Humour at its worst !
During the rule of Shaesta Khan, Subedar of Bengal (1664-1688), one could purchase 8 maunds (about 300 kilos) of rice at a cost of Tk 1 only, I repeat Tk 1 one only. While commenting on the present market price of rice and other essential commodities which have gone all time high and far beyond the buying capacity of common people, our finance adviser Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam has reminded us that this is not the age of Khans. You better not ask for a better price than what you are enjoying (?) now, Tk 40 a kilo to be specific!
We must thank our finance adviser for his frank admission and also for reminding us of the stark reality. We must also admire his knowledge of history. We cannot, however, appreciate his sense of humour. Our rulers have always exhibited great(!) sense of humour whenever it came to the task of mitigating the sufferings of the common people. The question is, as a humourist, who is the best, General Ershad, Begum Zia, Air Marshal Altaf Hossain or Dr. Azizul Islam?
General Ershad began his journey to the office of the president with a bi-cycle and ended up with a Rolls Royce. He served five years in jail on a graft case. Even now a dozen of graft charges are hanging on his neck. Yet as an octogenarian he has the sense of humour to claim himself as the most honest and capable candidate to lead the nation at this critical juncture of our national life.
When child Nowshin sitting in her father's lap was shot dead by a goon of the party in power, the then home minister Altaf Hossain had the wit to console the unfortunate father by saying, 'Allahr maal Allah nie gese'.
When Begum Zia, standing in the dock on graft charges, says that her sons can do no wrong or that her tenure as the prime minister of BNP- Jamaat alliance was the golden era, one cannot but feel pity for her poor sense of humour.
And now when we are told by Dr. Islam that this is not the age of Shaesta Khan, we should not expect the price of rice coming down, we cannot be sure whether he is trying to outscore his predecessors in being humourous. Thank God, to win the race, he has not, like former finance minister Saifur Rahman, tried to suggest cabbage as an alternative to rice!!
Until recently, we had the idea that our politicians were more apt in cutting jokes or playing with the misery of the people of this country. Now we see that the bureaucrats/technocrats turned advisers are not far behind!
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