The Awami League itself has brought about the destruction of the party by giving birth to several controversial elections from the long term power bill. Policymakers have no idea that such a large party is so deeply fractured. The top leadership could not even imagine that Awami League should be ruined like this. Now what will happen to the Awami League! Can Awami League turn around again? There is a lot of speculation in the market, on the road and on the ground! During the last 15 years of Sheikh Hasina’s rule, there was a festival of corruption from the individual level to the government and semi-government institutions. In the name of service, service providers have cut their pockets and cheated them. All political party leaders from small to big leaders were out of touch. Because of their boundless corruption, pride and arrogance, people were helpless and helpless.
After the assassination of Bangabandhu and his family on August 15, 1975, when no one could even mention the name of Awami League, the same situation has been seen since the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024. As far as I understand from my little knowledge at that time, because of some people close to Awami League, such a great leader like Bangabandhu had to suffer the consequences; We have to wait to know whether Sheikh Hasina was targeted for destruction in the same way. Let’s look back at some of the statements of the top leaders of Awami League. General Secretary of Awami League, former Minister of Roads and Bridges, Obaidul Quader said in a public meeting in Dhaka on 21st June 2024 – ‘Awami League is not a dew drop on a leaf that will fall if tapped. The roots of Awami League are very deep in the soil of this country. Awami League is not capable of moving away if it gets a little push. The recently resigned Prime Minister of the country, Sheikh Hasina, said in a speech on January 11, 2023 – ‘It is not easy to push Bangladesh Awami League. Someone pushed Awami League and Awami League fell, the matter is not so simple. In another rally in Dhaka on the same day, Awami League’s joint general secretary, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Hasan Mahmud said – ‘Awami League is not a party that falls after being pushed, but that. Push it and it falls. Please don’t try to push.’ I hope you as a reader will consider whether these statements have any significance or not.
Interim Government Chief Advisor Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Dr. Since the assumption of power by the advisors of the interim government under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus on August 8, the Awami League leaders and activists have been attacked one after the other. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the newly formed government, a group of miscreants destroyed thousands of offices of Awami League and its affiliates across the country. The list of arrests of ministers, MPs, activists is getting longer. Many houses were attacked, looted and set on fire. Now the leaders of the party are running away. The leaders and activists of Awami League and its affiliated organizations could not observe the day of mourning anywhere else in the country except Gopalganj in memory of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15. None of those who went to pay their respects at Bangabandhu’s house number 32 in Dhanmondi could return with their lives. The students beat them to death. Many had to return from there via Digambara. The people of Bengal have covered their faces with shame after seeing such rude behavior on 60/70 year old people. Angry and saddened. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s photo, mural sculpture, which has a unique contribution to Bengali history, was vandalized in nationwide riots. One and a half thousand sculptures and murals have been destroyed across the country, including the bust of universal poet Rabindranath Tagore, Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, Venus statue of Mymensingh Shasilaj, Supreme Court’s Themis, Durant sculpture of Shishu Academy, relief sculpture. Source: Dainik Ittefaq, August 20, 2024.
It needs to be said that the anti-discrimination student movement was very logical for a logical solution to the extreme discrimination that was occurring in all areas of the country in terms of quota system in jobs and other fields. But the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina did not want to bother with the movement at first. When Sheikh Hasina answered a journalist about the quota on July 14th while giving a press conference, “Will the grandchildren of the freedom fighters not get the quota, then will the grandchildren of Razakar get the quota?” Then on July 15th, Awami took a step further and poured ‘ghee’ on the movement’s fulki When Obaidul Quader, general secretary of the League, said, ‘Chatra League is enough to stop the self-confessed Razakars’. After the heinous attack on the protestors in Dhaka University that night, the anti-discrimination students’ movement turned into massive violence. At the last stage the movement reached such a state that it was impossible to come back from it. The movement turned into a mass uprising. People from all walks of life joined them from parents. Although late, Sheikh Hasina accepted all the main conditions including the quota of students. When the students returned to the one-sided demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister on August 5. After that, she took refuge with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana in the neighboring country of India by helicopter. Since he left the country, the Awami League leaders and activists have been suffering. No one knows what is the way out of this situation. Uncertainty about where the future will lead. The question of many people – can Awami League turn around at all? Awami League will not be wiped out? On August 19, a lawyer on behalf of the human rights organization Sarda Society filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking the ban and deregistration of the Awami League, claiming genocide in the anti-discrimination student movement in July. In the writ petition, Bangladesh Awami League was banned and deregistered for indiscriminate killing of students and asked for instructions to bring back Tk 11 lakh crore smuggled abroad. Besides, numerous cases are being filed across the country accusing the Awami League president and the party’s top leaders of genocide almost every day. In this situation, it can be said in one word, Awami League is now in great trouble and facing difficult challenges. Why is this the result of the Awami League as the oldest party in the country? Awami League faced such a difficult situation in 1975 when Bangabandhu’s family was killed at once.
Bangbir Kader Siddiqui loved Awami League and Bangabandhu more than his life. Even after leaving the Awami League around 1999 due to not getting along with Sheikh Hasina, he still could not erase Bangabandhu from his heart. Therefore, on August 7th, he went to Bangabandhu’s house number 32 and wept silently after seeing the destruction caused by the fire. He said that day, “A revolution has taken place in the country. I congratulate the students. Bangabandhu and Sheikh Hasina are not the same thing. Bangabandhu is the father of the nation, the great hero of freedom; It would have been better if I had died before the way house number 32 was burnt and destroyed today. He honored the Bengali nation. Source: Dhaka Tribune Bangla, 7th August 2024.
Sitting on a chair, you should not only look up, but also look down. The top leadership of Awami League thought that the whole sky was under their control, but they did not think that they could fall from the sky. They were so much engrossed in the masnad of power that they did not pay any attention to anyone’s words.
Today there is no journalist Abdul Ghaffar Chowdhury who can tell the truth. Who will show the way to correct this Awami League? Who will tell the truth? During this crisis, eminent academician Professor Emeritus Dr. I remember Mr. Anisuzzaman very well. To whom Sheikh Hasina used to give fatherly status. He accepted his advice and followed it. He also left this time. Professor Dr. Anupam Sen sir is still alive. Falling under the burden of age, he now has to rely on others to move around. Can’t write like before. The people of Bangladesh respect the treasure of knowledge, he is speechless after seeing the situation in Awami League. I don’t know what advice he will give to Awami League. The good people who are still playing an extraordinary role by highlighting truth and justice-based words – Emeritus Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, poet and journalist Abul Momen, Professor Syed Manjurul Islam, Suzan editor Badiul Alam Mazumder, Professor Anu Muhammad, writer Sultana Kamal are among them. They have kept their writings going by showing the subtle picture of the present day reality.
The historic house at number 32 is now a desolate, charred ruin. Nothing remains of Bangabandhu’s memorial. That day, a journalist friend told me on the phone that I had to leave the house number 32 because of the acrid smell of burning. Eyes burning. Seeing this situation, he feels pain. Bangabandhu’s memorial house (Bangabandhu Smriti Museum) stands with burn marks. Bangabandhu’s memorial burnt smell is floating in the air! As if the heart of a Bengali is burning with burning flames! No one knows when this fire will be extinguished. The house which was thronged with thousands of visitors just a few days ago, is now lightless, silent, lonely.
