Hiren Pandit: Mother, Motherland and our independence are inextricably linked and related to each other. If one is excluded, the existence of the other is absolutely impossible. When we are born on the earth, we are first placed in our mother’s lap. Because of our mother, we can see the beautiful face of the cool world. After being born as a child, we felt very helpless in this vast and beautiful world. We felt weak and helpless under the beautiful blue sky. So, we grew up slowly relying on our mother’s affection, care and love. Like other children, a child grows up slowly taking in the world’s light, air, and heat, we all grow up like that.
The blue sky on all four sides, crops, greens, green leaves, forests, green fields, greenery, crop fields and the overall beautiful natural environment always fascinates us. Like everyone, we start loving nature around us like a mother. This soil is as dear as the mother to everyone as we are brought up on the soil of the country and we love that soil like a mother. A mother is like a friend in danger to a child, a refuge in happiness and sorrow, a vessel of great love and respect, in a word venerable. So, there is a pulse and a deep connection with the mother and the soil, with the country. As we love mother, we also love the motherland. Prominent poets and writers have compared the dear motherland with heaven, it is natural to compare – because the birth was on this dear holy motherland, so the dear motherland is made of pure blood more pure than gold. Everyone has honored the motherland and glorified their motherland on the map of the world. Poets, writers and notables have used the idea of their motherland in their words, in their language, in their pronunciation, and in their writings. Sometimes the motherland itself has acted as a source of inspiration or motivation for them. This Bengali nation, motivated by great nationalism, sacrificed its lives for the independence of the motherland in the war of independence in 1971. Our great independence was attained in exchange for the glory of 30 lakh martyrs and two lakh mothers and sisters. Therefore, as much as the birth mother is dear to us, as much as we love her, we also love the motherland and our great independence. To us, our independence deserves as much love.
Patriotism is the innate attraction or love, fondness, deep emotions and compassion of people towards their motherland and birthplace. It is a matter of pride to do something for the country motivated by patriotism. People who dedicate themselves to the welfare of the country and nation are respected in the eyes of society, as well as possessing great honor and dignity everyone. Patriotism is a kind of pure emotion, which makes people dutiful and responsible. It inspires sacrifices to protect the independence of the country and encourages the service of the people of the country. Lack of patriotism and sense of patriotism causes the death of human humanity, those who do not love the country, are extremely ungrateful, the good of the country is never achieved by them and those who are ungrateful are not really human.
Those who are motivated by patriotism and work for the welfare of the country are the real people. Love for one’s country instills in people a sense of brotherhood and teaches them mutual virtue. It is absolutely necessary to develop the ethics of absolute tolerance in order to develop the spirit of cooperation, sympathy and patronage of the people of the country, instead of the different groups, internal conflicts of the organization, conflict with each other, conflict-violence and revenge. Patriotism and compassion for one’s country can prevent people from many injustices and criminal tendencies. Therefore, to achieve real development and progress in the country, patriotism must be awakened. From being loyal to one’s country to loving one’s country irrespective of caste and religion are the moral responsibility and duty of everyone.
If you are a people of Bangladesh, you have to accept Bangladesh, accept the independence war and keep it in your heart. You can criticize the government as much as you like. But you cannot insult or belittle the country, mother, soil and independence of Bangladesh. Government and state are not one thing. The government can be criticized but there is no opportunity to speak or comment on the state, independence and sovereignty.
Journalism is a noble profession and it is everyone’s responsibility to protect its dignity. No one should do anything that goes against the country, independence and sovereignty. No one should do anything that degrades our great independence, won by so much blood. Different quarters will want to do this for their own interests. As a conscious citizen, you have to decide whether you will step into someone’s trap. We should also be careful not to become a player of any circle.
For a long time, the rise in commodity prices has been a source of concern for the common man. Corona and Russia-Ukraine war, global recession, not only Bangladesh but the economy of the whole world is going through a delicate situation. Due to the increase in the price of goods in the international market, the prices of the goods which have to be imported from abroad are increasing in our domestic market. The dollar has forced the government to repeatedly devalue the domestic currency. Reserves are shrinking to pay the price of imported goods.
However, with various measures, the apprehension about foreign exchange reserves is disappearing. A class of unscrupulous businessmen is creating artificial shortages in the market in the hope of making extra profits. Not only day laborers, but many well-to-do middle-class people go to the market, and now it becomes a terrible situation. Due to the rise in commodity prices, people’s nutrition has been strained. Many items on the market list remain on the exclusion list. Market costs have to be reduced as there is no way to reduce certain costs. As a result, the consumption of fish and meat is decreasing from the food list of many families. Does that mean that the independence gained by the blood of our 3 million martyrs has become meaningless? Independence is such a thing! There have been many rumors about the increase in commodity prices for quite some time. Due to some quick decisions of our Prime Minister, we have been able to solve many complex situations quickly.
It is not possible to meet all the needs of all people at once in any independent country of the world. But that does not make independence meaningless. When you go to the market, you sweat, there are people like this in all countries of the world. After independence, many people thought that Bangladesh would not be able to survive as an independent state. Bangladesh will be a bottomless basket. But in 52 years, Bangladesh has surprised everyone and has progressed a lot. Bangladesh is now a wonder of development.
There is no end to the complaints against this government. There is no participatory democracy in the country, no right to vote, the human rights situation is not up to the mark, there is a lack of good governance, there is widespread corruption, and the list of complaints including money laundering is too long. But it is not right to make many complaints against a government and to criticize the government with the sweetness of mind and mix independence with the market price. That a man wants independence from fish, meat, and rice is also a part of the achievement of independence, and freedom of expression. Once upon a time, there was a famine in this country. We have now left them far behind. Once upon a time, people were very happy if they got two handfuls of rice twice a day. Now those people want the independence of meat and fish, this is also a big achievement.
But we have to remember this, this government has provided corona vaccines to all the people of the country by spending 20 thousand crore taka. Which is rare in the history of the world. Two mega projects Metrorail and Padma Bridge are being implemented and the people of the country are getting the benefits. Education, communication infrastructure, gas, electricity, women’s education, health care, achieving self-sufficiency in food production, the social safety net for disadvantaged communities, helpless, elderly, widows, persons with disabilities, divorced women, autism, poor freedom fighters. It has played a major role in the overall development of various sectors including providing assistance, shelter projects, one house one farm projects, and women empowerment. But this government has done a lot of work, including setting up a medical university and modernizing the medical system. These should also be remembered.
Bangabandhu’s dream of building a golden Bangladesh is being implemented by the Prime Minister with hard work and talent. Only Sheikh Hasina can build a developed, prosperous and peaceful Bengali nation and Bangladesh. In these two years 2020 and 2021, a deep problem was created in the world economy. Many countries’ economies collapsed. Our economy also suffers. Just as our economy was recovering from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. As the loss of life due to coronavirus has been reduced by taking timely measures, all efforts have been made to keep the economy running.
Equal participation of men and women, ensuring access to technology for all irrespective of rich and poor, and reducing distance in access to urban and rural services were all the main objectives and goals of Digital Bangladesh. Thanks to inclusive development and technology, now anyone can work freelancing even in the village. Despite many constraints, the government continues its efforts.
Everyone must talk about journalism, mistaken journalism, impartial journalism and the responsibility of media. There should be no problem with constructive criticism of the government but it should be ensured that such criticism does not interfere unduly with the state and its independence and sovereignty. Before that, we have to talk more about patriotism and commitment to the country. Everyone should remember that while criticizing the government, we should not denigrate the independence of the country and motherland. It is very important to keep it.
Hiren Pandit is a columnist
and a researcher.