Thunderbolt of Words: A Nation's Astonishment
June 27, 2024, Thursday-
Today my mother has an operation. So I didn't sleep after Fajr prayer. Mom gets up in the morning and cleans the house as much as she can. After getting everything ready, mom, dad and my elder sister left for the hospital at 8 o'clock. As soon as they left the house, I turned on the TV and sat on the sofa. I was watching Jamuna TV news on TV when the door bell rang. I asked as I opened the door and saw the paperboy standing with the newspaper.
"Do you know the status of quota?"
The boy said, " I don't read the whole paper today. As far as I read, I did not notice much about the quota. Maybe nothing happened yet."
"The state of our country...!"
Paperboy leaves with the newspaper. I close the door and sit on the sofa. I don't want to read newspaper today. Just wondering what will happen if the quota is not removed! Governments have the power, they can do whatever they want. It will not take a second to kill or disappear their people.
July 4, 2024,Thursday-
My exam started today, Inter 1st year final exam. I'm already not that good as a student, on top of that my mom is sick so studies have been thrown off. Some of these studies were not done at all. I just studie a little last night because of the exam today. But the exam was not that bad. well done I was able to answer from what I read yesterday. Hearing some girls coming out of the examination hall, there is a movement for quota reforms. I don't read newspaper for several days. If the mind is not good, how can the newspaper feel good! I tried to listen to the girls.
"The state of the country...! I will see that Sheikh Hasina will not be able to save her mattress this time. What the students are angry about the quota. "
"This has happened before. Hasina will not leave the mattress before death."
"Oh no, my brother is studying in Dhaka University. And there is a movement going on there too. My brother told me, if Hasina doesn't do something, the students will devour her like a tiger...."
After listening to the girls so much, I left. If the movement has taken place, it means that nothing has really been done about the quota. I pray that the government does something about this quota system before the students' movement becomes evident. Or what students can do is known to all, even history is a witness.....
July 14, 2024, Sunday-
As soon as I come home from my exam, I go to my mother first. Everyone in the house is sitting on the sofa eating and watching TV. My mother was released from the hospital some days ago. Ammu is sick so my great aunt has come to visit her. The day before my mother was discharged from the hospital, Khalamani came home. I sat with them for a while and watched TV. Everyone is watching Bengali dramas on TV. I like Bengali short films, but I don't like what they are watching now. So I got up from the sofa and freshened up.
4 p.m. I picked up the phone after a long time. The phone has not been used these few days due to exams. Currently, my exam is not over, but I have 4 days off before the next exam, so I am sitting on the phone. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's press conference is being shown on ATN TV. I started watching with great interest. Hoping that she might say something about the quota reform movement. She fulfilled my expectations, at 23 minutes and 33 seconds a reporter asked about the quota; She also replied in 24 minutes and 40 seconds. Some lines of her speech stuck in my head.
"The grandchildren of freedom fighters will not get jobs, so will the grandchildren of Razakar get jobs?"
"The children, grandchildren of the freedom fighters are brilliant, or the children, grandchildren of the rajakars are brilliant?"
The two lines said by her started spinning in my head. What did she say? Razakar mean? Who is Rajakar? Who is she calling Rajakar? 16 million people? Are these 16 million people Rajakar? How can a ruler who runs the whole country coordinate her people? Does she not know, for Bengalis the word Razakar is like an insult! So how can she tell the people of her own country? Not once but thrice, she used the word ❝Rajakar❞. And ❝Razakar's children❞ as she said, the people of the country say it as an insult. How can the Prime Minister of a country speak like this in front of so many people, in front of the camera?
A question arose in my mind but I did not get an answer to that question. How to get the answer! The person from whom this question is quoted will no longer be able to give a correct and acceptable answer, in fact she may never be able to give it. She only says her own words and then if people ask any question then she can never give her answer directly. Instead, go away saying something irrational.
When the price of commodities started to rise in the country, the people started moaning, she told us to substitute jackfruit instead of beef, sweet pumpkin instead of brinjal and cooking with water instead of oil. Instead of solving the problem, she showed the people an alternative path. So will she tell the Razakars like us about the option of going abroad!
Then the country will become depopulated.... Where will she find farmers? Where to find day laborers? How will she run the country without those who are helping to develop the country the most? providing taxes? Run the country with 2 lakh freedom fighters? Who will only do government jobs?
After 12 o'clock, I was lying in bed with mosquito nets hanging, when suddenly my best friend Ayesha sent me a link. Clicking on the link brings up a video. In the video, the students are standing outside the hall on a dark night.
In the video they are chanting, "Wanted rights, became a Rajakar..."
While scrolling through Facebook, I also saw some other videos, where slogans were chanted, "Who are you? Who am I? Razakar.... Razakar.... Who said it? Who said it? Dictatorship... Dictatorship..."
Many more such slogans. Nice to see this. Excitement was created in the body. I put the mobile next to the pillow. I feel very peaceful today. I closed my eyes and slept. Today's sleep will be very peaceful. I haven't slept like that for a long time.