With Due Respect to Professor Bilayet Hossain's Comments on My "Metamorphosis"
Taj Hashmi
Although Professor Bilayet Hossain was not my direct teacher, since he was a professor of Physics while I was an arts student at
I think Prof Hossain has done a good job by pointing out how a metamorphic process has taken place during the years, turning me into a bitter critic of Mujib and his party from an ardent admirer of those up to January 1972. Without going into the details and responding to all his assertions, I would like to tell him that I was NOT the only Bangladeshi who metamorphosed into a bitter critic of Mujib and his policies from an admirer. Thousands of die-hard Awami supporters, including favourites and beneficiaries of Mujib, also turned into his critics and adversaries. My turning into a Mujib critic is not as significant as his beneficiaries doing so.
I did NOT take any benefit out of his government and party (which I could have due to my connections, including close relationship with H.S. Suhrawardy and his family). I would humbly ask Prof Hossain if he has given any thought as to why so many ardent followers of Mujib became his bitter critics during his life time. I am sure, Prof Hossain remembers it quite well that Abdur Rab of JSD in a public meeting in
I agree with Prof Hossain that Mujib had to climb a difficult mountain of problems and problems in independent
Mujib did not stop his cronies from acquiring "abandoned" properties right and left in
Mujib's becoming the Prime Minister in 1972 was not a sacrifice in a Parliamentary System of Government. In fact, I was told by a confidante of Tajuddin Ahmed that Mujib told Tajuddin while coming to the Race Course Maidan from
Mujib's allowing freedom of the press up to june 1975, was NOT an act of mercy and there is nothing to glorify about it. A father's act of looking after his children is normal, his deviant behaviour is abnormal.
Mujib took the whole credit for the famous Six Point Programme, which was drafted NOT by Mujib but by a group of Bangladeshi intellectuals like Rehman Sobhan, Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury, Ahmed Fazlur Rahman, Banker Khairul Kabir and others. The late Khairul Kabir told me in 1997, about a few days before his death in
Any criticism of Mujib does not mean glorification of Zia, Ershad or other dictators.
Finally, as I heard from some Hindu gentlemen from
Since the expectations were too high and mujib failed to fulfill those even partially after independence and condoned the crimes of his cronies and relatives, Mujib cannot be above criticism.
I don't agree with Prof Hossain about 7th November 1975. I saw millions of people celebrating the victory of Zia. I don't care what Col Hamid has to say about it.One may verify my assertion by watching the video clippings of 7th November, which i believe the BNP government will telecast on 7th November, if in the meantime the Government is not toppled! Who knows?
TAJ HASHMI, Ph.D. F.R.A.S.PROFESSORArea of Expertise - Islam, Identify Politics and Culture |  |
| Dr. Taj Hashmi is a professor of security studies at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. He worked as professor of Islamic and Asian history, politics and culture, at various universities, including the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Canada; Dhaka University and Independent University in Bangladesh; National University of Singapore, and Curtin University in Australia. He was born in India, raised and educated in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Australia. He has extensive living and hands-on working experience in the Asia-Pacific and North America regions. He is fluent in several Asian and "Islamic" languages. Dr. Hashmi acquired his doctorate in modern South Asian history at the University of Western Australia (1986). His master's (First Class) in modern history of the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia was acquired at Dhaka University. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Islamic history and culture from the same university. His teaching and research interests include: Political Islam, Islamic Resurgence and Militancy, Ethnicity, Regionalism and Security in the Asia-Pacific; Civil-Military Relations, Religion, Identity, Democracy and Civil Society in South Asia; Culture, Governance and Underdevelopment in the Asia-Pacific; Popular Nationalism, Insurgency and Civil War in Post-Colonial South Asia. Dr. Hashmi's major publications include four books: Women and Islam in Bangladesh (2000) [a best seller in Asian Studies], Pakistan as a Peasant Utopia (1992) and a co-edited volume, Islam, Muslims and the Modern State (1994). He was a South Asian Visiting Fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University (1994-95), and a Visiting Fellow at the National Centre for South Asian Studies, Melbourne (1994). He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (F.R.A.S.) of Great Britain and Ireland (since 1997) and on the editorial board of the Contemporary South Asia (since 1996). | |
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