However, there is a fear that the government will sit down to think about it again - we did not lose in the end! The noise started to rise. A police officer emphasized this. Now when others start to say, the context of winning and losing in the game of power will be determined and established!

During the last few days of darkness, we have faced many inquiries from people of different classes and professions, who are not related to politics. These people, trembling and confused by the situation, have thrown numerous questions to the politicians of the country. The meaning of what the people who have not gone to seven or five have understood without understanding much is that the ruling party wants to hold on to power and the opposition wants to sit on the throne of power.

Analyzing the various actions and statements taken by the government after the start of devastation along the lines of the quota reform movement, what can be said is that saving the country from devastation was the most important thing and the government did just that. It will not be difficult to identify a few things from what is seen when analyzing the events and the photos and videos available to the media of this unprecedented destruction that has been going on for several days.

Government policy makers and law enforcement officials have repeatedly claimed that the destruction was carried out by trained terrorists of the Jamaat-Shibir and BNP and its affiliates. They also claimed that BNP Acting Chairman Tariq Rahman, who had 'fled abroad', was the mastermind behind this anarchy. The main goal behind this attempt was to oust the government. Before the start of violence, everyone considered the presence of students on the road as a quota reform movement. How the initially peaceful movement became a tool of unprecedented violence is not widely understood. Some are also claiming that the banner of the students' movement has been 'hijacked' and that many of us have been involved without realizing it. Not all of the large numbers of people who took to the streets wreaked havoc, as law enforcement claims and analysis of the videos will make clear.

The question here is 'a number of 'terrorists went on a rampage for days, and the law and order forces suffered casualties'; Even then, it took several days to stop the flow of destruction! At this time, the role of the country's remaining people was how? Social and political analysts speculate that perhaps a section of the general public sympathized or tacitly supported these 'few'. And yet another section of the common people was divided, assessing their overall situation in no position to support, reject, or resist either side; because they did not know the real truth.

If we turn our attention to the political sphere, there too we see an extreme state of dichotomy. Bangladesh Awami League, which has been in power for a decade and a half, has historically provided leadership in the country's independence and liberation war. Almost all parties active in politics today were established after independence. Even though the democratic framework is constitutionally recognized, there is no trace of democracy anywhere in the inside or outside the political parties, this complaint is voiced everywhere.

The ruling party, Bangladesh Awami League, claims that it manages its politics and governance by adopting the spirit and philosophy of the great liberation war. The quota reform movement initially clashed with the ruling party and its student organizations mainly over the freedom fighter quota in government jobs. In view of the situation, it appears that the dichotomy of the present society has widened on the issue of Great Liberation War. Undoubtedly, the slightest contempt or insult towards the freedom struggle of a country and its noble spirit is an unforgivable crime. But if the generation of the country does not get the opportunity to know the true history, how do you blame the new generation? Politicians have to answer the public question why we could not achieve universal common position on the question of the Great Liberation War even after half a century of independence.

Not only the Awami League, but almost all the other political parties foam at the mouth when the issue of the liberation war comes up, but they show little attention in upholding the ideals of the liberation war. It is important to say this because if we look back at the past national elections, we can easily remember how many so-called leaders of various parties flocked to the capital just to get nominations. Then to the media, each of them pledged to devote themselves fully to the service of the country and the people. The question is here, the unprecedented rampage across the country including the capital went on, the huge resources of the people-state were burnt to ashes, looted - where were they then?

In this unprecedented period, the top leaders of the two main parties Awami League and BNP have come to press conferences almost every day. It was full of leaders. The general secretary or secretary general of the party is giving a speech and everyone nods their heads, some shout out loud 'Right ..Right'. In very common sense, those faces of politics seem nothing but hypocrites because at this time of crisis in the country, they are supposed to take their supporters, loyalists and general public to their respective areas to prevent violence. It is not supposed to be a competition to show off your appearance at a press conference. After the discovery of democratic politics beyond the colonial or feudal period, we have seen the dedication of politicians in this country. How they used to exhaust everything and stand by the people!

At present, there are 350 parliamentarians in the country, including reserved women parliamentarians. There are a large number of public representatives including City Mayor, Zilla Parishad Chairman, Upazila Chairman, Municipal Mayor, Union Parishad Chairman. If they had real responsibility towards the people, these public representatives would have tried to protect the state and people's lives. People involved public representatives maintain peace and order without incitement we might not have seen this devastation if we were on the ground alongside law enforcement. Sadly, we have seen none of this in reality. Does it mean that our politicians' 'politics' is not dedicated to the interests of the people? But we see the political opponents of the same party to suppress their efforts in the field! If they had applied even a little of this devotion to the welfare of the people and the peace of the society, such a transitional period would not have appeared in the country.

If we look at the news of regional politics published in the newspapers in recent years, we will see - how much conflict within the ruling party! Grassroot loyalists complain that the party's leaders, who have been in power for a long time, have come to think of themselves as so powerful in their respective positions that they have little contact with the workers. As a result, the Awami League grassroot's duty to stand by the people during the crisis is being ignored in most cases despite the instructions of the high command, according to newspaper reports. As a result, although the Awami League was organizationally active during the time of being in the opposition party, their organizational condition, if not fragile, cannot be said to be very well organized. This context needs to be mentioned because the organizational weakness of the ruling party also plays a role in the rise of anti-national interest-seeking cliques.

In some parts of the country, including the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram, I have seen saboteurs facing resistance from the leaders, workers and supporters of the ruling party. The question is, apart from Awami League, the remaining 43 political parties registered in the country, what did they do these days? They blame each other by holding a press conference or sending a press release to the media. Some may not even have done so, remaining silent spectators. In spite of the disunity of these 'politicians', how do they come to ask for the people's mandate in every national election?

Experts in society, politics and government, however, agree that people's ignorance and misogyny have paved the way for hypocritical politics. Today the path to developing mindfulness and values is narrowed by insufficient investment in education and culture. The intellectual and moral education of the people has been blocked by this indulgence. Even if the infrastructural development is progressed, the politicians may have forgotten to think about the fact that people's values in the society have fallen to the bottom! Otherwise, how is the allocation for culture in the national budget of about Tk. 7 lakh crore Tk. 778 crore becomes Tk. 86 lakh?

With this indulgence, superstition and mischief spread terribly in the marginal towns of the country. Perhaps because there is no effort to alleviate this crisis of understanding among the common people, the opportunity to sarcasm the history of the great liberation war, the father of the nation and the self-glorification of the 30 lakh martyrs of the liberation war was created in Bangladesh during the liberation war. Analysts believe that rampant corruption is largely responsible for deviant politicians forgetting public service and acquiring wealth. Are the politicians of this time burdened with countless questions from the conscious people, will they make any effort at all to solve this problem? 

Dhaka University teacher, distinguished economist and political analyst Dr. Mahbub Ullah said that the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) directive to close all the Universities in the country due to the unstable situation arising out of the student movement demanding quota reform is contempt for the autonomy of the universities.

He feels that it is very important to show the sincerity of the government and related parties to the agitating students to resolve the ongoing crisis and not to harbor any kind of revenge mentality.

This educationist criticized the civil society of the country along with those concerned with the government as the quota reform movement turned into a mass explosion. He said, our civil society is not only divided, but most of them are not able to fulfill their historical responsibilities due to the desire to get the favor of the state.

In an exclusive interview given to Barta24.com on Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Mahbub Ullah talked to  Planning Editor Ashraful Islam.

Barta24.com: Due to the conflicting outcome of the quota reform movement, all educational institutions in the country have been ordered to close due to the unstable situation. The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) directive to close down Universities as autonomous institutions has been criticized. How do you see this...

Dr. Mahbub Ullah: Public Universities are autonomous institutions. And the Syndicate is the highest administrative decision making body of the University. What we have noticed in the past is that when any such crisis arises, the Vice-Chancellor calls a meeting of the Syndicate. After discussion there, they decided whether to close the University indefinitely or for a fixed period. Now it can be said that what happened through UGC does not seem to be in accordance with the general rules or conventions. In this case, the autonomy of the University has been disregarded. It was not desirable at all. The government knows very well that the council formed with the Vice-Chancellor of the Universities has a lot of authority behind it. Be it public or private University. Even the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and VCs of private Universities requires prior approval of the government. They do not happen without the consent of the government. The government could have done this by directing that Universities should be closed in such situations. Then surely the Vice-Chancellor would not have disagreed. Since the Vice-Chancellors are all of the same line..not going that way..Seems that there was a kind of rush. The work must be done quickly. No doubt it is not quite in accordance with all the conventions and precedents of the past.

Barta24.com: 6 people were killed and many injured in clashes across the country on Tuesday around the quota movement. This bloodshed in the student movement could not be avoided?

Dr. Mahbub Ullah: The stand taken by the students on the issue of quota...since 2018, they have never said that quota should be completely withdrawn or abolished. They said they want quota reforms. They want a reform that will play a substantial role in merit assessment. Almost many in the government circles also accept its accuracy. In this situation, what the government could have done from the beginning, since it is correct, is to reassure the students by saying, 'We can understand the validity of your demands. However, many experiments are needed to solve the problem. On that basis, I will give a solution acceptable to all which will be acceptable to you.

There is a justification for those who should get quota, keeping quotas and excluding the rest. Many people say that the number of freedom fighters in the entire population? Then what is their ratio, and do it accordingly. Students said the quota could be a maximum of 5 percent. Some in the political party BNP said it could be ten to fifteen percent. However, it could have been done through a discussion in an atmosphere of compromise in an atmosphere of sympathy. What followed was a matter of inflexibility. A sad thing happened. Many lives were lost, many were injured. However, it should also be remembered that the events of the past few days are not just due to the indifference of the government regarding the quota. On the contrary, it can be said that it is not possible to make any manifestation of the protests that have been accumulating for a long time due to various reasons; there has been an explosion for that. It is sadder than that; the way the students were beaten up is not desirable in any civilized country in a free democratic country. Even then there were outsiders, many who are not students, used. I was once a University student, later a teacher, in our experience, suppression of student movements by outsiders has never happened. This is very reprehensible, sad--unacceptable. Even so, I will say that everyone should be happy so that we can come to a fair solution. And an atmosphere of democracy and tolerance can be restored in the country where everyone, including students, workers and farmers, will fulfill their duties as citizens to their heart's content.

Barta24.com: How do you think the overall situation can be changed in the existing situation...

Dr. Mahbub Ullah: Transition is difficult. When an issue comes to the country, many other issues get involved. That is for our childhood. Problems happen because we cannot handle them properly. Now Universities, schools-colleges-all educational institutions have been closed. We don't know when it will open. By when will the government understand or realize that the environment is open from this point of view, it can be said that the educational life of the students will suffer a lot. Session congestion may occur. Also, public university teachers have their own movement going on. I don't see much light in the way of solving that movement. I don't know how to solve it. That being said, the biggest thing needed to address this is sincerity and not harboring any kind of revenge mentality. To wash away all the ink from the mind with an open mind and take initiative to solve it with sincerity. It's hard to imagine that would be easy, though because the scar or wound that is formed after bleeding cannot be easily wiped off. Wounds on the human body may heal with treatment but scars remain. That is the concern.

Barta24.com: How do you see the role of civil society outside the government in mitigating the crisis?

Dr. Mahbub Ullah: Civil society plays a major role in creating a healthy and tolerant environment in the country. Unfortunately, the civil society of Bangladesh is divided. Not only divided, most of them are unable to fulfill their historical responsibilities because of the desire to gain favor with the state. But during the Pakistan period, even after the creation of Bangladesh, we noticed that the civil society here; Especially educationists-University teachers, lawyers, various professionals, artists-poets and writers have played a big role. Today those who are supposed to be the conscience of the nation are almost silent. Not only are they silent, but they are tolerant of wrongdoing. It is very sad, painful and this situation should change. I hope that in the future many such conscientious people will be created.