Joy Bangla!

Chintito

Joy Bangla!
Bangla's joy!
It will be, it will be, it will be, it will be for sure
Crores of people together have risen in the dark night
Now is the right time for a new sun to rise.

Victory to Bangla! There you are! Even translated (that could of course be improved) from the original Bangla, it gives you the goose bumps all over. Where does anyone see a political party in that beautiful verse? Those two words, made melodious in the eternal song, were like a pep pill during our War of Liberation 1971.

During the Muktijuddho, at the start of any mission to annihilate the occupying Pakistani forces and their cohorts, after the usual prayers to Almighty Allah, final confirmation of the checklist, last-minute briefing, and Khoda Hafez, 'Joy Bangla' was the yell that enthused the men.

Whenever spirits were down, the men were tired or hungry, a buddy required cheering up a comrade, they always verbalised the clenched fist with the two magical words. Ask any freedom fighter and he/she will tell you.

That is patriotism! That is the teaching of Islam or any other religion. Love your country.

Now some idiot may argue that Pakistan was 'their country', and so they sided with that. These dalals, criminals and abetters in the crime were a minority by far. Please recall that based on the six-point programme (see box), which Bangabandhu called 'Our [Bengalis'] Charter of Survival', and a long struggle commencing perhaps 1952 with the Language Movement, the Awami League won 167 of the 169 seats at stake in the then East Pakistan, clearly indicating that Bangalees wanted to enjoy complete autonomy and self-government, because in twenty years of deceit they have had enough of the debilitated concept of the two-wing Pakistan, chartered deceptively at Lahore 1940. Then the Pak junta, spearheaded by bottle Yahya and brittle ZA Bhutto, inebriated with power as they were, unleashed inhuman terror and torture on the democracy-seeking Bangalee on the night of 25 March 1971. That final nail in Pakistan's coffin left Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with hesitation but to declare the independence of Bangladesh on 26 March 1971, reaffirming his 7 March speech, immortalised by his proclamation 'the struggle this time is for liberation, the struggle this time is for independence'.

There are such dalals, criminals, abetters, razakars and dissenters (silent though they usually are) in any country, even in the USA, India, China; name any country you like. But a teeny-weeny minority does not make a country.

Please bear with me for spelling out some of the details known to the elders, some of them intellectual sinners (read gyan paapi), because our younger generation, our hope, needs to be told the truth and the background of how their country was conceived over decades, made to suffer years of pain and a nine-month long pang, and delivered through the sacrifice of millions on Bijoy Dibash 16 December.

That is the slogan based on which the War of Liberation was fought and won.

That is the slogan uttered by all freedom-loving Bangalees, some of who later politically opposed it.

An evil quarter conspired to make it a party slogan, namely that of Bangladesh Awami League. But it is not. The two words belong to all Bangladeshis.

So yell with me, all of you, starting right now, every time you want to honour the martyrs, express your love for your country, cheer up your cricket team, yell with all your might, right fist clenched Joy Bangla!

The Six-point Programme, announced by East Pakistan Awami League in February 1966, to end the exploitation of East Pakistan by the West Pakistani rulers launched a nationalist movement in East Pakistan, led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which eventually led to the liberation of Bangladesh.

1. The constitution should provide for a Federation of Pakistan in its true sense on the Lahore Resolution and the parliamentary form of government with supremacy of a Legislature directly elected on the basis of universal adult franchise.

2. The federal government should deal with only two subjects: Defence and Foreign Affairs, and all other residual subjects shall be vested in the federating states.

3. Two separate, but freely convertible currencies for two wings should be introduced; or if this is not feasible, there should be one currency for the whole country, but effective constitutional provisions should be introduced to stop the flight of capital from East to West Pakistan. Furthermore, a separate Banking Reserve should be established and separate fiscal and monetary policy be adopted for East Pakistan.

4. The power of taxation and revenue collection shall be vested in the federating units and the federal centre will have no such power. The federation will be entitled to a share in the state taxes to meet its expenditures.

5. There should be two separate accounts for the foreign exchange earnings of the two wings; the foreign exchange requirements of the federal government should be met by the two wings equally or in a ratio to be fixed; indigenous products should move free of duty between the two wings, and the constitution should empower the units to establish trade links with foreign countries.

6. East Pakistan should have a separate militia or paramilitary force. (Wikipedia)

WRITE TO CHINTITO <chintitoforever@gmail.com>

The war criminals of 1971 will be punished. Your letter is proof of that. The nation is proud of your generation, for although you were not witness to the horrors committed by the Razakars, you have grasped the spirit of our independence. You will punish the war criminals of 1971. You must. Regards. Chintito

Dear Ch,
I am interested to enter into a sort of ping-pong competition with you under the pseudo name Nishchinto. This would be only a follow-up to your column, as I lack your creative imagination. If you and your editor agree, here is a sample:
Nishchinto reassures rosy picture
Being a diabetic patient I am advised by my doctor to eat only a morsel of rice which I ignored for years. But the present price of rice has forced me to follow the advice. This will increase my longevity and thousands of diabetic patients like me.

With the advent of spring the air-conditioners are being switched on. Everyone knows that unnatural cooling is not conducive to the lungs. Intermittent load shedding acts as a deterrent to the running of the air-conditioning system which is therefore a very healthy trend allowing people to enjoy fresh Dakhina Hawa about which so much has been written by our poets.

Educated rural people are migrating to the cities like bees. The lack of education is actually a blessing in disguise because if everybody becomes an educated gentleman then who is going to till the lands for producing the food crop.
Nishchinto (21 March 2008)

Dear C,
Although I do not miss any of your columns, this is for the first time I am writing to you and that too about a silly matter. I feel like being a CHINTITO like you. But wishes are not horses. But yesterday all on a sudden I became CHINTITO about my friends. I sent an SMS to all of my friends reading, “For every relation communication is a must”. I was totally astonished having most of my friends calling back which was beyond my expectation. In my view, you are just great but suffering from insomnia. Hats off to you!
Durbar Dey, Chittagong. (22 March 2008)

Dear Ch,
In your last article you have written about the misfortune of the people of our country that they are being promised a better life again and again, but they have been always denied. Their dreams have never come true. It would not be exaggeration to say that the common people of Bangladesh will someday forget to dream. You have written in such a satiric way that the culprits who are responsible for the misery of the people must have been shamed (if they really have shame). Although I read SWM frequently this is the first time I am writing to any magazine. I would like to thank you because you have made me a regular reader of SWM and obviously your column.
Shahnaj Ferdoushi (22 March 2008)

Dear Chintito,
I consider you as my friend and need some advice. I have fallen in love with a girl. We love each other. But I am worried (chintito) that all my friends discourage me to continue my affair with her because she is dark. But in my eyes, she is a beautiful girl. What should I do?
Bakul Kabiraj (23 March 2008)

Get rid of your so-called friends. They are not your friends. Every colour is beautiful on God's earth. Chintito.

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