Scores were killed and hundreds injured in student violence with police in Ban Gladesh. As a result of this massive protest, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina abdicated and fled to India for her life. The protesters demanded that the government end a quota system of jobs for relatives of retired freedom fighters who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, which the students consider discriminatory. It is a fact that an army was prepared for the freedom struggle under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who can be called the father of Bangladesh. Mujib's daughter, Hasina, therefore had a soft spot for Muktiyodha. I first heard of Mujibur Rahman and Mukti Bahini in the late 1970s from a waiter in an Indian restaurant in New York. Growing up in Calcutta, I used to aspire to be a Bengali and feel intimate with anyone who is Bengali. At that time, and even now in American Indian restaurants, if the waiter was Bengali, I would invariably start chanting bhalo bhalo love-alaap in Bengali. At that time, the murderous war of Pakistan army was going on in East Bengal and our waiter very politely said that it will not be long, our new free Bangladesh will be in six months and he bowed down to Mukti Bahini and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and recognized me as a citizen who took the lead in the great freedom struggle. 'Dhonnobad' chanted. This is the first instance of gratitude for India from a Bangladeshi. After that I had to come back to India and gradually heard the news on a Hindi service in Ahmedabad that Pakistan or the soldiers had given India or Samane 'Ghutan tek diye!' Even now his 'Ghutane Tek Diye' is etched right in the ear. After that I had to come back to America and meet many Bangladeshi students, professors. At that time the Macintosh computer had just come out and I heard that a Bengali nuclear scientist from a university called Caltech had developed a Bengali 'type' for the Macintosh. I learned to make Gujarati fonts for Macintosh with that professor. He was a Bengali professor doing research on sub atomic particles in the name of Nutri and writing stories himself in Bengali. In general conversation with him, it was revealed that there is no special feeling for Indians in Bangladesh for some reason. Sometimes I used to meet Bangladeshis as a Bengali interpreter in court offices and hospitals. Those who spoke the Bengali language of West Bengal looked at me suspiciously. As a citizen of India who liberated his country, I would have expected the least respect from him. Once a Bangladeshi cheated me out of a small amount of money and then appeared to his neighbor laughing at how he made that Vedia Gujarati. Then a call came from a Bangladeshi teacher that he wanted some documents translated into English. But he doesn't have a car so can I go to his house? I went, found out that his wife had divorced, wouldn't let him see his son, and was fired from his job. He cried. I had lunch time so I took him to lunch, I translated his documents into English. And gave me a couple of 'jobs' so that he could pay me from his income. But when the money came, he said that he would not get anything other than money, you wanted to become a loan shark! Then a lawyer's firm hired me as an interpreter, one of her clients, a Bangladeshi elite woman, sought asylum, Yane Panah, Magheli from the American government, because she was teaching self-reliance skills to Bangladeshi girls, widows, abandoned women, etc., which Sheikh Hasina's government did not like. . So the police often sent goons to kill him. The work went on for a long time and from time to time when the lady needed money I helped her a little or twice. His case was successful, he got a good job and he called his son from Bangladesh to America who got a good job here. But still… there is no truth to these cases, I must have been fooled everywhere with naked eyes and superstitions, the thought of which makes me laugh now. But one thing is particularly glaring that the opposition has vandalized the victory memorials of the Mukti Bahini, as well as the Indian Army! Why would anyone do a favor, yah? Jai Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman!
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
Neil Gagan Ke Tale: Muktibahini
