Stop pampering Hifazat or prepare to don burqa, hijab: Ajay Roy to PM

Prof Ajay Roy has cautioned that unless the government stop pampering the Islamic group Hifazat-e-Islam and take action against it, Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina herself may one day have to wear 'burqa'.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 29 Jan 2017, 09:52 PM
Updated : 29 Jan 2017, 09:52 PM

Participating in a discussion on the threats faced by primary and secondary education in the country at the National Liberation War Museum in Dhaka on Sunday, the academic painted a gloomy picture of days ahead if the government failed to take action against the group.

"We would like to rightly tell the government to identify and expose the Hifazati elements in themselves. Otherwise, you cannot establish a secular Bangladesh," the Dhaka University UGC professor said.

Without mincing words, he went on to say, "I shall say this by name, yes this is Ajay Roy saying, one day you, daughter of the Bangabandhu, even you will have to wear burqa and hijab.”

“The Hifazat will not spare even you...stop this Hifazatization…stop publishing such textbooks and let the Hifazat bear the financial loss."

"How dare you omit Rabindranath, Atul Prasad, Dwijendralal? Where do you get that audacity?" the academic said demanding action against those responsible for dropping Hindu and liberal Muslim writers from the curriculum.

The government caved into the pressure from the fundamentalist group and made the changes in textbooks.

Former caretaker government adviser Rasheda K Choudhury criticising the changes in textbooks termed it’s "going back to darkness."

She said that a king of 'tsunami' was threatening to wash away 'our spirit of secularism, our spirit of the liberation.'

"We are not surprised; we are stunned! What has happened... why did it happen...for what purpose did it happen?"

"A kind of smokescreen was built up; no one took responsibility. How did these changes take place? Of the 17 pieces omitted, 15 were by writers not belonging to the mainstream community," she observed with shock.

She said that this 'value-degradation' cannot be accepted.

Referring to a report in the New York Times she said, "They (Hifazat-e Islam) are claiming responsibility, proudly telling the New York Times that these are un-Islamic."

Criticising the failure to bring the religious madrasas under state regulation, she wondered what the constitution was meant for.

She said that if the changes in textbooks were meant with an eye on the elections, then it would hardly bring the Awami League any benefits.

She said that the failure to control those responsible for the change could lead to a situation where attacks like the one on Holey Artisan could no longer be prevented.

Dhaka University History Professor Syed Anwar Hossain also came down heavily on the government for the changes in the textbooks in line with Hifazat demands.

"What was stalled by the students' protest against Pakistan's Sharif Khan Commission, has been allowed to be implemented by the liberation-sympathising government bowing to Hifazat aspirations," he said.

Observing that barring the left all political parties in the country practice 'religious politics', he said that the textbook change just vindicated that.

He observed that barring Abul Fazal, there has been no 'educated' person to man the ministry of education, he went on to quote Rabindranath Tagore to underscore what he meant by education.

"Knowledge is easy; education is difficult, Rabindranath said," he observed.

He also said that apart from the Qudrat-i-Khuda education commission, there has been no proper education commission in Bangladesh as the ones manning them had little or no contribution by way of writing or thinking in the field.

He said that education relying just on the state of results of examinations was creating a 'political threat' to the country.

He alleged that the government at present is appeasing the Jamaat-Islami and the Hifazat-e Islam.

"At one time it (government) went hard on them. Now they have gone soft."

Several other speakers representing various other religious and social organisations spoke on the occasion.