‘The Last Battle’ of Sheikh Hasina

‘The Last Battle’ is an amazing film based on second World War directed by Harald Zwart. At the end of World War II, some important people were imprisoned in a castle in the French Alps. The Nazis wanted to execute them. The combined forces of the United States, Europe, and the Soviet Union began a breathtaking war. The aim was to free those people on death row. This battle was crucial before the demise of Hitler and the surrender of the Nazi forces. The main idea of this film is that the enemy side hits hard before the defeat. They forget all ethics and win by any means. This is called 'The Last Battle'. Seeing the present situation in Bangladesh the scene of this movie came to fore again and again.

There is about a year and a half left for the next parliamentary elections. The political situation of the country is becoming increasingly heated before this. The overthrow of the government is being declared. The conspirators have now got into the veins of the administration. Many unpleasant events are taking place one after another. The goal is to embarrass the government and create controversy. Most of the leaders of the Awami League are suffering from 'panic disorder'. The way the Awami League leaders are criticizing the government behind the scenes, it will even put the opposition leaders to shame. Awami League is almost friendless in the field of politics. The believers of the spirit of the liberation war who used to criticize the government in whispers before are now doing it openly. Awami League's electoral alliance 'Mahajot' has been officially declared dead. There was a time when the intellectuals gave a kind of moral support to Awami League. The spirit of liberation war, non-communal Bangladesh, free thinking people used to rely on Awami League to build a society based on equality. But now intellectuals are the harshest critics of Awami League. Who have various interests. They openly flatter the government in the hope of getting various posts. But their secret sigh of despair cause earthquakes. Even in the international arena - Some people are very upset about why Awami League is in power for so long. Social media has completely become an anti-Awami platform. If someone sees these for a few days, he will surely think that the government is almost gone. The government is filled with incompetent people. They can't do anything else properly except looting. There are countless followers of Sheikh Hasina in the Awami League party. They look to Sheikh Hasina for everything. But they do not even follow Sheikh Hasina's instructions properly. Rather, there is a growing sinister tendency to do the opposite of what the Prime Minister says. Everyone just wants Leaders want to be ministers, want to be an MP. Workers want positions. Bureaucrats want power. Want a new job after retirement. Intellectuals want to be vice-chancellors. Want medals. Those who get it becomes satisfied and those who don’t get what they want becomes vocal in criticizing the government. There are only two types of people who are exceptions to this. General public and the grassroots of Awami League. The demand of the general public is very limited and small. They just want peace. They want to live a happy life. Want to educate their children. Want a house to live. Want medical care when they get sick. That’s all they want. In the last 13 years their lives have improved. Their fortunes have changed. The homeless people of the village have now got new houses. The sunlight cast a golden glow on the tips of the gourds in the corner of their room. They dream in that shining glow. One of them is Rahima. She was overjoyed to receive the house as a gift from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This house is heaven for her. Rahima name her daughter Pushpita. Pushpita goes to school. The scholarship money comes in Bkash. Community clinic is near the Ashrayan Project. They can go there whenever they are sick. The Community Clinic belongs to them. People like Rahima, Puspitha dreams very big. Pushpita wants to be a doctor when she grows up. There are thousands of such stories in the villages of Bangladesh. They are not just stories, they are reality. This change of Bangladesh is not in the social media. On mainstream television, newspapers, in the decorated drawing rooms of urban gents, there is only lament about the failure of the government. And the joy of hearing criticism of the government on television talk shows. There is a provocative discussion about who will run to where if the Awami League collapse. But when a man sits in the yard of the new house given by Sheikh Hasina and looks at the moon, he thinks, how wonderful this life is.

Another class of people have no complaints. They are the grassroots workers of Awami League. Especially the senior workers. Or those who does not do Awami League but loves Bangabandhu. Thsoe who believes in the spirit of the liberation war. Those who are proud of Bangladesh. They saw 75. They still shuddered at the brutal horror that had taken place around them. They saw the year 2001. How everything has crumbled before the eyes in the rise of the monster. Those people have no complain. They are fine and living in peace. These grassroots people want only one thing. They want the country to be well. Mallik Da calls me every Saturday from Tangail. He fought the liberation war in 1971 as a teenager. In 75, he faught the protest war under the leadership of Bangbir Quader Siddiqui to avenge the assassination of Bangabandhu. He does not do Awami League. He is in the Bangbir’s party. But his every word is like a philosophy. He called last Saturday evening and said, "Bangladesh will become Afghanistan without Sheikh Hasina. The Taliban will take over the country." He said, "Dada, please don't compare Awami League with BNP." He lives a simple live. Diseases have nested in his body. But still this man speaks so firmly that I get surprised every time. Every time after his phone call I sit quietly and think. Sadeq Mohammad, an old worker of Awami League called from Rajshahi and said, "We only want one thing, that Sheikh Hasina lives. Don't want anything else." There are crores of such people across Bangladesh. They are the majority. They are the real owners of this blood-soaked country. But the walled-off urban opportunists do not see their joys. The image of the changing village does not flash before the eyes. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has calculated the country's population at a little over sixteen and a half million in the latest census. Among them, 10 crore people are like this. Or more than that. Sheikh Hasina is the only leader of these people. Sheikh Hasina is the place of trust for all these people. Sheikh Hasina is a goddess to these people. As the tea garden workers said. Who will own this divided Bangladesh will now be decided. This is the last battle. In this war, on one hand there are the ordinary people and the self-abnegating grassroots workers, led by Sheikh Hasina. On the other hand, there are opportunistic circles. It was a difficult challenge to free the people who were waiting for death from the castles in the Alps. Similarly, the challenge now is to transfer ownership of the state from the urban opportunists to the people like Rahima, Pushpita or Mallik. This battle is a lot like the squid game. Kill or be killed. All the forces of BNP, civils and the opportunists are coming together. Just like Samrat Ashoka planned to secretly kill the innocent people there before the Kalinga war. He took the strategy of spreading fear through looting and arson. At that time, Ashoka's commander said 'It is against the ethics of war.' In response, Samrat Ashoka said 'There is only one principle of war, victory.' Samrat Ashoka earned the title 'Chandal Ashoka' for this anti-human strategy. It is as if the 'Chandal Ashoka' policy has returned to the politics of Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina (not Awami League) must be ousted by any means. Attack the police if necessary. Rejoice in the death of your own workers. Sell the sovereignty of the country and complain to the foreigners. Everything is legal in this war. Attack on common people. Rice market syndicate, clearing the market by buying dollars from the open market, all are built in the same formula. However, the strategy of BNP or opposition political parties is clear. They want to remove Sheikh Hasina at any cost. They want corpse for that. Wants the intervention of Western countries including the United States. Wants the rise of militancy. Wants economic crisis. Familiar enemies are much easier to fight. This is how the autumn festival took place without a hitch. No untoward incident happened like last time. The idol was not vandalized. The houses of the Hindu community were not vandalized. But this time there was the most fear of violence in the puja. Several intelligence agencies also issued warnings about it. But due to vigilance, no untoward incident occurred. But how do you handle it when your enemy harms you by pretending as a friend? For example, two outages in the national grid within a month. Is it just an accident or a conspiracy? After this incident, I saw that BNP leader Iqbal Mahmud Tuku was overjoyed. He said, “There will be more black outs ahead.” Is he an astrologer or does he have premonitions? Tuku is the former State Minister for the Ministry of Power. During the BNP-Jamaat alliance from 2001 to 2006, thousands of crores of pillars were bought under his leadership. Power generation has not increased. But Tarek Zia's friend's pocket has become heavy. Iqbal Mahmud Tuku is praised a lot in his constituency. People in his constituency say, 'Tuku sahib has given jobs to many people'. Most of them are in the power sector. Many people who were appointed during Iqbal Mahmud Tukur's tenure in National Grid are still working in various positions. On September 6, the first disaster occurred in the national grid. At that time, many districts in the south-western part of the country were in darkness for about one and a half hours. At that time, an engineer was telling me that a bigger disaster is coming to the national grid. I don't want to talk about our State Minister for Power. On October 4, when the entire country went dark, an unusual situation lasted for more than 4 hours the State Minister for Power played the role of a Public Relations Officer. He could not find out the reason why the national grid went down twice in one month. Chanakya said, “Greed for money is a terrible disease. Once one gets the taste of it, he gets sold easily.” Bangladesh's export earnings fell by 6.25 percent in September. Talking to the businessmen, it is known that due to gas and electricity crisis, production is severely disrupted. Many factories have closed down. The Prime Minister is repeatedly saying that production should continue. Production should be increased. An order has been issued by the Prime Minister's Office to ensure uninterrupted power and gas supply to industries. Area based holiday routines have also been made for this. But who listens?

Expatriate income also fell in September. Expatriate income was the lowest in the last 7 months. A campaign has been going on for the last few months in various foreign countries, especially in the Middle East countries, to prevent expatriates from sending money through banking channels. In Saudi Arabia, it is being said that there is no money in the bank. If you send money through legitimate channels, your family will not receive the money. Our brothers and sisters living abroad earns money by working very hard. It is very natural for them to be afraid. But where is the counter-diplomacy against it? In the name of professional diplomacy, there is a festival of comfort and luxury abroad. Bangladeshi missions abroad do not treat expatriates well - there is no one to take such complaints seriously.

A few days ago I was talking to a young, talented leader of Awami League. We had lunch together. That leader was saying, “I go to the Awami League office, to the Awami League president's office, talk to the staff, talk to leaders from different areas and they all talk negative. They only talk about the bad aspects of Awami League.” Based on the words of that leader, I asked several leaders of Awami League, what are the ten initiatives of Sheikh Hasina's? Surprisingly, no one could answer. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that the government's achievements in last 13 years should be presented to the people. But how many leaders can talk about all these achievements? Awami League is busy with slander against each other on Facebook.

BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir recently said “Awami League's back is broken.” BNP went to rally at Hazari Bagh. Few of Awami League's zealots were very upset when they got beaten by trying to make trouble in that gathering. Then the bragging of the BNP leader. Where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “The peaceful program of the opposition will not be hindered.” Those who violate (Awami League workers and police administration) this directive of the Prime Minister and attack the opposition without provocation are the conspirators. They are also the enemy side in The Last Battle.

The Prime Minister is repeatedly saying that food production should be increased. Not even an inch of land should remain uncultivated. Sheikh Hasina is now talking about the footsteps of famine all over the world in almost every speech. When the Prime Minister is speaking these words, the rice market is in the grip of the syndicate. It can be heard that a conspiracy is going on to create an artificial shortage of rice. What is our Ministry of Food, Ministry of Agriculture doing? Agriculture Minister is busy with eggs. And the Food Minister sometimes gives a shout. The US ambassador is now speaking in a threatening manner. The civils has also entered the field in harmony with them. The civil society of the country has already accepted the share of power with BNP. BNP leaders are talking about a new constitution and a bicameral parliament to please the foreign-obedient civil society. Everyone has joined together in a new game of taking away the rights of the common people. Why will the poor be better? Why do the homeless get a house? Where did the poor child get the courage to study? Why have community clinics? All this has happened for Sheikh Hasina. Recently in Washington Post, Petula Dvorak wrote in an article based on Sheikh Hasina's interview titled, "This woman is a force". Yes. She is the power of the poor. The power of the grassroots. 

And that is why a large group is angry with Sheikh Hasina. Our mainstream media only talks about them. But Sheikh Hasina's fighters in The Last Battle are the grassroots, marginalized communities. The next election is the last battle for Bangladesh. Battle of state ownership. In this war, Sheikh Hasina will have to fight enemies inside and outside the house. Will the dreams of the common people be captured, will the decorated, tidy urban people win by thwarting the election? Or will the achievements of the last 13 years be fulfilled? Will Bangladesh win or enter the dark tunnel again? The decision will be made in ‘The Last Battle’. On whose side are you?