Rio Olympics and insecure mindsets

It would, of course, be naïve and overly idealistic to believe that all countries of the world are our friends and well wishers it is equally naïve to believe that everyone is against you

I was really sad to hear about the death of Abdullah Al Mamun so soon after his daughter’s huge triumph at the Rio Olympics. However, the hullabaloo surrounding the performance of the rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun, who won the Gold at Women's individual all-around, perplexed this writer quite a bit. Her father is a Bangladesh-born Russian and many people in social and the mainstream media are adamant that this fact makes her triumph a triumph for Bangladesh. Many even began to Bengalify her name calling her Rita Mamun. Well to be really blunt about it Bangladesh had absolutely nothing to do with Margarita Mamun's success. And by absolutely nothing, I mean zero, zilch, nada, nothing. 
As a matter of fact had this girl been raised as a female athlete–especially in a sport like hers where the female athletes are required to wear..er..less clothes that most of us are accustomed to seeing–in this country, she would most probably have been constantly harassed by many, received death threats and labelled 'unBangladeshi' for wearing skimpy clothes, called names on facebook for showing off her body, and pressurised by society to get married off by the time she is 20 and become a ‘decent girl’.
A recent study by the AcitonAid Bangladesh found 49.39 per cent of women surveyed do not feel safe during their mobility. The study report also shows that sexual violence in public places has turned out to be one of the primary tribulations for women living in Bangladesh. Another data from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shows, perception about the fear of using public space is alarming.
It is quite obvious that she is the hugely successful female athlete today because she grew up in Russia and not in Bangladesh. And it was her mother who was the main person who inspired her to take up this sport and excel in it.
And it is also very obvious that we are an insecure nation that tries not only to claim the success of another nation as a 'win for two countries', but also tries to conveniently hide how many of us treat our women who aspire to be athletes. This false sense of pride in Margarita's achievement just because she has some genetic connection to Bangladesh is futile.
 The insecurity that I am talking about manifests itself in other arenas of life as well. Many Bangladeshis have become completely humourless, paranoid eager to take offense, and suffering from self-righteousness. Bangla­desh is a largely rural country where links to the village are strong even in the cities. On the one hand, there is the village and the lack of modernity; on the other, daily life, which creates uncertainties. When you have this insecurity and you compound that insecurity with incompetence, with the inability of those responsible to do their job, to protect the lives and the property of the people, when you combine those two things, all you get is a cloud of amorphous nothingness. You don't get any answers. When you don't get answers, you make up answers. And so the paranoia and the conspiracy theories. 
Take cricket as an example. This game in which Bangladesh has achieved relative success in the international arena has become a vehicle for many to express their nationalism and patriotism. That is not too bad a thing in itself. However when you start to believe that other cricket playing nations are trying to do their level best to hinder the progress of Bangladesh then there is a lot to be worried about. Whenever Bangladesh cricket team loses an important match it is never because the team played badly or the other team played better on the day. The general feeling is the umpires, ICC, international media all combined to thwart Bangladesh. We are not talking about closely fought encounters. Even in matches where we lost by a hundred runs the reactions were basically the same. When a Bangladesh bowler is banned for having a suspect action wild conspiracy theories are hatched. 
In terms of international relations most believe that the rest of the world is out to do us harm. It would of course be naïve and overly idealistic to believe that all countries of the world are our friends and well wishers it is equally naïve to believe that everyone is against you–actually it suggests a feeling of persecution complex bordering on the paranoid. The anti-Indian feeling has gripped many like a vice. Definitely there are genuine causes of grievances but blaming every bad thing that happens in this country on the big neighbour will hardly help anybody. 
There is this constant talk about trade imbalance in India’s favour. Of course there is trade imbalance but if one looks closely this trade imbalance is basically on goods which Bangladesh entrepreneurs, traders, buyers and manufacturers import from India. Many of these goods, until relatively recently, were imported from Italy, the US, or Japan. But today Bangladesh is importing them from India. Things like textile machinery, printing presses, CNG vehicles, buses, trucks, foodgrains, construction materials, all these things. So an adverse trade balance in itself is hardly an issue. Bangladesh's adverse trade imbalance with China is almost as huge, and but few seem to complain about it. Incidentally Bangladesh has a large positive trade balance with the US. So the US has a similarly adverse trade balance with Bangladesh. That's part of trade. 
Surely one cannot generalise and say that Bangladeshis are anti-Indians; but one cannot either deny the overt or covert existence of anti-Indian sentiment among many of us. To them it is a pre-requisite to be anti-Indian to be a patriotic Bangladeshis. During the Pakistan period anti-Indianism was carefully uncalculated among us. Many of us have retained that legacy. 
People often cry foul and accuse India of interference or subjugation or imposition of unequal treaties, But why is stopping Bangladesh to play its best bait on the bargaining table or before signing treaties or before reaching an understanding with India? It helps nobody if we play victims afterwards. 
Anti-Indian apparently helps create the impression of a nationalist! And as if being anti-Indian is a requirement to be in politics, there are a number of political parties here who ride on anti-Indian sentiments. 
The problem of hating India actually is not only about hating India but it has a deeper meaning. India help liberate Bangladesh in 1971, and around that time, India was very much liked in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh Islamic fundamentalism is rising. Now in Bangladesh many believe that you have to show that you are dedicated towards the Islamic cause in order for you to get votes and that often means bashing India.
Having said all this I have to say that there are genuine causes of grievances among many Bangladesh caused by actions by different India governments. That does not make one an anti-India or anti Indian. Take the border killings by BSF for instance. This vexes the most India-friendly person among us. No one has been prosecuted for any of these killings, in spite of evidence in many cases that makes it clear the killings were in cold blood against unarmed and defenceless local residents. Shockingly, some Indian officials endorse shooting people who attempt to cross the border illegally, even if they are unarmed. The image of poor Felani stuck on barbed wires is still fresh in the memory. The border has long been crossed routinely by local people (from both sides) for trade and commerce. It is also crossed by relatives and friends separated by a line arbitrarily drawn by the British during partition in 1947. India definitely has the right to impose border controls. But India does not have the right to use lethal force except where strictly necessary to protect life. Yet some Indian officials are quite casual about the killings.
Interestingly the very people who are so hell-bent on India bashing go to India as tourists, send their children to Indian schools and universities, wear Indian apparels, fervently watch Indian movies and television serials. And the very people watch Indian programmes at home never misses an opportunity to decry “invasion of Indian culture” in the form of TV channels with content from India. Even more ironically when the channels of the (allegedly hate) preacher Zakir Naik–a solid Indian product– was banned they turned red with anger. It is relevant to mention the technical point that Peace TV is actually broadcast to the world from Dubai, though most of its video productions happen in Dongri area of South Mumbai. 
So many of us love conspiracy theories, perhaps because they are a convenient way of shirking responsibility for failures and shortcomings, and passing the blame to an indefensible external power identified through prejudices. 

The writer is Assistant Editor of The Independent and can be contacted at: [email protected] 

Rio Olympics and insecure mindsets

It would, of course, be naïve and overly idealistic to believe that all countries of the world are our friends and well wishers it is equally naïve to believe that everyone is against you

I was really sad to hear about the death of Abdullah Al Mamun so soon after his daughters huge triumph at the Rio Olympics. However, the hullabaloo surrounding the performance of the rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun, who won the Gold at Womens individual all-around, perplexed this writer quite a bit. Her father is a Bangladesh-born Russian and many people in social and the mainstream media are adamant that this fact makes her triumph a triumph for Bangladesh. Many even began to Bengalify her name calling her Rita Mamun. Well to be really blunt about it Bangladesh had absolutely nothing to do with Margarita Mamuns success. And by absolutely nothing, I mean zero, zilch, nada, nothing. As a matter of fact had this girl been raised as a female athleteespecially in a sport like hers where the female athletes are required to wear..er..less clothes that most of us are accustomed to seeingin this country, she would most probably have been constantly harassed by many, received death threats and labelled unBangladeshi for wearing skimpy clothes, called names on facebook for showing off her body, and pressurised by society to get married off by the time she is 20 and become a decent girl. A recent study by the AcitonAid Bangladesh found 49.39 per cent of women surveyed do not feel safe during their mobility. The study report also shows that sexual violence in public places has turned out to be one of the primary tribulations for women living in Bangladesh. Another data from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shows, perception about the fear of using public space is alarming. It is quite obvious that she is the hugely successful female athlete today because she grew up in Russia and not in Bangladesh. And it was her mother who was the main person who inspired her to take up this sport and excel in it. And it is also very obvious that we are an insecure nation that tries not only to claim the success of another nation as a win for two countries, but also tries to conveniently hide how many of us treat our women who aspire to be athletes. This false sense of pride in Margaritas achievement just because she has some genetic connection to Bangladesh is futile. The insecurity that I am talking about manifests itself in other arenas of life as well. Many Bangladeshis have become completely humourless, paranoid eager to take offense, and suffering from self-righteousness. Bangladesh is a largely rural country where links to the village are strong even in the cities. On the one hand, there is the village and the lack of modernity; on the other, daily life, which creates uncertainties. When you have this insecurity and you compound that insecurity with incompetence, with the inability of those responsible to do their job, to protect the lives and the property of the people, when you combine those two things, all you get is a cloud of amorphous nothingness. You dont get any answers. When you dont get answers, you make up answers. And so the paranoia and the conspiracy theories. Take cricket as an example. This game in which Bangladesh has achieved relative success in the international arena has become a vehicle for many to express their nationalism and patriotism. That is not too bad a thing in itself. However when you start to believe that other cricket playing nations are trying to do their level best to hinder the progress of Bangladesh then there is a lot to be worried about. Whenever Bangladesh cricket team loses an important match it is never because the team played badly or the other team played better on the day. The general feeling is the umpires, ICC, international media all combined to thwart Bangladesh. We are not talking about closely fought encounters. Even in matches where we lost by a hundred runs the reactions were basically the same. When a Bangladesh bowler is banned for having a suspect action wild conspiracy theories are hatched. In terms of international relations most believe that the rest of the world is out to do us harm. It would of course be nave and overly idealistic to believe that all countries of the world are our friends and well wishers it is equally nave to believe that everyone is against youactually it suggests a feeling of persecution complex bordering on the paranoid. The anti-Indian feeling has gripped many like a vice. Definitely there are genuine causes of grievances but blaming every bad thing that happens in this country on the big neighbour will hardly help anybody. There is this constant talk about trade imbalance in Indias favour. Of course there is trade imbalance but if one looks closely this trade imbalance is basically on goods which Bangladesh entrepreneurs, traders, buyers and manufacturers import from India. Many of these goods, until relatively recently, were imported from Italy, the US, or Japan. But today Bangladesh is importing them from India. Things like textile machinery, printing presses, CNG vehicles, buses, trucks, foodgrains, construction materials, all these things. So an adverse trade balance in itself is hardly an issue. Bangladeshs adverse trade imbalance with China is almost as huge, and but few seem to complain about it. Incidentally Bangladesh has a large positive trade balance with the US. So the US has a similarly adverse trade balance with Bangladesh. Thats part of trade. Surely one cannot generalise and say that Bangladeshis are anti-Indians; but one cannot either deny the overt or covert existence of anti-Indian sentiment among many of us. To them it is a pre-requisite to be anti-Indian to be a patriotic Bangladeshis. During the Pakistan period anti-Indianism was carefully uncalculated among us. Many of us have retained that legacy. People often cry foul and accuse India of interference or subjugation or imposition of unequal treaties, But why is stopping Bangladesh to play its best bait on the bargaining table or before signing treaties or before reaching an understanding with India? It helps nobody if we play victims afterwards. Anti-Indian apparently helps create the impression of a nationalist! And as if being anti-Indian is a requirement to be in politics, there are a number of political parties here who ride on anti-Indian sentiments. The problem of hating India actually is not only about hating India but it has a deeper meaning. India help liberate Bangladesh in 1971, and around that time, India was very much liked in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh Islamic fundamentalism is rising. Now in Bangladesh many believe that you have to show that you are dedicated towards the Islamic cause in order for you to get votes and that often means bashing India. Having said all this I have to say that there are genuine causes of grievances among many Bangladesh caused by actions by different India governments. That does not make one an anti-India or anti Indian. Take the border killings by BSF for instance. This vexes the most India-friendly person among us. No one has been prosecuted for any of these killings, in spite of evidence in many cases that makes it clear the killings were in cold blood against unarmed and defenceless local residents. Shockingly, some Indian officials endorse shooting people who attempt to cross the border illegally, even if they are unarmed. The image of poor Felani stuck on barbed wires is still fresh in the memory. The border has long been crossed routinely by local people (from both sides) for trade and commerce. It is also crossed by relatives and friends separated by a line arbitrarily drawn by the British during partition in 1947. India definitely has the right to impose border controls. But India does not have the right to use lethal force except where strictly necessary to protect life. Yet some Indian officials are quite casual about the killings. Interestingly the very people who are so hell-bent on India bashing go to India as tourists, send their children to Indian schools and universities, wear Indian apparels, fervently watch Indian movies and television serials. And the very people watch Indian programmes at home never misses an opportunity to decry invasion of Indian culture in the form of TV channels with content from India. Even more ironically when the channels of the (allegedly hate) preacher Zakir Naika solid Indian product was banned they turned red with anger. It is relevant to mention the technical point that Peace TV is actually broadcast to the world from Dubai, though most of its video productions happen in Dongri area of South Mumbai. So many of us love conspiracy theories, perhaps because they are a convenient way of shirking responsibility for failures and shortcomings, and passing the blame to an indefensible external power identified through prejudices. The writer is Assistant Editor of The Independent andcan be contacted at: [email protected]