However people will pick ( IN a desperate way--similar to Americans electing a black looking guy as head of state!) Jamat IF BAL or BNP keeps failing to deliver on their promises made to public. Jamaat in my opinion has some systemic issues/flaws. They introduce themselves as an "Islamic" party willing to bring more "Ideals of Islam" in Bangladesh. However Jamaat's political ideology is stuck in early last century. Where we were colonized and our forefathers were fighting to free us from British rule. So they focus too much in getting close to power base.
I am yet to see Jamat propagating Islam to communities in a large way. They are good at recruiting people ( Like BNP or BAL) and work to get to power. Last time I checked this should not be the top priority of Muslims.
I do not see Jamat helping people when Bangladesh is under flood water or cyclone. I do not see Jamat volunteers are working hard to educate poor kids who cannot afford the cost of study. I do not see any outreach of Jamat to help non-Muslims when they face any problem ( Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used to help people regardless of their religious background). If they are doing any of these, they are doing to in a tiny scale without making any impact on national scale. We Bengalis are not exactly people who can stay mad for too long. So if Jamat understand their flawed ideology during 1971 and teach their kids real Islam, people not only will forgive Jamat but will embrace them. Islam also talks about protecting non-Muslims ( The word dhimmi means 'Protected") and almost all of our "Islamic" parties just ignore their God given responsibilities on this aspect.
There are couple of areas where Jamat can claim some credit as well. Jamat is the only major national party which practice democracy inside their party. In other words unlike BNP or BAL, sons or daughters of Jamat leaders do not become automatic leaders for the party, they elect their officials like a true democratic party. Most Jamat leaders are also known for being honest with public money compare to other parties ( no bribe, extortion etc).
Jamat has to look into some flawed ideologies that drive this party today. While our teacher prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was known to give protection to non-Muslims ( In Medina via medina charter), Jamat is feared among non-Muslims. Not only in Mukto-mona, in real life my non-Muslim friends and neighbors are afraid of Jamat and religious people in general. I think this is a fundamental failure of all major "Islamic" movements in Bangladesh.
During prophet Muhammad (PBUH) many people disliked his message ( One unseen God and no to idol worship) but they were fond of prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a person. The testimony given by Abu Sufian ( Meccan leader who bitterly opposed Muhammad for decades) to King Heraclius about Muhammad (PBUH) clarifies that to us.
So albeit Jamat has some success in politics but their ideology of spreading Islam from the top is flawed and never worked for last 1400 years. In order to be become a true ambassador of Islam Jamat has to be more accessible and engaged in public life and their welfare. Sadly Jamat is acting like other political parties with an "Islamic" leaning only. There are no fundamental difference between Jamat and other parties who only want to go to power by any means necessary.
So the bottom line is Jamat can only have any traction in Bangladeshi politics if more "Secular" parties like BAL fails to deliver of promises to people of Bangladesh.
From: Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 7:25 am
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] THE PARTITION AND TODAY'S PAKISTAN
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Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2011 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] THE PARTITION AND TODAY'S PAKISTAN
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Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 7:40 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] THE PARTITION AND TODAY'S PAKISTAN
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Subject: [mukto-mona] THE PARTITION AND TODAY'S PAKISTAN
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Monday, October 31, 2011
Re: [mukto-mona] THE PARTITION AND TODAY'S PAKISTAN
Just wanted to chime in here. I don't think Jamat will have enough power to impact wholesale politics in a meaningful way. Remember it only got three sits in the parliament when it ran solo in the past.
-----Original Message-----
As I wrote earlier, Bangladesh "overall is certainly much better than Pakistan in terms of secular humanism, which seems to be in a growing mode there now." Please note the qualifiers, "yet" and "flatly" in my statement, "I would not yet flatly call Raja Gopalacharya's prognosis wrong." I definitely hope for Bangladesh to keep improving, and am eager to call Gopalacharya's prognosis wrong when that actually happens.
Certainly, I can come up with a few more points myself that would show that Bangladesh is better than Pakistan. But we also know that in the very recent past, Awami League could not restore the 1972 constitution, especially the secularism part in its full spirit, because the reality on the ground is that the country now has too much of Islamic fanaticism/zeal. Awami League has increased the difference between Bangladesh and Pakistan; however, that trend is likely to get reversed once the BNP-Jamat coalition comes back to power again, which can not be ruled out.
So long for now,
Sukhamaya Bain
From: subimal chakrabarty <subimal@yahoo.com>
Sukhamaya
Just sit down and reflect. You will come up with many more points that make Pakistan much more different from Bangladesh.
From: Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com>
I would not yet flatly call Raja Gopalacharya's prognosis wrong. After all Bangladesh has a constitution that begins with Bismillah and proclaims Islam as the state religion. May be Gopalacharya did not realize that Pakistan would go as much into the ditch as it is today. Bangladesh is better than Pakistan now, but it is nowhere near India in terms of respecting the religious minorities. It has been a semi-Pakistan for most of its life, and could be just one election away from there now.
From: subimal chakrabarty <subimal@yahoo.com>
Raja Gopalacharya's prognosis turned out to be wrong! To him any neighboring country with Muslim majority was a Pakistan. That was a political statement.
From: Kamal Das <kamalctgu@gmail.com>
On Dec. 16, 1971 Raja Gopalacharya reacted to the news of the surrender of the Pakistan Army in Dacca, "Her father created one Pakistan, she created two". Secularism is a pipe dream here, with strong religious institutions supported by government financing it is indeed not possible. Bangladesh today has over ten times more madrasahs than the whole subcontinent had before the partition of the subcontinent. Even the Hindu fundamentalism is on the rise here.
On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 12:01 AM, Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com> wrote:
I am actually no fan of Napoleon Bonaparte; just used his quote to make the point of agreeing with Mr. Subimal Chakrabarty that re-unification of the Indian sub-continent is not totally impossible, while maintaining myself that it would be very much unlikely in the foreseeable future.
As for Nehru's quote, I would say that re-unification of India with today's Pakistan would be a much bigger problem for India than just a carbuncle on the butt; it would be like a huge cancerous tumor. Being born and raised up to 25 years and having a lot of friends and relatives there, I am reluctant to use the phrase "carbuncle on the butt" on Bangladesh. Moreover, I do see some ray of hope for Bangladesh. The country overall is certainly much better than Pakistan in terms of secular humanism, which seems to be in a growing mode there now.
Sukhamaya Bain
From: Kamal Das <kamalctgu@gmail.com>
About reunification Nehru said, "I don't want a carbuncle on my butt." We all know what Napoleon did to himself and France.
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