Ground report: Islamist, secular, or Bengali? Bangladesh hunts for an identity

Islamist groups such as the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami denied its role in the attacks on minorities. It publicly condemned such acts and also mobilised its volunteers in many areas to guard the properties and religious places.

Yet, the needle of suspicion still pointed towards the outfit — particularly the more radical elements in it. More so because of its blemished past, and political demography of the worst-affected areas.

The Jamaat is a self-proclaimed Islamist party. Its agenda is to create an Islamic state. It opposed Bangladesh’s liberation war aimed at creating a nation based on Bengali nationalism.

Most attacks in Jamaat strongholds

An analysis of the political profile of the affected areas further deepens the suspicion. The most of violent incidents (810), as per the data collected by the BHBUC, took place in Khulna division followed by Rajshahi (297). Jamaat has considerable political clout in these two divisions bordering India.

The Jamaat’s best ever electoral performance was in 1991 when it aggregated over 12 per cent votes to win 18 of the country’s 300 directly elected parliamentary seats. But in the parliamentary constituencies of Naogaon-4, Pabna-5, and Jesssore-6 of the two divisions, it got nearly 50 per cent votes. Its vote share was above 30 per cent in the two divisions’ many other seats such as Bagerhat-4, Khulna-6, Satkhira-1, Satkhira-2, Satkhira-3. Natore-3, Bogra-2, and Chapai Nawabganj-3.

It has overall failed to get a double-digit vote share in the country barring in 1991. But constituency-wise vote shares of subsequent elections reveal its continuous dominations in several parliamentary seats in the two divisions.

Jamaat’s political record

Outside these two divisions, only in limited pockets in Chittagong (or Chattogram), it has a similar political base. Around 100 incidents of violence were reported from the division, says the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBUC)’s estimation.

As per the popular perception in Bangladesh’s political circle, the majority of the party’s overall vote base of around seven to eight per cent is concentrated in the two divisions.

The Jamaat has politically allied mostly with the BNP, and once even with the Awami League, in 1996. The Awami League government, however, barred the party from contesting elections in 2013 on the ground that its charter violated Bangladesh’s Constitution by “opposing secularism”. It further imposed a complete ban on it amid the students’ protests in August.

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Plans for a pan-Islamist alliance

However, such controversial decisions, political observers say, proved counterproductive, as it helped the party gain sympathy.

The incumbent interim government, in one of its early decisions after assuming office, lifted the ban on the Jamaat.

After regaining its political rights, the party indicated its plan to constitute a pan-Islamist alliance comprising all Islamic parties, distancing itself from the BNP.

The conglomeration, if stitched, will no doubt strengthen the Islamist forces in the country. The possibility has raised question in certain minds whether Bangladesh will ultimately turn into an Islamist theocratic country.

Attack on Sufism

The apprehension is not completely bereft of any basis. Some recent developments in the country have raised concerns amongst the secularists.

One such development is attacks on mazhars — a place of worship for believers of Sufism or subaltern/folk Islam.

Sufism has played a pivotal role in the spread of Islam in undivided Bengal, holding aloft its inclusive philosophy as against the divisive caste system in Hinduism.

The Sufi saints’ liberating message of social equality while accommodating local customs and culture has a tremendous influence.

Threat from terror groups

Some 50 Sufi shrines, including that of Hazrat Shah Paran in Sylhet, have been attacked in the past one month, sending out an alarming signal. The attacks have exposed inherent contradictions among various strains of Islam. Clearly, the radical section has been trying to get the better of the moderates.

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The conflict can get more complicated, as terror groups are also reportedly trying to regroup taking advantage of the flux.

Jashimuddin Rahmani, the chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist outfit, and Sheikh Mohammad Aslam (known as Sweden Aslam), a Bangladeshi gangster, have been released from jail in the past one month.

A forced identity shift?

That’s not all.

A restriction on wearing hijabs with their uniforms by the female members of the Bangladesh Army was lifted recently.

Again, in a first, the 76th death anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, was commemorated at the National Press Club in Dhaka with Urdu songs and poetry.

The state-owned radio broadcaster Bangladesh Betar is reportedly contemplating to revive its Urdu service.

The commemoration of Jinnah’s death anniversary and the revival of Urdu service cannot, though, be seen as Islamisation; these are indicative of the identity shift the country might be forced to take.

The societal divide between the majority and the minority community appears to have widened because of these developments. The secular-liberal forces are also extremely worried.

“In the psychological perception of a section of people, the anti-India sentiment has turned into an anti-Hindu sentiment. With such a mentality, a wicked group of students, instigated by miscreants, has humiliated and harassed teachers of minority communities in different educational institutions across the country. Those teachers have been forced to resign or threatened to resign,” pointed out the BHBCUC.

Doubt over a national identity

A close attention to any casual discussion anywhere in the capital city — be it at the headquarters of the BNP, Dhaka University’s historic Madhu’s canteen, the BHBCUC office, or even at a bar or a roadside tea stall — will give a sense of dubiety prevailing over the national identity that will ultimately emerge from the froth and foam of the ongoing churning.

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The uncertainty can be attributed, to a large extent, to the failure of the interim government to present a clear ideological roadmap it envisages for the country. Intellectuals such as Farhad Mazar even raised doubts whether the government has the legal basis to fulfil the core aspiration of the people that brought it to the power.

“By taking oath under the existing Constitution, the government has deviated from the cause for which it has been installed. This regime is technically subservient to President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was appointed by the ousted regime…. There was no need to take oath under the existing Constitution. The people, through a mass uprising, had given legitimacy to the government and that mandate should have been enough for it to govern the country and do the needful transformation as desired by the masses,” he told The Federal.

Seeking a paradigm shift

Essentially, Mazhar and many other social influencers are advocating for a paradigm shift in the way the country has been government so far.

They are demanding the scrapping of the existing Constitution. A new Constitution should be drafted after consulting all stakeholders though consultative meetings, they say. Some student groups have already started the consultative process through group meetings.

“Once the Constitution is drafted, there should be a referendum by the people to adopt it,” Mazhar added.

A secular identity, but suited to Bangladesh

A Constitution Reform Commission has been constituted by the interim government.

“The commission will decide whether we need to entirely reject the existing Constitution or amend certain sections to ensure that no regime could turn fascist in future,” information and broadcasting advisor Nahid Islam told The Federal.

In the same breath, the 26-year-old student-leader-turned-adviser added that the country’s Constitution definitely will have a secular identity.

“The definition of secularism, however, may not be defined by its western concept. It has to be defined to suit the requirement of our society and polity,” he added, without elaborating further.

Muslim, but Bengali

One popular perception in the country is that in the name of secularism, the historical context of Islam and its philosophical influence in shaping the Bangladeshi society should not be ignored. But at the same time, the Bengali culture and its civilisational history should not be diluted. Essentially, it should be a convergence of Islam with Bengali ethos and culture. This is largely the concept of Sufism or, to be more precise, a Bengali folk-Islam.

“We cannot have an Arabic version of Islam in Bangladesh,” Mazhar pointed out.

Tightrope walk by Yunus government

Not all agree to this amalgamating concept where one religion will have an edge.

“Secularism cannot be linked to any form of religious identity no matter how inclusive it is. Because, even an inclusive religion creates ‘us’ and ‘them’. There should be complete segregation of religions from the statecraft,” said Masud Rana, coordinator of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh.

Amid these diverse pulls and pressures, Yunus’s government is trying to do a tightrope walk, balancing between extreme Right, Left, and Centre.

There is no clear indication in which direction Bangladesh will ultimately go.

Some clarity will expectedly come once the Constitution commission outlines the contour of its plan. Till then it’s a big haze.

“Bangladesh will never be an Islamist state”

“Some of the decisions of the government have Islamist imprints while many others have gone against them,” pointed out Anu Muhammad Anisur Rahman, another prominent voice of Bangladesh. A civic pressure group has been formed under his leadership to prevent Bangladesh from taking an extreme Right-turn. Of late, many such groups have been formed in Bangladesh.

No matter what, Bangladesh will never turn into an Islamist state, asserted senior joint secretary general of the BNP, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

“The country was founded on Bengali nationalism and that is indelible. As in all society, there are some bad elements who will always try to foment communal trouble. But the country’s inclusive eco-system has resisted it. This time, too, members of our party, as well as other people from the majority community, stood by our minority brothers and shielded them from harm,” he added. “Yes, we could not protect all. But we tried. Some of the attacks were political in nature.”

Durga Puja test

Stating that the societal rift between the two communities has definitely increased following the recent attacks, Ranjan Karmakar, a senior member of the BHBCUC, expressed optimism that the secular spirit of Bangladesh would ultimately prevail.

“There are over one crore Hindus in Bangladesh. This is not a minuscule number,” he said, adding that the coming Durga Puja would be very vital for the social fabric of Bangladesh.

He said the community faced communal aggression even during the Awami League regime. But it has managed to survive due to the presence of the strong inclusive force that existed in the country. He said this force would continue to be a bulwark against communal forces.

Words of hope

This spirit is best demonstrated by the inclusive messages in the graffiti that adorn the walls of Dhaka and other prominent cities of the country. That made one optimistic.

That, however, does not mean Bangladesh will be a paragon of secularism. It was not so in the past, nor will it be in future.

“It will not be an Islamic nation like Afghanistan, but not a strong secular country either,” summed up Anu Muhammad.

That is, ironically, by and large, almost the case with all the countries in the subcontinent.