As a British-Bangladeshi writer and filmmaker based in the United Kingdom, I feel a deep sense of urgency to speak out — not from a place of distance, but from connection, memory, and responsibility. Bangladesh stands at a pivotal crossroads. For decades, Bangladesh has been caught in a vicious cycle of corruption, violence and broken promises. From the autocratic rule of the National Party or Jatiya Party to the political hegemony of the Bangladesh Awami League and the misrule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the people have suffered deeply. The dream of independence has been stained by the years of misrule and neglect.
Honorable Chief Advisor, instead of the promised golden Bengal, we have watched power concentrated in the hands of a few, while the many are crushed under poverty, injustice and fear. The cycle of false hope and betrayal has repeated itself so many times that it now feels like fate. But it is not. It is a result of choices by those in power, and by those who failed to challenge them. We now stand on the brink of something irreversible. The political forces that have ruled this nation since 1971 have each, in turn, desecrated the hopes of liberation. The Awami League — with nearly two decades in power and so-called political structure — has turned governance into a family affair, a dynasty that uses the police, courts and civil service as the tools of control. The BNP, having been involved with many corrupt misdeeds, has returned not with reform, but with a vengeance, almost bullying its way back through fear, muscle power and extortion. Jamaat-e-Islami lurks quietly in the background, waiting to drag the country backwards into sectarianism and dogma. The left is a fractured chorus flattering the ruling regime for crumbs.
This is the vacuum in which the people looked toward you, not as a politician but as a statesman, a moral figure, a man untouched by the poison of Bangladeshi politics and a builder (not a destroyer). You are believed to be a voice of reason in a nation gasping for decency but it is growing fainter. Once so full of promise, you now risk becoming almost absent. This is not because you lack brilliance or courage in the academic sense. Rather it is because you are still being played by the rules of a rigged game. You are trying to write poetry in a burning house, negotiate with wolves while they circle closer and to win back the soul of a nation with patience, when the time calls for tougher actions for addressing concerns.
Photo credit: https://edition.cnn.com/.
Honorable Chief Advisor, just days ago, a businessman named Sohag was murdered in broad daylight in Old Dhaka. Dragged into the street, stomped, hacked and stoned to death by political thugs. Why? According to available sources, it is because he refused to pay chada — extortion money. The perpetrators are linked to a political party. The murder was captured on CCTV, yet no one from the government and society intervened. We have normalized political terrorism. It is our collective shame. What we are witnessing is not politics, it is gang rule — recycled under different banners — that reflects the extant political structure and culture. One government or party kills democracy and establishes a political dynasty in the name of political stability, some other parties keep most of the so-called political cultural norms. Still, some other parties have not shown any genuine and convincingly promising political ideologies. But all the while, ordinary people are the most sufferers.
Honorable Dr. Muhammad Yunus, my understanding is that it is not possible to transform Bangladesh without being tougher — when it is needed. It is difficult to inspire the nation by playing on safe ground. Your moral ground is useless if it is not used at this crucial time. You are being hounded and suppressed by a system, not because of what you have done but because of what you may do for Bangladesh. It is crucial to speak clearly and loudly than ever, not just about poverty or social business, but about the rot at the core of our political structure and culture. Politics cannot survive the extant political structure and culture.
The nation no longer needs a reformer. It needs a transformer. Someone willing to remove what is decayed so that something new may grow. Like a caterpillar breaking its body to become a butterfly, transformation is not playing with safe ground. This is about whether Bangladesh will escape the clutches of organized political crime disguised as democracy. You need to do something real to improve politics and the so-called political culture.
Zakir Hossain
Writer-Director
The United Kingdom
Email:zakir_hossain_film@yahoo.co.uk
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