Kapil's World Cup, Sheikh Hasina's Padma Bridge and the delusion of pundits

Finally, the inauguration date of the dream Padma Bridge was announced. The Prime Minister will officially inaugurate the Padma Bridge on June 25. This Padma Bridge is a symbol of pride and self-respect of Bangladesh and the answer to hundreds of questions. The Padma Bridge is a conviction to dispel many doubts. When Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the construction of the Padma Bridge with country’s own funding there was an outcry among our pundits. Except for Professor Abul Barkat, no one dared to say that Bangladesh could. A learned economist, who spent the whole day searching for holes in the devastation of Bangladesh, gave a long list of what would happen if the Padma Bridge is made by self-funding. In that circular, he said, there would be pressure on foreign exchange. Poverty will increase. Of course, we did not know then that the 2020 Covid pandemic would devastate the whole world. Thank god those scholars did not have corona in their imagination. Otherwise they would have destroyed the country in their prophecy. Many such Pandits on that day termed the construction of Padma Bridge with own funds as a suicidal decision. We foolish people have put our trust in the nectar of scholars. Heated up the tea party with all these madness of the government. Begum Khaleda Zia has also been inspired by the words of intellectuals. In January 2, 2018, inspired by the words of the pundits at a meeting of the Chhatra Dal just a few days before she was convicted in the corruption case, she said, ‘The government is showing dream of the Padma Bridge. But there is going to be no Padma Bridge during the tenure of Awami League. This bridge is being constructed with patchwork. Don’t get on this bridge, its risky.’ There may be a good documentary on who said what about Padma Bridge before the inauguration. There are some people in this society whose words have no accountability. They always talk about fear and panic in the country. However, when their predictions turn out to be untrue, they do not even express regret. Of course, these gentlemen do not pay much attention to the people of Bangladesh. Their masters live far away. Bangladesh is inferior, disgusting to them. They have only talked about despair ever since the rise of this country under the leadership of the Father of the Nation. In 1972, the World Bank said in a statement that, "Even after gaining independence, economically, Bangladesh will always have to rely on foreign aid." The then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger commented on the World Bank report. The then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger commented on the World Bank report. He said, ‘Bangladesh is a bottomless basket. No matter how much help is given here, it will not be of any use ‘.

Robert McNamara, the head of the World Bank in 1972-73, said, "Bangladesh must always rely on foreign aid. It is impossible for any state to survive like this. ' In 1973, the World Bank report stated, ‘It remains to be seen how long Bangladesh will survive and how it will survive. Even in the best case scenario, there is a very difficult development problem for Bangladesh. The people are poor. Per capita income is 50 to 70 dollars. Which has not increased at all in the last 20 years. Overpopulation will gradually push Bangladesh into a crisis of existence. ' On the contrary, the world's leading scholars and economists have repeatedly expressed doubts about the survival of Bangladesh. Douglas, a US economist, remarked, "Bangladesh will be a model of hunger and poverty." Economists have done a lot of research on how long Bangladesh will last at this time. Two of them are US economists Dust Faland and Parkinson. They identified Bangladesh as a 'laboratory of development'. In the joint article, they said, "If development is possible in Bangladesh, then development is possible in any country in the world." That is why Bangladesh has been intimidated since independence till now. In 1996, there was a terrible flood in Bangladesh. This is known as the most prolonged flood. Sheikh Hasina was then the Prime Minister. "At least two million people will die," the World Bank said in a report. There will be hunger-poverty-famine.

When the World Bank says this, the domestic agents also joined them with great excitement. Sparkle of words spread. Leading economists in Bangladesh said, ‘10 million people may die of hunger and famine.’ Then began the warning! It can be done; it cannot be done. Some even spread rumors about bankruptcy. But Sheikh Hasina did not pay attention to any of these. She worked day and night for the betterment of the people. She saved the country and the countrymen from catastrophe. People sang songs of life with new enthusiasm. Farmers gave bumper crop as a gift after overcoming the flood. Even then, intellectuals, pundits and economists have not given a damn about the wrong predictions. Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated around the world in 2020. In March, Bangladesh entered the list of Corona affected countries. The prevalence of corona started to increase in Bangladesh. During this time many problems were created due to incompetent leadership, corruption and inefficiency of the Ministry of Health. A great opportunity for the pundits to party. There will be an epidemic of corona in Bangladesh. Millions of lives will be lost. No place to bury the body. I was horrified by such a horrible prediction. When India was hit with the second wave of coronavirus, the situation got out of control very quickly. Our scholars began to say that the situation in Bangladesh is going to be worse than in India. Sheikh Hasina handled the situation with extraordinary efficiency. Even after that no one thanked her. None of those pundits admitted that 'we have one Sheikh Hasina'.

The delusion of evil fears about Bangladesh is still going on. This time with Sri Lanka. Again our holy people are giving new prophecy that Bangladesh will be Sri Lanka. Every day, it is said that Bangladesh will be Sri Lanka in such a way that even Goebbels might have been ashamed if he had survived. A few days ago, I went to the Speaker of the National Assembly Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury to take her statement on the census. As the Speaker, she is one of the best in the history of the National Assembly of Bangladesh. Humble, wise, intelligent. At the end of the interview, various issues were discussed. At one point someone raised the topic of Sri Lankan. The calm, humble woman was also a little agitated to hear this, she said, in no way is Bangladesh compared to Sri Lanka! There is nothing to compare between the two countries. Comparisons are being forced. The speaker said, ‘Listening to some people, it seems that they want Bangladesh to be Sri Lanka. Why? "People who are getting the most benefits are the biggest critics," she said. After talking for an hour, I came out and kept thinking her words in my mind alone. Her words actually answered many of my questions. It’s the poor working people, peasants, workers, rickshaw pullers who fought in the great liberation war in '71. At that time a large part of the rich were Muslim League, pro-Pakistan. Not everyone, a significant part of the rich did not want Bangladesh. They are still rich. They are still sniffing at Bangladesh. They are the ones who pretend to be civil. They are distressed by the development progress of Bangladesh. To alleviate the pain, they spread the message of despair about Bangladesh. And the World Bank is their institutional guardian.

All the predictions made by the World Bank about Bangladesh so far have been wrong. In 1996, the World Bank suggested an end to agricultural subsidies. But Sheikh Hasina did not follow the advice of the World Bank. So now there is no food crisis in Bangladesh. Begum Zia closed the Adamji jute mill on the advice of the World Bank. This was one of the worst decisions in the history of Bangladesh's economy. The predictions made by the World Bank in '72 about a newly independent country have proven to be wrong. The World Bank said in a report on Bangladesh in 1973-74, "GDP in East Pakistan has been declining for 15 consecutive years since the establishment of the state of Pakistan in 1947. At that time the per capita national income was 310 to 314 rupees. The World Bank had projected that it would take 1,500 years for Bangladesh to double its per capita income. But look at Bangladesh now. Bangladesh is now ahead of India and Pakistan in almost all important indicators. The average life expectancy of the people of Bangladesh is 72.8 years. The average life expectancy in India is 68.3 years. And 66.4 years in Pakistan. And Bangladesh's per capita income is now higher than that of India and Pakistan. Bangladesh is in a good position in the subcontinent in all indicators like poverty reduction, gender equality etc. So shouldn't the World Bank apologize for its comments on Bangladesh in '72? Especially when Bangladesh built the Padma Bridge with its own money after the withdrawal of World Bank funding. When it was proved in the Canadian court that there was no corruption in the Padma Bridge. Aren't the World Bank's scholar economists a little ashamed then?

The World Bank is a project to keep the countries struggling for development in the chains of the United States. Trapped in debt, they give development prescriptions to third world countries. Sheikh Hasina took a bold and prudent decision not to accept the World Bank funding for the Padma Bridge. With the Padma Bridge becoming visible, Western caution in Bangladesh's economy has diminished. Various pressures have been reduced. Bangladesh is making decisions according to its own plan and successfully implementing it. The western world is quite unhappy about this. Their contraction in the economy of Bangladesh has reduced their market in this country. That is why they are now enthusiastic about various issues. They are mourning about the upcoming elections, the media, human rights and so on. And as expected the western-loving gentlemen group have joined in this mourning. They are screaming the name of Sri Lanka at a time when the Padma Bridge is ready for the people. Some are busy intimidating the people. But the Padma Bridge has once again proved that scholars are always wrong and people are always right. If Bangabandhu had listened to the scholars and civil servants, then this country would not have been independent. And if Sheikh Hasina had listened to the scholars and civil servants, Bangladesh would not be where it is today. A Hindi movie is very much remembered from the wrong prediction of our respected pundits. It’s a recently released movie. The name of the movie is ‘83’. Produced by Kabir Khan, the film is about India's unprecedented 1983 Cricket World Cup victory. India performed very badly in the previous Cricket World Cups. They could only manage to win against South Africa. When India went to the United Kingdom to play in the '83 World Cup, they were ridiculed, despised and neglected. The World Cup final was in June 25. However, the Indian team had reserved the return ticket on June 20. Before the start of the tournament, there were only a few journalists at the Indian team's press conference. Famous British sports journalist Kapil Dev asked, what is your goal in this World Cup? Leaving everyone surprised Kapil Dev answered 'Winning the world cup'. Later, in India too, people were surprise and never took it seriously. When India stared winning matches the experts labeled it as coincidence. Renowned British journalist David French wrote in one of his reports, "If India wins the World Cup, he will eat his own paper." To everyone's surprise, India won the '83 World Cup. Very few people in India believed that Kapil Dev's team would win the World Cup and Kapil Dev was the great hero of that victory. Especially in the survival match against Zimbabwe, when the Indian batting order was crumbling like a house of cards, Kapil Dev came on the field unprepared from the bathroom; At that time no one could imagine that Kapil would set a world record. The Indian captain fought alone and won the match for the team. After winning that match, India became confident. In the movie, Srikanth is seen at the reception of the Indian embassy saying, "Our crazy captain will not be happy with anything other than winning the World Cup." I can relate this with Bangladesh. When Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second time in 2009, Bangladesh was in turmoil. Many have labeled it a failed state. Undignified in the world. A country of insignificance. From that position Sheikh Hasina has taken the country to a new height only in 13 years and the Padma Bridge is a symbol of that. But like Kapil Dev, Sheikh Hasina does not seem to be satisfied. She will not be satisfied before transforming Bangladesh into the golden Bengal of Bangabandhu's dream.

However, the memory of an incident of the Indian manager at the very end of films ‘83’ haunted me the most. On the night of the World Cup victory, the Indian manager wrote a letter to sports journalist David Flinch. In the letter, he reminded him to eat the paper he had written. Flinch admitted his false prophecy and ate his writing with wine while sitting at Lord's. Will our pundit’s do the same? Will they take back their words and swallow their writing after it is proved wrong?