[vinnomot] Analyze this : The bhadrolok foreign affairs adviser of Bangladesh

Analyze this in the context of " Bangladesh bans protests against starvation"
No wonder, Bangladesh is now ruled by the Bhadroloks!

 

The bhadrolok foreign affairs adviser of Bangladesh
Abdul Quader writes from Canberra
 

Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the adviser for foreign affairs, recently visited Australia. He met with his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, and had engagements with politicians and government officials.

On June 13, Dr. Chowdhury delivered a key-note speech on "Evolving challenges for Bangladesh in South Asia," at a public seminar at the Australian National University (ANU). His presentation highlighted the current political and administrative reforms being pursued by the caretaker government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. This writer also attended the seminar at the ANU.

The adviser spoke of the role of the so-called bhadrolok (gentleman) in Bengali renaissance and nationalism during the British rule in India, and tried to establish that the intellectual and cultural pursuits of this bhadrolok class were instrumental in having a modern society based on Western values of democracy, rule of law and egalitarianism.

Talking about sociological history in British India, he suggested that the reawakening of the urban bhadrolok class, who are highly educated, intellectually superior and culturally sophisticated, is influencing the evolving state of affairs in Bangladesh.

However, the adviser did not talk about other aspects of the social life of this bhadrolok class -- their love for anything foreign, including wine, comforts and other luxuries, and the consequent moral degradation of some segments of this class.

He also failed to provide a real perspective of Bangladesh against the political, economic and security developments in South Asia, especially in countries such as India and Pakistan. I consider that his speech did not adequately reflect the challenges that Bangladesh is now facing, and he did not touch on key strategies that need to be adopted and pursued in meeting these challenges. In this regard, the title of his speech, "Evolving challenges for Bangladesh in South Asia," was a misnomer.

 

Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury stated that the former governments were highly corrupt, and mismanaged the political administration to the detriment of the country's politics. He further stated that Bangladesh needed to follow the United Nations and Commonwealth values for moving forward.

 

His assertion implied that the establishment of Western style democracy in Bangladesh in the context of a globalised world would be good for the common people.

I find it difficult to agree with the bhadrolok theory that the foreign affairs adviser invoked in explaining the changing political scenario in Bangladesh. The current caretaker government was established in response to a series of unending and violent conflicts that posed a serious threat to public safety and to the economy.

 

It was not the culmination of concerted and conscious efforts by the intellectually and culturally advanced classes of the civilian society. The caretaker government came to the surface in January this year, as a stop-gap solution for averting further disaster. It was considered as a logical response to the political developments at that point in time.

Does Dr. Ahmed mean that those behind the current caretaker government are the bhadrolok class who are trying to establish a true democracy in the society and root out all sorts of corruption in the country? He bragged at the seminar that he had spent most of his civil service career overseas, implying that he understood all the values and virtues associated with Western society.

 

It seemed that he meant that the UN and the Commonwealth systems represent those values, and are good for any developing country. Does this imply that there is no need for the home-grown values, beliefs and aspirations of the common mass in the country?

At the end of his speech, the adviser confronted a barrage of intriguing questions from the audience. He handled the questions relatively well, and repeated the essence of his speech that the reform initiatives were good for the country against the backdrop of past corruption, inefficiency and maladministration perpetrated by the previous governments.

 

The adviser looked quite embarrassed, and fumbled a bit when a member of the audience commented that he was now lecturing about all the good values and virtues associated with the current efforts of the military backed caretaker government, while he used to defend the former government of Khaleda Zia at the United Nations as the Bangladesh ambassador to that organisation.

 

In my opinion, Dr. Chowdhury presented an "elitist" view of the world as far as the current state of affairs obtaining in Bangladesh are concerned. In a sense, this could be taken to represent an urban, opportunistic, view of the new and emerging rent-seekers in the country. The bhadrolok? Who knows, only time will tell.

Abdul Quader is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/06/21/d706211503130.htm

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