Re: [mukto-mona] Re: The sprit of Bangalee nationalism?

Let me address a few of the points made by Dr. Jiten Roy and Mr. Subimal Chakrabarty.

 

J. Roy: "Nationality and nationalism are two different things. Nationality is citizenship, and nationalism is a cultural identity, which reflects majority cultural (culture). There is no issue of fairness in nationalism."

 

My Comments (S. Bain): I would accept the distinction only if 'nationalism' is dissociated from the business of the state. The state should not be based upon nationalism. A citizen should be identified (e.g., in the passport) by the country (e.g., Bangladesh), not by the nationalism (e.g., Bangalee).

 

And, of course, a country can have many nationalisms, and nationalism can transcend the boundaries of the state. Thus, a Bangladeshi Bangalee can call himself Chittagongian (a smaller cultural sphere than Bangalee), a Bangalee, or an Indian (a bigger cultural sphere than Bangalee). But no nationalism should get preference from the state.

 

Talking about majority culture, the majority should have the freedom to contribute voluntarily to promote their culture (linguistic, religious, whatever); however, there should be no state subsidy, sponsorship or preferential recognition. The state should respect all cultures equally. To expand on Dr. Roy's statement of "There is no issue of fairness in nationalism"; there should be no nationalism in the business of the state, because a civilized state would be fair to all its citizens.

 

S. Chakrabarty: Military dictator Zia's motif behind the controversial introduction of 'Bangladeshi.'

 

My Comments (S. Bain): Zia's motifs were to portray Bangladesh as a Muslim country, and to distinguish the Banlalees of Bangladesh as Muslims, as opposed to the Bangalees of West Bengal as Hindus. His replacement of the otherwise wrong word of "Bangalee" for the nationality of the people of Bangladesh with "Bangladeshi" was not for any kind of fairness for any minority groups, it was for creating a division between the Muslim Bangalees and the non-Muslim Bangalees.

 

However, the rational intellectuals should de-emphasize the messengers. In this particular case, they need to de-emphasize the message as well, because the message does not reflect the good word that was used to convey it. A right word (Bangladeshi) should not be considered wrong just because it was introduced by a wrong person. Similarly a wrong word (Bangalee) should not be etched in stone just because it was introduced by an otherwise good crowd, who certainly did not think wisely at the time.

 

Thanks to Dr. Roy and Mr. Chakrabarty for their comments.

 

Sukhamaya Bain

 

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