Kuldip's smear campaign against Bangladesh

Kuldip Nayar admitted in his writing that Sheikh Hasina has been successful in dealing with army and persuade them not to interfere in politics

Once I had a great respect for Kuldip Nayar as a columnist. I thought he was a neutral observer of the rise of Bangladesh and would appreciate its heroic struggle to establish a secular nationhood. But in early 70s he established his link in Dhaka with a weekly English paper which was die-hard anti Awami League and did not play a supporting role in favour of the liberation war. That weekly was known as a pro-Peaking newspaper at that time, but I suspected that it was a cover and its real motive was to support the Pakistani establishment under the cover of ultra-Leftism.
How and why Kuldip Nayar was fascinated by this paper and its writing I do not know. But in that early period of the independence of Bangladesh he continually attacked Mujib government quoting profusely from the writings of that Dhaka weekly. My respect for his writing turned to be a suspicion about his motive. In those days in my humble capacity I refuted his many accusations in my own columns.
After the death of the editor of that Dhaka weekly, Kuldip Nayar entered into diplomatic service of India. Bangladesh escaped his venomous writing for some time. After leaving diplomatic job when he entered into journalism again he found a new ally in Dhaka, this time one Bangla and one English Daily newspaper- Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. Now it is an open secret that these two papers jointly started an anti-Awami League chorus which was nothing but the continuation of the anti-Awami League hysterics of the previous weekly one (Holiday).
If one compares what nowadays Kuldip Nayar writes about Bangladesh in Indian papers, with these Dhaka papers they will find amazing similarities. The latest example of his writing was recently published in an Indian English Daily and its Bangla translation was published in the Dainik Statesman of Kolkata on 12th February, Friday.
    In this article he accused the people of Bangladesh for losing their revolutionary spirit which they had shown during the Liberation war. He alleged that nothing was left of that spirit. His second accusation was that Sheikh Hasina has become a despot. That she has reached an understanding with the very army that killed her father and overthrew his government. He alleged that Sheikh Hasina has succeeded to convince the army that if they kept away from politics and played the role of professional army then they would enjoy more authority and earn more respect from the people. Army is convinced by her persuasion and has become a professional force which is now acknowledged as a power.
Before I talk about his other allegations let us look at his main comments on Bangladesh and Hasina. After achieving independence 45 years ago the people of Bangladesh had to pass through many turmoil and changes. Following the example of Pakistan the mosque and the military in Bangladesh combined and overthrew a democratic government. The country went through blood bath again. Like India, Bangladesh could not sustain a stable democracy. Because of the constant national and international conspiracies and the rise of fundamentalism under the patronization of western imperialism aided by Pakistan, the people of Bangladesh are passing through confusion and conflicts.
Naturally like other nations the unity, and spirit which they showed during the time of the liberation war is not that visible now. The same is true about India. The spirit that Indian people showed during their struggle for independence under the secular leadership of Gandhi and Nehru is no more visible among them. It is a great shock to me how the vast majority of Indian people after enjoying unhindered secular democracy for 70 years could vote for an extremist communal party like BJP and put them into central power. In contrast the people of Bangladesh are still fighting for democracy and never voted for an extreme fundamental party like Jamaat. The spirit of the Independence war which is not extinguished totally in their minds has kept them vigilant against all conspiracies against democracy and kept Hasina government in power against all odds.
Like a one-eyed deer, Kuldip Nayar sees a partial and distorted view of Bangladesh that fails to take into account the Bengali people's inner-strength. The vast majority of Indian people in reality has lost their non-communal spirit of the independence movement. They voted for Hindutva but Bangladesh people did not vote for Wahabist or Jihadist parties. After 45 years their spirit of the Liberation war might be diminished, not extinguished. Otherwise, the daughter of assassinated leader, Sheikh Mujib could not remain in power against all-out effort by her enemy camps where Kuldip Nayar has also been an ally for a long time.
Now comes the question of the alliance with army made by Hasina government. Armed forces is now a political force in almost all developing countries. Even they are a powerful part of the establishment in countries like America and Britain. During the presidency of Eisenhower, the-then President of America, he acknowledged publicly that his country was run by an invisible government. In the old Soviet Union Red-army had an important role in Communist administration. It was Red-Army under Martial Zhukov, the-then army head who tried to remove Khrush­chev from power. First they failed and then they were successful.
Pakistan is now ruled by a so-called democratic government. But the real power lies in the hand of the Army. Bangladesh has not been an exception for the past few years. Getting encouragement from western powers and help and assistance from Pakistan, Bangladesh Army also took over state power and held it for a long time. They are in a powerful position in the country's trade and business also. No democratic government can ignore this reality and cannot change the situation overnight. The success of Sheikh Hasina in the whole of South-east Asia is that she did not surrender to the army like the political leaders like Thailand and Pakistan.
Kuldip Nayar admitted in his writing that Sheikh Hasina has been successful in dealing with army and persuade them not to interfere in politics. This is Hasina's success that army has become professional. They even took strong position to fight against extreme fundamentalism in Bangladesh. Like Pakistani Army they did not collaborate with Taliban or Al-Qaeda. Kuldip Nayar said in his article that he asked some Bangladeshi pundits which way the country is heading. They replied that they did not know.
My humble question to Nayar is, could tell me which way his own country India is heading today under the rapidly growing influence of RSS and Shivsena? What is the implication of the student unrest in Jawaharlal University and Jadavpur University? He is not happy with the growing friendship between Bangladesh and India. He quoted the BNP leader who accused Sheikh Hasina of using India's friendship to strengthen her despotic rule. Nayar forgot that this BNP, a few days ago conspired to influence Modi government to help them to overthrow Hasina government. When they failed they accused Hasina government of being subservient to India.
Could Kuldip Nayar explain why he is so abusive towards Bangladesh-India friendship? Does he want that in place of democratic India the extreme fundamentalist Pakistani military junta should impose their hegemony over Bangladesh and start a proxy war from the soil of Bangladesh to disturb India on its eastern border again? When Sheikh Hasina with extraordinary courage took bold steps to build up Bangladesh-India friendship and cooperation on the basis of equality and democracy, Kuldip Nayar started finding faults along with the anti-democratic forces in and out of Bangladesh.
It is most unfortunate that a veteran journalist of India like Kuldip Nayar has become an echo of the propaganda of vested interests of both the countries and could not understand the real situation in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina has not become a despot but the national and international conspiracies have compelled her to take a strong stand which the Bangladesh democracy needs at the present time to foil the conspiracies against it like the past. Hasina wants to see that democracy in Bangladesh is not defeated this time but wins a lasting victory.
(Concluded)

London, Friday 11 March, 2016

 

Kuldips smear campaign against Bangladesh

Kuldip Nayar admitted in his writing that Sheikh Hasina has been successful in dealing with army and persuade them not to interfere in politics

Once I had a great respect for Kuldip Nayar as a columnist. I thought he was a neutral observer of the rise of Bangladesh and would appreciate its heroic struggle to establish a secular nationhood. But in early 70s he established his link in Dhaka with a weekly English paper which was die-hard anti Awami League and did not play a supporting role in favour of the liberation war. That weekly was known as a pro-Peaking newspaper at that time, but I suspected that it was a cover and its real motive was to support the Pakistani establishment under the cover of ultra-Leftism. How and why Kuldip Nayar was fascinated by this paper and its writing I do not know. But in that early period of the independence of Bangladesh he continually attacked Mujib government quoting profusely from the writings of that Dhaka weekly. My respect for his writing turned to be a suspicion about his motive. In those days in my humble capacity I refuted his many accusations in my own columns. After the death of the editor of that Dhaka weekly, Kuldip Nayar entered into diplomatic service of India. Bangladesh escaped his venomous writing for some time. After leaving diplomatic job when he entered into journalism again he found a new ally in Dhaka, this time one Bangla and one English Daily newspaper- Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. Now it is an open secret that these two papers jointly started an anti-Awami League chorus which was nothing but the continuation of the anti-Awami League hysterics of the previous weekly one (Holiday). If one compares what nowadays Kuldip Nayar writes about Bangladesh in Indian papers, with these Dhaka papers they will find amazing similarities. The latest example of his writing was recently published in an Indian English Daily and its Bangla translation was published in the Dainik Statesman of Kolkata on 12th February, Friday. In this article he accused the people of Bangladesh for losing their revolutionary spirit which they had shown during the Liberation war. He alleged that nothing was left of that spirit. His second accusation was that Sheikh Hasina has become a despot. That she has reached an understanding with the very army that killed her father and overthrew his government. He alleged that Sheikh Hasina has succeeded to convince the army that if they kept away from politics and played the role of professional army then they would enjoy more authority and earn more respect from the people. Army is convinced by her persuasion and has become a professional force which is now acknowledged as a power. Before I talk about his other allegations let us look at his main comments on Bangladesh and Hasina. After achieving independence 45 years ago the people of Bangladesh had to pass through many turmoil and changes. Following the example of Pakistan the mosque and the military in Bangladesh combined and overthrew a democratic government. The country went through blood bath again. Like India, Bangladesh could not sustain a stable democracy. Because of the constant national and international conspiracies and the rise of fundamentalism under the patronization of western imperialism aided by Pakistan, the people of Bangladesh are passing through confusion and conflicts. Naturally like other nations the unity, and spirit which they showed during the time of the liberation war is not that visible now. The same is true about India. The spirit that Indian people showed during their struggle for independence under the secular leadership of Gandhi and Nehru is no more visible among them. It is a great shock to me how the vast majority of Indian people after enjoying unhindered secular democracy for 70 years could vote for an extremist communal party like BJP and put them into central power. In contrast the people of Bangladesh are still fighting for democracy and never voted for an extreme fundamental party like Jamaat. The spirit of the Independence war which is not extinguished totally in their minds has kept them vigilant against all conspiracies against democracy and kept Hasina government in power against all odds. Like a one-eyed deer, Kuldip Nayar sees a partial and distorted view of Bangladesh that fails to take into account the Bengali peoples inner-strength. The vast majority of Indian people in reality has lost their non-communal spirit of the independence movement. They voted for Hindutva but Bangladesh people did not vote for Wahabist or Jihadist parties. After 45 years their spirit of the Liberation war might be diminished, not extinguished. Otherwise, the daughter of assassinated leader, Sheikh Mujib could not remain in power against all-out effort by her enemy camps where Kuldip Nayar has also been an ally for a long time. Now comes the question of the alliance with army made by Hasina government. Armed forces is now a political force in almost all developing countries. Even they are a powerful part of the establishment in countries like America and Britain. During the presidency of Eisenhower, the-then President of America, he acknowledged publicly that his country was run by an invisible government. In the old Soviet Union Red-army had an important role in Communist administration. It was Red-Army under Martial Zhukov, the-then army head who tried to remove Khrushchev from power. First they failed and then they were successful. Pakistan is now ruled by a so-called democratic government. But the real power lies in the hand of the Army. Bangladesh has not been an exception for the past few years. Getting encouragement from western powers and help and assistance from Pakistan, Bangladesh Army also took over state power and held it for a long time. They are in a powerful position in the countrys trade and business also. No democratic government can ignore this reality and cannot change the situation overnight. The success of Sheikh Hasina in the whole of South-east Asia is that she did not surrender to the army like the political leaders like Thailand and Pakistan. Kuldip Nayar admitted in his writing that Sheikh Hasina has been successful in dealing with army and persuade them not to interfere in politics. This is Hasinas success that army has become professional. They even took strong position to fight against extreme fundamentalism in Bangladesh. Like Pakistani Army they did not collaborate with Taliban or Al-Qaeda. Kuldip Nayar said in his article that he asked some Bangladeshi pundits which way the country is heading. They replied that they did not know. My humble question to Nayar is, could tell me which way his own country India is heading today under the rapidly growing influence of RSS and Shivsena? What is the implication of the student unrest in Jawaharlal University and Jadavpur University? He is not happy with the growing friendship between Bangladesh and India. He quoted the BNP leader who accused Sheikh Hasina of using Indias friendship to strengthen her despotic rule. Nayar forgot that this BNP, a few days ago conspired to influence Modi government to help them to overthrow Hasina government. When they failed they accused Hasina government of being subservient to India. Could Kuldip Nayar explain why he is so abusive towards Bangladesh-India friendship? Does he want that in place of democratic India the extreme fundamentalist Pakistani military junta should impose their hegemony over Bangladesh and start a proxy war from the soil of Bangladesh to disturb India on its eastern border again? When Sheikh Hasina with extraordinary courage took bold steps to build up Bangladesh-India friendship and cooperation on the basis of equality and democracy, Kuldip Nayar started finding faults along with the anti-democratic forces in and out of Bangladesh. It is most unfortunate that a veteran journalist of India like Kuldip Nayar has become an echo of the propaganda of vested interests of both the countries and could not understand the real situation in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina has not become a despot but the national and international conspiracies have compelled her to take a strong stand which the Bangladesh democracy needs at the present time to foil the conspiracies against it like the past. Hasina wants to see that democracy in Bangladesh is not defeated this time but wins a lasting victory. (Concluded) London, Friday 11 March, 2016