Lajja (21 page)

Madol snuggled up to Kironmoyee.

‘Mashima, we’re going away to Mirpur,’ she said. ‘The ruffians won’t be able to go there.’

‘Why not?’

‘Mirpur is very far away.’

Madol had come to believe that all the ruffians lived in Tikatuli. They couldn’t go to Mirpur because it was far away. Kironmoyee wondered whether those who plundered, broke and burnt Hindu homes, and took away young women like Maya, were merely ruffians. They did not care whether people were Hindus or Muslims—ruffians attacked homes irrespective of the religious beliefs of the householders. It was not right to say that those who attacked and stole from people of a particular religion were simply ruffians.

Sudhamoy was lying in bed. There was very little he could do except lie in bed. Sudhamoy wondered what was the point in being alive when one was totally useless and unable to move. This just added to Kironmoyee’s troubles. Kironmoyee could bear everything. She never gave up. She spent her nights crying and surely did not feel like lighting the stove to cook. Yet she went about her tasks. After all, hunger overrides all pain. Suronjon had given up bathing and eating. And Kironmoyee had also reached a similar situation. Sudhamoy too had no appetite. Maya wasn’t back yet! Was Maya not going to come back? If only he could give up his life and have Maya back instead! Couldn’t he stand at the head of the road and say, ‘I want Maya back. I have a right to have her back.’ Right—Sudhamoy felt that the word had become ghostlike in the present.

In 1946, as a young man, Sudhamoy had asked for water at a sweet shop in Kalibari, after eating a sweet. He had used the Urdu word ‘pani’ for water. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims had been high in the city then. Some Muslims had looked at him sharply in the sweet shop. Sudhamoy had not been able to utter the Bengali ‘jol’. Was he afraid? It must have been fear. What else could it have been?

The British had realized that unless they were able to destroy the unity and amity amongst Hindus and Muslims they would not be able to establish and persist with colonial rule and oppression in India. Their statecraft birthed the policy of ‘divide and rule’.

‘How was it possible?’ wondered Sudhamoy. ‘Ninety out of hundred farmers were Muslims but 90 per cent of the land belonged to Hindus! It was the question of ownership of land that had caused the revolutions in Russia and China and it was the same question that created conflict between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. The conflict over land became a conflict about religion.’

Supported by the British, it was in Bengal that the Muslim League was born in 1906, based on an ideology of communalism. This party was responsible for introducing the poison of communalism into undivided India. Of course, it isn’t possible to absolve the Congress of this responsibility either. For twenty-four years after 1947, the colonizing Pakistani rulers had wrested democratic rights from the people of what is now Bangladesh by raising the flag of Islam and keeping alive anti-India feelings. Sudhamoy had let out a sigh of relief when they had regained their democratic rights in 1971. However, this sense of relief did get choked quite often. After the Liberation of Bangladesh, secularism had been included in the Constitution as one of the four fundamental national principles. This was to be an impregnable barrier against communalism. Communalism came back in a new way after 15 August 1975. Communalism was aligned with violence, fundamentalism, religious bigotry and autocracy. Communalism imbued with ideological moorings was made acceptable to the
bhodro
or educated class. Before the creation of Pakistan, this theory was called ‘the two-nation theory’ and in Bangladesh, after 1975, they started calling it ‘Bangladesh nationalism’. People would now have to wash off a Bengali tradition of a thousand years and become ‘Bangladeshi’. Like Bangladeshi cattle, donkeys, paddy and jute, people were now ‘Bangladeshi’. In 1988, the words ‘the state religion of the Republic is Islam, but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in the Republic’ were included in the Constitution of Bangladesh with the Eighth Amendment. Why did they say ‘may be’? Why did they not assert it with a ‘shall be’? Of course, as far as fundamental rights are concerned, the Constitution says that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. But what was the point in not acknowledging the existence of discrimination? After all, if there was no discrimination, why would they take Maya away? Why would ‘child/children of infidels’ be a term of abuse? Did ruffians say these things? What was happening in Bangladesh was not just ruffianly behaviour and lawlessness—it was something else. This other thing was intensifying—more madrasas than schools were coming up everywhere, the number of mosques was increasing, there were more Islamic programmes and more and more places were using loudspeakers to summon people to prayers. Most localities now had a mosque after every three or four houses and all the mosques had loudspeakers all around. The use of loudspeakers was strictly monitored during Hindu festivals. If loudspeakers were acceptable, then why were only Muslims allowed to use them? According to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

If that was so, then why were Hindu temples being destroyed? Sudhamoy did not believe in temples, yet, he could not accept the fact that only Hindu temples were being destroyed. And was there going to be no punishment meted out? The state’s Penal Code says that culprits could be imprisoned for a year, or at best two years. Imprisonment for three years is considered very long.

A malaise overcame Sudhamoy. A country was gradually slipping into illness. Bengalis had got their Liberation from the terrible grip of Pakistan after struggling for many years. A Constitution was written for a free country. It opened with:

We, the people of Bangladesh, having proclaimed our Independence on the 26th day of March 1971 and through a historic struggle for national liberation, established the independent, sovereign People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Pledging that the high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism, which inspired our heroic people to dedicate themselves to, and our brave martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the national liberation struggle, shall be fundamental principles of the Constitution.

In 1978, ‘struggle for national liberation’ was changed to ‘a historic war for national independence’. An insertion was made: ‘high ideals of absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice’. And ‘liberation struggle’ was changed to ‘independence’.

The Constitution of 1972 was changed and the Constitution of 1978 began with
Bismillahi rahmanir rahim
—‘In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful’. Section 12 of the Constitution, the section entitled ‘Secularism and freedom of religion’,
disappeared.

12. The principle of secularism shall be realised by the elimination of

a) communalism in all its forms

b) the granting by the State of political status in favour of any religion

c) the abuse of religion for political purposes

d) any discrimination against, or persecution of, persons practising a particular religion

The section on secularism was taken away and Section 25 (2) was brought in: ‘The State shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity.’

Section 6 in the Constitution of 1972 said: ‘The citizenship of Bangladesh shall be determined and regulated by law: citizens of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangalees.’ Ziaur Rahman changed that to ‘the citizens of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangladeshis’.

Sudhamoy felt everything darken. It wasn’t yet afternoon so why was the room dark? Were his eyes weakening? Or had his glasses not been changed for quite some time? Had he developed cataract? Or were his eyes flooding with tears and making it difficult for him to see?

Suronjon had changed so much. He never spent any time with Sudhamoy. He had not stepped into Sudhamoy’s room since the day they took Maya away. Sudhamoy could occasionally make out that those gathered in Suronjon’s room were drinking alcohol. Was his son out to ruin himself? He had never before seen Suronjon drinking at home. Perhaps he was no longer bothered about anyone else. Was it possible that he had already forgotten Maya! Sudhamoy found that hard to believe, yet he was disturbed by Suronjon’s silence. Was his son hurtling towards doom?

Suronjon had decided that he was not going out anywhere. Searching for Maya would not yield anything and so it was much better to stay at home. Whenever he was out, he had to listen to things like ‘These bastard infidels have broken the Babri Masjid. It is time we thrashed them and sent them to India.’ He was sick of listening to such comments. He no longer believed in any socialist party or leftist leader. He had heard many leftist leaders abuse him with ‘Bastard infidel!’ and ‘Child of an infidel!’ Krishnobinod Ray was called Kabir Bhai by everyone. Barin Datta had to change his name to Abdus Salam. If people had to change their Hindu names in the Communist Party, then which other party could one possibly trust! Or should he join the Jamaat? And greet Nizami with a ‘
Huzoor, as-salamu alaykum’
? This would lead to prominent headlines the next day: ‘Hindu Joins Jamaat-e-Islami’. Apparently the Jamaat-e-Islami got votes even in Jogonnath Hall and the reason for it was money. After all, if people were paid 5000 takas every month, why would they not vote for the Jamaatis? Suronjon wanted to avenge himself on the left groups who had driven him to despair instead of hope. Their members had, one after the other, joined different groups. They said one thing today and something else the next day. After the death of Comrade Farhad, a reading of the Koran and a gathering of the faithful were organized in the CPB office. The comrade had a grand funeral service. Why did that happen? Why did communists have to seek refuge under the flag of Islam? It was because they wanted to escape people’s censure for being atheists, wasn’t it? Did it help them in any way? Even after such obeisance, the oldest political party in the country was not able to gain the trust of people! Suronjon did not blame the people, he thought that the clueless leaders were to blame.

The number of madrasas in the country was increasing. This was certainly an excellent plan to ensure that a country was crippled economically. It was probably Sheikh Mujib who had begun to ensure that madrasas spread to every village. Everyone seemed to have worked to ruin the country. It was difficult to understand the decline of this nation unless you saw it yourself—these were the people who had organized the language movement, these were the people who had fought the Liberation War in 1971! What happened to the idea behind the Bangalee nation? Where were the harmony and the consciousness that had said: ‘We the Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims of Bengal are all Bangalee’? Suronjon felt very alone. Very, very alone. It was as if he wasn’t a Bangalee—he wasn’t a person, he was merely a Hindu. He was a two-legged creature who had become an alien in his own land.

This country has a Ministry of Religious Affairs. Last year, the ministry had had a rather appetizing budget. Suronjon thought that ‘appetizing’ was the best description. In the budget for tackling underdevelopment, there was a provision for aid for religious affairs. The Islamic Foundation of Dhaka was allocated 15 million takas. The waqf administration was allocated 800,000. Allocation for other religious objectives was 26 million. For the zakat fund administration it was 220,000 takas. The income from the Islamic Mission was 25 million. The fund for minority religions was 250,000. Free electricity to mosques for 12 million takas. Free water supply to mosques for 5 million. Allocation for the Dhaka Tara Masjid was 300,000 takas. The total was 84,570,000 takas. The maintenance of the Baitul Mukarram Masjid was allocated 1.5 million takas. The allocation for intensifying and expanding training and programmes for productive work along with the allocation for underdevelopment was 109,338,000 takas. And within this the allocation for minority groups was only 250,000 takas. There were almost 25 million people belonging to the minority religious groups in the country and the total money allocated for them was 0.25 million takas. That was amusing, was it not?

From the development funds 2 million takas were allocated for the production and publication of the Islamic Encyclopaedia in Bengali. The allocation for the Islamic Cultural Centre of the Islamic Foundation was 19 million takas. The publications, translation and research programmes of the Islamic Foundation were allocated 16,875,000. The programme for training imams and for the development of the Islamic Foundation library was allocated 1.5 million takas. The Mosque Library Programme got 2.5 million takas. Takas 15 million were allocated for expanding Islamic cultural centres and imam-training academies in the new districts. The total allocation for development was 56,875,000 takas. And then, 260,000 takas were distributed amongst all other groups under the subhead for other religions. Takas 500,000 were allocated for observing Islamic religious functions or festivals, and the allocation for development programmes of Islamic religious institutions was 2,860,000 takas. Takas 20 million were allocated for the repair, renovation and restoration of different mosques through the good offices of the honourable members of Parliament. The allocation for religious delegations visiting from other countries and such delegations going to other countries was 1 million takas. Takas 640,000 were allocated for subscriptions to international religious organizations. Takas 1 million were allocated for the rehabilitation of poor neo-Muslims. The budget of the religious ministry for 1991–92 had a total allocation of 166,213,000 takas, combining both the development and underdevelopment funds. The allocation for the rehabilitation of neo-Muslims was interesting. Takas 1 million were allocated under these funds but there was no allocation for minorities in the development funds. It was shameful that in a poor, multiracial, multicultural country people were being enticed to convert to a particular religion. The country’s economic backbone was broken. Had we even bothered to calculate how much the per capita burden of foreign debts was? In such a crippling economic scenario, how logical was such a large budget allocation for Islam? And the discriminatory allocations in the budget were destroying national harmony. Did no one ever think of these things? As Suronjon was mulling over the discrimination, Kajol Debnath entered his room.

‘What’s the matter, Suronjon? How come you’re in bed at this time?’

‘Someone like me doesn’t keep proper hours.’

Suronjon shifted a bit to make place for Kajol.

‘Has Maya come back?’

‘No,’ sighed Suronjon.

‘What can be done? We should do something.’

‘What do you want to do?’

Kajol had salt-and-pepper hair and was in his forties. He was wearing a loose-fitting shirt and his brow was creased with worry. ‘Want one?’ he asked, holding out a cigarette to Suronjon.

‘Yes, please,’ said Suronjon, reaching out gladly. It had been a long time since he had bought cigarettes. Whom would he ask for money? Kironmoyee? He had been feeling so ashamed that he had stopped going to their room. Suronjon felt that he was to blame for Maya’s abduction. He was the one who always went on and on about this country and had asserted loudly that the people of this country were not communal. Therefore, he had to accept that he was at fault. He was too ashamed to face an idealistic, honest and just person like Sudhamoy.

Suronjon continued to smoke on an empty stomach.

‘Stop it, Dada. Don’t do it,’ Maya would have said. ‘You’ll surely get cancer because you’re smoking on an empty stomach. You’ll die.’

It would not be bad if he had cancer, thought Suronjon. He could lie in bed and wait for death. There would be no need to live and hope.

Kajol Debnath could not really figure out what to do. ‘They’ve taken away your sister,’ he said. ‘After this, they will take my daughter. Yes, they will. Today they’ve hit Goutom on his head. Tomorrow it’ll be either you or me.’

‘Tell me,’ asked Suronjon. ‘Are we human or Hindus?’

‘They came to this room, too, didn’t they?’ asked Kajol, as his eyes took in the room.

‘Yes.’

‘What was Maya doing then?’

‘They told me she was getting rice for Baba.’

‘Couldn’t she thrash them?’

‘How could she? They had sticks and rods. And can Hindus possibly beat up Muslims? In India the minority Muslims hit back. When two groups fight each other it is called a riot. There they have riots. And people say we’re having riots here! What we have here is communal terror. You can call it torture and violence. One lot is gleefully smashing and killing the other.’

‘Do you think Maya will come back?’

‘I don’t know.’ Every time Maya’s name came up, Suronjon had noticed that he felt something was stuck in his throat. He felt an emptiness in his chest.

‘Kajol da, what else is going on in the country?’

Suronjon wanted to move away from any discussion about Maya.

‘Twenty-eight thousand homes, two thousand seven hundred businesses and three thousand six hundred temples have been damaged and devastated. Twelve people are dead and there have been losses of 2 billion takas. Countless villages have been destroyed. A frenzy of destruction has affected forty-three districts. Two thousand six hundred women have been tortured. Some temples have been damaged very badly. The five-hundred-year-old temple of Gourango Mohaprobhu to the south of Sylhet, the Kali temple in Baniachong that was several centuries old, Koibolyodham and Tulsidham in Chittagong, Modonmohon Akhara in Bhola and the Ramakrishna Mission in Sunamganj and Foridpur.’

‘Isn’t the government providing any aid?’ asked Suronjon.

‘No. The government hasn’t provided any aid, nor has it permitted any aid agency to do so. Of course, some non-government organizations have taken the initiative and are offering some help. Thousands of people are living in the open. They don’t have clothes, food or homes. Some of the women who were raped can no longer speak. Some people have lost their businesses and are stupefied. They are still being terrorized and their remaining lands and possessions are being usurped. In the Borishal division, the damage suffered amounts to 750 million takas and in the Chottogram division it is 250 million takas. The damages are 100 million takas in the Dhaka division! Ten million takas each in the Khulna and Rajshahi divisions. The total damages are 1070 million takas. The total damages to business are 220 million takas. Damages to temples come to 570 million takas.’

‘This is not good, Kajol da. I don’t like it.’

‘Do you know the worst thing that’s happening? The exodus! There is absolutely no way that we can stop the tidal wave of people leaving the country this time. The government has always maintained that Hindus aren’t leaving the country.
Desh
, the Calcutta magazine, wrote that nearly one hundred and fifty thousand people go to India from Bangladesh each year and most of them are not going back. In the last two decades, more than 5 million people of the minority community have been forced to leave this country. If we look at the six census reports, we’ll see that in 1941, Muslims were 70.3 per cent of the population and Hindus were 28.3 per cent. Muslims were 76.9 per cent in 1951 and Hindus 22 per cent. In 1961, Muslims were 80.4 per cent and Hindus were 18.5 per cent. In 1974, it was 85.4 per cent Muslims and 13.5 per cent Hindus. In 1981, Muslims were 86.7 per cent and Hindus 12.1 per cent. In 1991, Muslims were 87.4 per cent and Hindus 12.6 per cent. The number of Muslims is going up and the number of Hindus down. Why are the numbers going down and where are the people going? If the government is saying there is no migration, then what are we to make of the census figures. Do you know what will happen with the new census? Hindus and Muslims will not be counted separately.’

‘Why?’

‘If you count Hindus and Muslims separately, you know that the number of Hindus is declining, so . . .’

‘So, Kajol da, we now know that this government is very cunning, don’t we?’ asked Suronjon as he stretched himself and yawned.

Kajol Debnath did not say anything but lit another cigarette and put it to his lips.

‘Do you have an ashtray?’ he asked.

‘Feel free to use this room like an ashtray.’

‘I should meet your parents. But what consolation can I offer them?’ said Kajol Debnath, lowering his head in shame. He was feeling so ashamed. It felt almost like his brother had abducted Maya.

And they were back to talking about Maya! Suronjon felt as if a volcano would erupt in his chest.

‘Kajol da, hadn’t Jinnah said that henceforth we are all Pakistani and not Hindus or Muslims? Didn’t that stop Hindus from going to India?’

‘Jinnah was an Ismaili Khoja. They were Muslims all right but they followed Hindu laws of inheritance. His surname is Khojani. His birthname was Jhinabhai Khojani. He just kept the Jhina and stopped using the rest. Jinnah had promised an end to communalism but Hindus were victimized despite his assurances. And so, in 1948, 1.1 million Hindus left East Pakistan for India! In India they were known as refugees.’

‘Many Muslims came to this country during the riots in West Bengal.’

‘Yes, many Muslims have come here from Assam and West Bengal but they have gone back too. There was the Nehru–Liaquat Pact between the governments of India and Pakistan and the Pact said that “in both the countries, minorities, irrespective of religious affiliation, would have all citizenship rights”. Their rights to life, culture and property were recognized, as well as their right to freedom of expression and the right to practise their religion. According to the conditions of the pact, the people who had come from that side went back. But the people who had gone from here didn’t come back. Although they didn’t come back, people stopped leaving for some time. But in 1951, the Pakistani legislature passed two laws—the East Bengal Evacuee Property Act of 1951 and East Bengal Evacuees’ Act of 1951. Consequently, 3.5 million people from East Pakistan left the country. Your father knows all of this well.’

‘Baba does not tell me any of this. He gets furious when the issue of leaving the country comes up. He can’t bear such talk!’

‘Can we accept the idea of leaving our country? But how will you keep the people who are leaving? Some are leaving quietly and secretly. They need some kind of reassurance. Do people want to leave their land? The scriptures say that one is happiest in one’s own land. Muslims are used to
hijrat
or migration. We know from history that Muslims have travelled from one country to another. Hindus, however, have a strong tie with their land.’