Opinion Mob violence is being normalised as New Politics in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has no Aam Aadmi Party to hold a Gandhian fast for peace, or a Rahul Gandhi to embrace the commoner victims. There is a lack of an institution that can embody and enforce a moderate moral conscience
It is a true sign of radicalisation that the champions of New Politics continue to see the Awami League's hand everywhere, despite it being banned, and its leader on death row. Arson is no longer an undercurrent of a new type of Bangladeshi nationalism, which sees itself as genuine subaltern nationalism. It represents the burning down of what the perpetrators term as Old Politics — a set of values that defined the existing republic, seemingly abolished for the painful birth of a New Republic. These values are seen as embodied in the nexus of an external hegemon and an internal comprador ruling class.
A brutal mob lynching of a Hindu factory worker, the attack on two leading national dailies, arson attacks against two prominent cultural institutions, and the burning down of the houses of at least two politicians — these are part of an apparent fallout of the assassination of Sharif Osman Hadi, a “Young Turk” who independently collected a following in post-uprising Bangladesh. Hadi grew popular in the wake of the July uprising and was noted for his independence from established parties and a fearless advocacy of his values.
Hadi was shot a few days ago by assailants on a bike, and eventually succumbed to the injuries. A mob ran loose in Dhaka, the Mujib Museum was ritualistically re-demolished, and other “agents of India” — now basically a codeword for media and cultural organisations who do not toe the mob line — were attacked. It is not yet clear who conspired to assassinate Hadi, although an Awami League network is suspected. Sadly, the voice of the mob is increasingly legitimised as the authentic voice of the subalternised Bangladeshi Nation, tormented by external forces and their agents.
All this, however, should not be seen as a grand conspiracy by the Jamaat-e-Islami, as commentators like Subhir Bhowmick suggest. Nor is it reducible to Awami League’s attempts to throw a spanner in the works.
Hadi, his followers and his avengers had one point to make: We are against Old Politics. True, as they say, the Old Politics of Bangladesh had its vices, primarily corruption and state overreach. The Awami League was seen as the embodiment of these vices. The League has been subdued, but not the anger against Old Politics. This impulse towards immediate and public retributive (in)justice has ossified into a tendency of New Politics.
It is a true sign of radicalisation that the champions of New Politics continue to see the Awami League’s hand everywhere, despite it being banned, and its leader on death row. So, the witchhunts are being extended to the all-pervasive ghost(s) of the Awami League. Even worse, the BNP too is increasingly portrayed as a part of the Old Politics as much as the Awami League.
The shock expressed by the Chief Advisor’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, told the tale. Having failed at preventing the attack on Prothom Alo and The Daily Star, he wrote that he wanted to “dig up a great piece of earth and bury myself in shame.” He had previously dismissed instances of mob violence as “pressure group tactics.” What is more disturbing than the lynchings, arsons, or the shame of July intellectuals is the lack of a significant peace rally. Bangladesh has no Aam Aadmi Party to hold a Gandhian fast for peace, or a Rahul Gandhi to embrace the commoner victims. There is a lack of an institution that can embody and enforce a moderate moral conscience. The interim government, as has been painfully clear for a long time, holds no authority or power to play such a role.
Bangladesh supposedly wants peace and prosperity, but there is no significant force in Bangladesh politics to champion the thing that makes peace and prosperity possible — restraint. The fundamental impulse of the New Politics, as revealed in its every spike, is an unrestrained, celebratory eruption of violence. The tragedy of Bangladesh’s promised new Republic is that its birth seems to be marked less by constitutional hope than by the glow of burning newsrooms and the smoke of burning bodies.
Kuriakose Mathew teaches politics and international relations at the School of Liberal Arts and Management Studies, P P Savani University, Surat. His research focuses on democratic forces in transitional polities. Arjun Ramachandran is a research scholar at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad
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