“The flip side”
I congratulate Mr Andaz for his excellent thought provoking letter 'The flip side' (Letters, 18/05/08). I could not resist the temptation to add further.
I consider myself a 'Bengali' by 'ethnicity or ethnic origin' which refers to a shared genealogy. Similarly, a person from either Bangladesh or India could be either 'Bengali', 'Bihari', 'Chakma', 'Khashia' etc. by ethnicity and 'Bangladeshi' or 'Indian' also respectively. Ninety-eight per cent of the population of Bangladesh are of 'Bengali' origin which can be traced back to the Eastern Indo-Aryans.
We need to ask ourselves, why and how Bangladesh was created? I believe, our present identity crisis is mainly due to our mentality where the British played their cards too well. Yes, we were oppressed by the Pakistanis. But didn't the British oppress us too for 200 years? India was the richest country in the world before the British arrived sniffing spices. In 1905 Lord Curzon found Bengal, the crown jewel of India, too big and complex to govern and divided it, which is known as 'The first partition of Bengal (1905)'. The British successfully implanted the seeds of 'Hindus Vs Muslims' amongst us which helped them rule us. Although Bengal was reunited in 1911 due to mass political protest, the crack remained.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments