One of the ways to protect our geographical, state and collective trust, self-governance, authority and above all our independence is to achieve political pragmatism and visionary leadership to resolve all material issues including our own interests, needs, opportunities, possibilities, geopolitics, economy in a mutually equal and dignified manner in foreign policy issues. The most important thing is balanced objectivity or balanced realism in domestic and foreign policy issues. The brightest example since Bangladesh became independent is the one who wanted to protect the independence of Bangladesh and himself declared independence, was a sector commander, himself was the head of Z Force and despite his hundreds of limitations, he was able to take Bangladesh to a place of honor, a place of dignity. This forced India to come to a place of equality. Regarding the Farakka Agreement, he was able to ensure the guarantee clause and arbitration clause on the issue of fair distribution of Ganga water.
The guarantee clause is how much water India will give to Bangladesh at what time of the year. And the arbitration clause is if you mess up, we can go to the UN, the international court or our friendly neighbors. Another strategy he adopted. That is through SAARC. The real idea of SAARC is Ziaur Rahman’s, although this organization was implemented during Ershad’s time. Why did Ziaur Rahman come up with it? He thought as a statesman. He understood that it is difficult for small Bangladesh to face the shark-like India. So what should be done? Bangladesh should be taken with other brothers, neighbors and friends at the global level, so that by going beyond mere bilateralism and coming under the umbrella of multilateralism, on the one hand, India can be effectively confronted and on the other hand, regional power can be increased and developed through mutual cooperation. In this way, other countries in South Asia, which later expanded to Afghanistan, are possible. The idea of working with everyone on the basis of multilateralism was a kind of shortsightedness. For example, India does not let us go to Bhutan or Nepal; it blocks us. We have hundreds of trucks coming from here carrying all the goods of India. But the first day they were coming from Nepal, India stopped them after 17 minutes. They will not let them go.
None of our goods go to the Indian market, very little; but all goods come from India. As a result, there has been a strong imbalance in trade, i.e. unequal trade. Secondly, it is illegal under all international laws to block the natural flow of rivers flowing upstream from the international transborder rivers in Bangladesh. However, without paying any attention to anything, India is unilaterally withdrawing water through reservoirs and power generation through barrages, dams, groynes, etc., and blocking the natural flow and speed of the rivers within its territory, and has blocked the natural flow and speed of the rivers. As a result, irrigation, cultivation, agricultural production, fisheries, and tree cover in more than 20 districts of Bangladesh are in serious danger, and the livelihood of several crores of people is in grave danger. This is leading to the destruction of forests and livestock along with rain and temperature in our country. Due to this, our life and nature, as well as the entire ecological balance, is in grave danger. The water level has dropped from 120 to 150 feet below. As a result, arsenic contamination has caused severe health problems and permanent destructive effects on the human body. Due to the high harmful effects on fish and agricultural crops, the food chain of our people is facing a great threat. But Hindu supremacist India is ignoring it, not taking it into account to keep Bangladesh under pressure and under control. Their annual repeated evil tactics of killing without giving water and drowning in water, including barbed wire fences on the vast border, are comparable only to the hated Jewish terrorist Israel. They are performing barbaric Digambar dances in a frenzy to kill Muslims in South Asia. They are destroying the entire river system of Bangladesh including Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Surma by blocking the water of the international transborder rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra, Teesta and Barak. India continues to commit the above evil deeds for the despicable and vile purpose of drowning us in floods twice a year and drying us out twice a year in drought.
Hindutva Hindustan is behaving rudely towards Bangladesh every day. The real picture of the pitiful state of the Teesta basin is visible in the vast areas of North Bengal including Nilphamari, Kurigram, Rangpur. To overcome the weak position that India had taken Bangladesh through totalitarian exploitation immediately after independence, Bhasani, Farakka Committee and some public intellectuals with the support of the people made their own efforts, initiatives, writings, seminars, protests, meetings, processions and long marches, by the grace of God. Another person tried. His name is Ziaur Rahman. He made a Ganga water sharing agreement with India’s Morarji Desai, including guarantee clauses and arbitration clauses, which was completely limited to the wishes of Hindu supremacist grandfathers during Hasina’s first rule and the long period of the second fascist rule. What he did during Ziaur Rahman’s rule, the more liberal he was in seeking multi-party democracy, the more he was rebuffed. He arranged for Sheikh Hasina to be brought back from India. Earlier, according to the PPR or Political Party Rules of 1976, the Awami League, which was abolished by Mujib, and the Baksal, which was banned by Mushtaq, were brought out of the dustbin with bonds and rehabilitated. In fact, on January 25, 1975, just 13 minutes later, the dictator and fascist Mujib, with a stroke of the pen, abolished the Awami League by the voice vote of the party slaves and established a one-party Baksal in Hitlerian style. After the group was overthrown on August 15, 1975, on the same date, Khandaker Mushtaq abolished Baksal and imposed martial law. In other words, the Awami League and Baksal were abolished by themselves. And they were rehabilitated with bonds by Ziaur Rahman through the PPR of 1976. Sheikh Mujib’s cabinet member Khandaker Mushtaq took the oath against his fallen dictatorial government on the evening of August 15, while Mujib’s body was lying on the stairs of number 32. Congratulating the military officers and the sons of the sun, the heroes of the uprising to build a new Bangladesh, the Awami leaders took the oath as ministers in a public ceremony at Bangabhaban. No one from other parties was there. Only Mujib’s henchmen in hand-made black coats, who changed their minds in an instant.
The Awami-Bakshals behaved corruptly and occupied, killing hundreds of thousands of people in famine. Unprecedented looting, hoarding, private sugarcane collection, increasing the wealth of party slaves, smuggling to Hindustan through smuggling, and extremely low standards and shameful failure of control and management in all areas of the party, government, administration, structure, rules and regulations and effectiveness, etc., led to the famine in 1974 and hundreds of thousands of people died. Despite having food, it did not reach many places. The looting of Awami powerful people and party slaves had made the prices of goods skyrocket. When I was studying for my honors final at Dhaka University, I saw for myself how corpse after corpse was lying naked on the streets of Dhaka; skeletal bodies, flies buzzing. In such a situation, the Mujib government killed more than 30,000 opposition political activists, rapes were going on daily. Many newlyweds and elderly women were not spared. We see this repeated during Hasina’s first authoritarian period and the subsequent long and protracted worst fascism. During Hasina’s time, the golden boy of Chhatra League, the brother-in-law of the then proctor, Jasim Uddin, the general secretary of the university Chhatra League, celebrated the century of rape at Birdarpa during a banquet at Jahangirnagar University. After several rounds of genocide, the last genocide was committed by Hasina during the mass uprising of the students and the monsoon revolution in 2024.
So it turns out that both father and daughter have done two things in the same way. On the one hand, they have established a fascist regime in the country, which has come in its most barbaric form, starting with the father. This is the real history of the era of our independence and also the nexus between the context of our politics and the granddassification of the Hindu supremacist grandfathers across the border.
We miscalculate what has been done to sustain this fascism. We do not see the 2008 election, which the fascist Hasina’s beloved and declared uncle, Pranab Mukherjee, himself made clear in his book ‘Coalition Years’; he said that arrangements were made to win Hasina. Arrangements were made to remove Khaleda Zia. Arrangements were made to cover up his crimes and give a safe exit to Moin U Ahmed. In exchange for all this, Sheikh Hasina was brought to power. This is how the delimitation of 133 constituencies was done in such a way; in which BNP could have won, BNP was defeated and Hasina and Awami League were in government. This is how the tyranny and banditry of Dadagiri came to Bangladesh. The historical project of Hindustani Hindutva hegemony thus fell to the ground of reality in the heart of Bangladesh. ’24 was a rebellion against this. But almost two years have passed since the July monsoon revolution, how much of the expectations of the masses, the expectations of state reform by changing the old fascist system, have been realized? In reality, there are only populist rhetoric. The youth, the Gen-G, have fallen into confusion and become divided. Who will be the vanguard? So, while chanting the names of ’71, the constitution and structure prescribed by Delhi in ’72 remained. The establishment, status quo, oligarchs, lumpen leadership, bureaucracy, police-RAB-intelligence-army all remained as before; the scoundrels were no longer covered with propaganda. The path of reconstruction through deconstruction could not be advanced. The outlook, culture, behavior, rules and regulations, work, office-courts, corruption, lewdness, the strictures of the Bakhras and the rights of the occupants remained intact.
The elected government must take visible steps as soon as possible. People want to see the current elected government moving forward on the path of implementing the people’s referendum with the spirit of July. We have had the opportunity to bring about a new settlement by successfully carrying out the mass uprising to get rid of fascism. After this first 1971, we have become newly independent, have gained our second independence—by getting rid of fascism and driving away the imaginary hegemony of the Hindustani monarchy. This golden opportunity should not be missed in any way. Time is running out quickly. This time the mass uprising and revolution took place beyond the will of the feudal political elite. It took place independently by the students and the masses—for the first time, not with the help of India, not with the help of China, or not with the help of America. Only the people of Bangladesh, relying on Allah, with the help of Allah, and with the immense grace of Allah, have been able to overthrow fascism through their united efforts.
Therefore, there can be no space for the re-establishment of fascism in Bangladesh. The mistake that Ziaur Rahman made by allowing Sheikh Hasina to return to the country from the Indian Sanctuary while trying to establish a multi-party democracy cannot be repeated in any way.
