The ramifications of her announcement are so far reaching that many think it will forever change the intellectual superstructure of the Bangladesh society. In time, nothing will be the same as before, and everything will change be it economy, politics, culture, society, civil administration and law and order. And all this had been done with one tunnel vision -- to win votes in the upcoming elections.

But Bangladesh's history of this plunge into the abysmal darkness has not been unbroken. Bangladesh was a society of cultural and religious harmony with a thriving progressive political front. Born out of a two-nation theory with the Hindus and Muslims living in separate homelands, Pakistan from which Bangladesh broke away in 1971 through a bloody war still offered the Bangalees the resilience to maintain the religious harmony. In fact, to throw off the yoke of the West Pakistani psyche of mixing Islam with everything and to get closer to the people of Bengal, the Awami Muslim League showed in the mid 50s the courage to drop the middle name to become Awami League.

Against the repressive march of the West Pakistani rulers in the name of Islam, Bangalee culture and society thrived in its own way. And then finally the birth of Bangladesh came with the state standing on the pillar of secularism where fundamentalism, use of religion in politics and using religion as a part of state ideology had no place through constitutional guarantee.

Then came the 1975 coup that saw the dismissal of the Awami League rule and military dictatorship began. It was also from then that the secular fundamentals of Bangladesh started getting the knocks, the latest of which came with the prime minister's announcement Monday.

For the military rulers, it was necessary to use religion to get cheap popularity and yield political dividends.

Religion-based political parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Nezam-e-Islami that were banned because of their anti-Bangladesh role during the Liberation War were allowed to operate again.

In 1977 a martial law proclamation deleted secular face of the constitution and inserted a phrase that a fundamental state principle is "absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah". The phrase "Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim" (in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) was inserted before the preamble of the constitution. Another clause was added that the government should "preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity". The changes were later legitimised thorough the 5th amendment in 1979.

Another coup happened, another military dictatorship came in 1982. General Ershad in his fervent wish to get cheap popularity and woo the fundamentalist political parties (and also to bash Awami League), made the 8th amendment to the constitution in 1988, recognising Islam as the state religion.

And all this happened as if Bangladeshis were less Muslims before the fifth and eighth amendments or as if the mere insertions of the phrases made Bangladeshis more passionate devotees.

The dictator in his last ditch attempt to cling to power did not even blink to incite a riot in which the Hindus were attacked, their houses and temples torched and looted.

When democracy finally returned in 1990, it was thought that use of religion for political gain would end. But it did not. The BNP immediately formed an unofficial electoral alliance with Jamaat and religion was dragged to election campaigns with slogans like "If you vote for the scale (election symbol of Jamaat), Allah will be happy." Finally, the BNP formed the government with Jamaat's support.

But then Jamaat broke ties with BNP on the point of condemning Israeli attack on Hebron mosque. Awami League, still regarded by many as a secular party, threw off its veil and jumped at the opportunity. It formed another unwritten alliance with Jamaat and drummed up movement against the ruling BNP. Of course, it was election time again and the hunger for power made the AL forget the constitution the party had written in 1972. Sheikh Hasina also learnt the trick fast and her picture with a headgear beamed from posters on the wall. She won the race this time.

In its effort to up the ante against the BNP and win hearts of the fundamentalists, the AL government kept on increasing funds channeled to the madrasas while the general education level dipped. And it played the most devious role when the religious extremists attacked an Independence Day programme at Brahmanbaria. The police remained silent and took no action.

Election time came again and body politic took another beating as the BNP formed the four-party alliance with Jamaat and another fundamentalist party Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) as the major partners. The formation of the 'Islamic' axis yielded dividends again and the alliance came to power with an overwhelming majority. This opened the door for Jamaat, for the first time ever, to enter into the government. Now a part of the state mechanism was in control of the religious forces. 'Islamisation of the society' gathered steam. Militant organisations crept up and thrived under the blind eye of the government and Bangladesh saw an unprecedented level of militant activities. To send the society back even further, demands for declaring the Ahmadiyyas non-Muslims were echoed freely and the government even went to the extent of banning the religious book of the Ahmadiyyas.

Now comes another election time and another dose of 'Islamisation' was shot in the arm of the body politic on Monday when Prime Minister Khaleda Zia equated the Qawami madrasa's Dawra degree with master's. She only made the announcement, leaving the onus of implementing it on the next government, whichever party may form it, or even on the caretaker government, which for many a reason will be under intense pressure unknown before. And what makes it distressing that all this 'Islamisation' was not done for the purpose of glorifying Islam as a great religion but for populism and bagging votes in elections.

In a few years time, these Qawami students, whose curriculum are never under the government's control and of dubious quality due to lack of modern syllabus, will sit for civil service exams and qualify in greater numbers than the general students because of higher marks obtained in Arabic and Islamic studies. They will get into the police and armed forces. It is anybody's guess about the quality and direction of their policy decisions once they are in policymaking positions.

Societies march ahead, on Monday afternoon Bangladesh walked backward.