Image problem
A citizen On e-mail
Right from its creation, Bangladesh has been suffering from image problem. From 1972 Bangabadhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman started to send lots of top ranking students to East European countries. I was one of those early scholarship holders to East Europe. Many Bulgarians used to utter rhymes related to the name of Bangladesh. I still remember one such rhyme---"Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Neama Kakbo da yadesh". It means Bangladesh does not have anything to eat. Many would say that they have donated paisa, clothes during school days for flood ,cyclone victims of Bangladesh. In 1975 the Bangladeshis organised a function in Berlin. Many Germans were also invited. An old German lady came with some breads because she had watched hungry people of Bangladesh on TV. She wanted to feed bread to Bangladeshis. These events are unbelievable to the present generation of Bangladeshis. Once I was stopped at the Swiss border because the border police could not believe that a Bangladeshi boy could be a doctor. I had to convince them by answering questions related to anatomy etc. Almost all educated or less educated Bangladeshis have to face peculiar situations because of the image problem of our motherland.The greatest damage to Bangladesh's image was done by our political leaders. In India a fanatic religious party was voted to rule the country for six years. Many of its top leaders were charged with destroying the Babri Mosque. The mentor of the Gujarat carnage, Narendra Modi, was hailed as "Deva". Neither the outside world nor any top opposition leader went out to foreigners to lament that India was full of fundamentalists. If our politicians do not change their habits , the image problem will always be there.
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