Only he hears what nobody else does
Rejected by people three times now the aged BNP leaders are suffering from acute depression and dreaming that again the famine of 1974 will occur
Abdul Gaffar choudhury
It seems that our beloved Barrister Moudud Ahmed has become a prophet from a politician. He can see and hear things that ordinary people cannot see or hear. Recently he said he is hearing the footsteps of 1974 in the country. In this year during Mujibs regime a devastating famine struck Bangladesh and more than one lakh people died. It was a manmade famine, created for political motive. But Mujib government was blamed for it because they were in power and that famine was used to overthrow them and the conspirators killed the father of the nation also. Now Moudud Ahmed, a prominent BNP leader has started to hear the footsteps of that vicious year, 1974 again. Perhaps he is also dreaming of the recurrence of the tragedy of 75, which was the culmination of 1974s conspiracy.
Why Barrister Moudud Ahmed has started day dreaming now? It is because the price of daily essentials including onion has suddenly skyrocketed in Bangladesh. The government is trying their best to meet this crisis. In West Bengal also onion crisis is acute. Mamata government is being criticised for this but no one is saying that her government will topple because of this. The price hike is prevalent worldwide now. I am living in London, where we are also witnessing a sudden rise in the prices of the daily essentials. Even the house rent and public transport fares have increased. Mainly it is the instability in the so-called free Market economy that everywhere value of money is rapidly falling and inflation is soaring. It was a great success of Hasina government that the economic stability of the country was not disrupted by the last great worldwide economic depression due to the Middle-east war and oil crisis. It is expected that this time also this government will tackle the price rise of essentials and stabilize the market. Moududs prophecy will prove to be a day dream of an old aged leader.
Now I am coming to the issue of the political conspiracy and propaganda around 1974s famine. In 1941 (1350 Bangla year), a devastating famine occurred in the undivided Bengal under British rule. 50 lakhs people died without food and 10 lakhs people died from cholera and diarrhoeal diseases in its aftermath. The-then advisor of the British Viceroy, Jwala Prasad Srivastava, wrote in his book that this famine was manmade. The Bengal government made this famine by Churchills order, the war time Prime Minister of Britain. He feared that Japan will occupy Bangladesh and they will seize all foodstuff and would become more powerful to fight against the British government. So he ordered that all food paddy and rice should be hidden in godowns so that nobody could reach it. Naturally famine occurred and the death toll rose to its highest limit. When Franklin Roosevelt, the-then President of USA in a meeting with Churchill asked him, Hitler killed 2 million Jews in cool head, how could you kill 5 million Indians in cool head by hiding food from them? Churchill replied, It was necessary to save the British Empire.
In 1974 a manmade famine killed more than one lakh people in Bangladesh. This time it was the conspiracy of America, not Britain. To overthrow the Mujib regime, food was used as weapon. This was admitted by Foreign Journal in America just two years later, and Moudud also recognized it in one of his books. Anticipating that there will be a food shortage in 1974, the government made a food deal with America in 1973 under which sufficient foodstuff would come in Bangladesh by the last part of the same year. That year production of crops was heavily damaged by a severe flood and even helicopters could not drop foods in the affected area. America started dillydallying in sending wheat and rice under contract and their ships carrying food for Bangladesh was cruising in the Indian Ocean. Despite the request of Bangladesh government these ships did not reach the Chittagong port in time.
With this American conspiracy, the mosque and military of Bangladesh joined hands. Jamaat worked remaining in underground and a section of military officers under the leadership of Ziaur Rahman worked secretly. When they felt that people were hungry and angry against Mujib government, a coup took place in which the majority family members of the Father of the Nation were murdered. And just after 3 months they killed four of the National leaders of the independence war in jail. A counter revolution took place and those who were against the independence of Bangladesh and betrayed it came to power with the direct help of Pakistan intelligence.
Barrister Moudud in his political life first supported the independence war but then very quickly changed his colour and joined these killers. When he was law minister of Khaleda Zia government, he tried his best to help the killers of Sheikh Mujib by delaying their trial and keeping them in luxury in jail. He himself went to jail again and again in Zia and Ershad regime and became their ministers and even a vice president. It is now the verdict of history that the defeated forces of the 71 though captured power in Bangladesh are thrown into the dustbin for good. Awami League came to power and it is the third term they are governing the country. The two teams known as A and B team of cantonment under democratic disguise, meaning BNP and Jatiya Party, though still alive have no power or mass support to overthrow this government. Their subversive and killing politics by spreading violence throughout the country has failed. They borrowed an old horse like Don Quixote and got what they deserved in the last election.
Rejected by people three times now the aged BNP leaders are suffering from acute depression and dreaming that again the famine of 1974 will occur and they will get a chance to go to power taking the opportunity of peoples anger and hunger. But they do not know that history does repeat sometime, though not everywhere. Bangladesh is not in 1975 now, and the democratic government of Hasina are alert and not weak. They have defeated conspiracy after conspiracy of BNP and Jamaat. This conspiracy was aided by some so-called Civil society and a powerful media under the disguise of neutrality.
They have also failed and to the peoples eye they are trying to prove themselves as hermits. People do not hear or see any sign of the 1974s famine, but Barrister Moudud after losing his grand white house in Dhaka and losing all hopes to go to power again is now having delusion of a new famine. He requires consolation from us and realising his present situation I do not condemn him.
London, Thursday
21 November, 2019
