Bangabandhu
Like millions of Bangladeshis the world over, I have missed him immensely since that day - August 15, 1975.
But since the December 2008 election when Bangabandhu's very dear Awami League came to power under the leadership of his elder daughter, I have started missing him more than ever for what his disciples are saying & doing. Babbling is what they are doing the best so far. The High Commissioner of our friendly neighbour is freely humiliating our people at any opportune moment. He publicly termed our water experts of international repute as 'so-called water experts' & claimed '80% of Indian visa seekers being touts & brokers' right in presence of our senior Cabinet Ministers! We watched these live on TV in horror while the ministers accepted the High Commissioner's comments without a whimper. Later, when the Foreign Minister did try to term the comments of the Indian HC about our water experts as being not within diplomatic norms, another senior cabinet minister quickly came to the rescue of the Indian HC publicly by rejecting our Foreign Minister's comment & thus putting her to shame. The least is said about our ever ready commentator, the Commerce Minister - the better.
Just the year before Bangabandhu was assassinated, in May, 1974, the Indo-Bangladesh Land Agreement, generally known as the Mujib - Indira Treaty was signed. While our parliament ratified the treaty promptly in November, 1974, the Indian side has shied away from it for the last 35 years! And, in the meantime, not a day goes by when Bangladeshis are not gunned down by the trigger-happy BSF -- 69 Bangladeshi lives were lost since January 2009. We watch on TV in utter surprise some of our very senior parliamentarians 'singing the song' for Tipaimukh dam.
All these things & many more are happening that are detrimental to our country's interest. And, yet we are to see a definite & a strong message from the daughter of Bangabandhu.
Bangabandhu, I and millions and millions of others who love Bangladesh, miss you now more than ever and always will.
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