Less than a few weeks ago, the country was in ferment! In the face of a nationwide uprising, one order had to fall to make way for a fresh start.
Instead of getting into the complex layers of politics, let's concentrate more on the sociological impact of what has happened. Today, Bangladesh is looking forward with renewed vigour - the aspiration is to reconstruct a country by purging a wide variety of ailments from brazen sycophancy to mindless favouritism to mind boggling corruption.
This country needs a reboot! Let'ssay amen to that!
Whether you agree or not, the way ahead cannot follow any patterns of the previous five decades. No wonder, it's being called the 2nd independence!
Students are the architects
As the country is still going through countless changes, a plethora of explanations as to what had happened and what may lay ahead keep emerging.
Well, no surprise there as Bengalis in generalhave politics in their veins. Even before a new government was sworn in, theories about possible super power interests on our coral island fired up conversations, with people from all spheres giving his/her own interpretation as to how Bangladesh would find herself in the global geo-political tug of war.
To be frank, who doesn't like mouth-watering conspiracy theories!
Sometimes, people tend to over complicate things and derive a certain perverted pleasure in ending a discussion with an air of doom.
Fortunately, this writer does not belong in that class and would like to look forward with optimism!
While there is a lot ofmurmurings going around about clandestine foreign intervention, without any tangible evidence, we better stick to what we see - a nation rose in unison and hence, Bangladesh is on a new journey.
This has been a revolution of the young and the defence forces stood by the masses!
A moral awakening
In 1990, it was the student led public uprising,which toppled Ershad.Not surprisingly, many of the hallmarks of that movement were also seen in 2024, although this time, we are witnessing what one can easily term a moral uprising. Led by the youth, the nation isshedding layers of putrid narratives.
As far as memory serves, Bangladesh has had countless socio political upheavals, but, strikingly, the July movement is perhaps the first one with a distinctly ethical overtone. Or, maybe, one should say, a movement fuelled by untainted youth ideals.
The moral angle to this has become even more pronounced after the change of government, with the Dhaka University walls becoming a canvas to illustrate the ideology that spurred the anti discriminatory student movement.
A pernicious doctrine of sycophancy, opportunism and self aggrandisement had crept into so many layers of society with such ferocity that simple moral values were becoming a rarity.
Such was the rant and rave of that toxic culture that concerned elderly citizens often deemed the young as a tech obsessed morally bankrupt generation.
At this point, the only line that comes to mind: we were wrong, we were very much mistaken!
From the start of the student movement, what struck millions of ordinary Bangladeshis were theunequivocal presentation of logic and ethics based demands.
Those have now morphed into a greater youth based doctrine, underpinned by righteousness, integrity and ideals.
The students simply did not go back home once their demand was fulfilled, but came out in droves to restore order.
If we look back in history, post revolution periods are always marked by a frenzy of disorder, lasting for months. In France, it was known as the reign of terror.
Even in recent times, several uprisings floundered because the masses did not know how to bring back order or to follow up their aspirations.
In that sense, Bangladesh is almost back to normal ways, for which, we need to thank the young. They controlled traffic, maintained law and order, brought out vigilante groups, mobilised the local mosques to warn people about possible robberies and, consequently, the country is back on track.
Where do we go from here?
Apprehension about what the future lies is a valid concern, although a sense of alarm/panic would be an over-reaction.
Accept it,There will always be scaremongers whose job is to find faults in everything.
Let's be rational in assessing the situation: Bangladesh had been on one path for more than a decade and getting used to a new brand of ideals will take some time. To clarify the matter, let's use the first 15 years of the country as an example. From 1971, the 15th year of Bangladesh is 1986 and in that period, the nation saw countless upheavals, famine, assassinations, change of three governments, a nationwide student movement, transition from black and white to colour TV, a social revolution encompassing fashion, outlook and lifestyle.
If we go back to 2009, we find a completely different social creed! The political outlook was dominated by party based doctrines.
In 2024, as we stand now, social thought draws inspiration from a youth perspective.
A visiting foreign journalist of a globally respected daily was airing misgivings about the inclusion of the young in the running of the nation, saying that relying too much on the young may have long term repercussions.
Well, as a keen observer of the evolution of Bangladesh and having seen the role the young played in the 80s to bring down the Ershad regime, I beg to differ.
Of course, back in 1990, the youth believed that the fall of a despot would lead to a transparent democratic society with the political parties resorting to responsible ethics based politics.
Sadly, soon after a few credible elections, the country went awry, creating a space for sycophancy driven graft laden, personality cult obsessed politics to take hold.
That is exactly why, this time, we need to listen to the youth and give it a shot with their ideas.
Granted, some may appear a little Utopian or, to many cynics, unrealistic, but, no harm in trying to put them into action.
For once, the walls of the Dhaka University campus are carrying aesthetically pleasing images with slogans of morality, hard work, perseverance, student power and secularism, instead of brazen political dogma.
And, in bold letters, we find a total denunciation of political boot licking! No elaboration needed to prove as to where cronyism, nepotism and favouritism took us.
There is the first change for us. In my opinion, the most significant realisation of the last one month is that we still have a large youth population with a clearly delineated concept of right and wrong.
Lost in a maze of mercenary instincts, we, and that includes all of us, forgot what it means to be morally right.
The young gave us a jolt and brought us back to our senses!
Thank you for salvaging our lost values and, thank you for allowing us to savour the romanticism of revolution!
To end with Charles Dickens: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of reason, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity!
The writer is a social observer
