Bhangra Desh - The Bangladesh debacle

Year of the lord 1971 a new nation was born- not without labor pains- it was almost a Cesarean delivery! The patient was East Pakistan and gynaecologist Doctor was from India.

Simply put this was third nation to be born out of Bharat Mata in recent history. In 1947 as we got freedom we were divided in two nations- India and Pakistan. Pakistan had a funny unusual geographical structure- with West Pakistan having a land mass of 881,913 sq km and East Pakistan having 148,460 sq km. West was almost six times larger and also played the big daddy having the power to govern the East.

With most of the ruling elite having immigrated westward from India, West Pakistan was chosen as the nation’s political centre dominated by Punjabis. Between 1947 and 1970, East Pakistan (which would eventually become Bangladesh) received only 25 percent of the country’s industrial investments and 30 percent of its imports, despite producing 59 percent of the country’s exports. West Pakistani elites saw their eastern countrymen as culturally and ethnically inferior, and an attempt to make Urdu the national language (less than 10 percent of the population in East Pakistan had knowledge of Urdu) was seen as further proof that East Pakistan's interests would be ignored by the government. Though West had more area, East was more populous and had more seats in parliament.

Elections were held in 1970. While West Pakistan’s votes were split between different parties, an overwhelming majority of votes in East Pakistan went to the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who campaigned on a platform of Bengali autonomy. This was not acceptable and general Yahya Khan instituted martial law. Riots and strikes erupted across East Pakistan, with Mujibur as leader announcing the start of a civil disobedience movement on March 7, 1971. Operation Search light was set into motion and Pakistani army started massacre of Bengalis in east. Citizens started fleeing to India and by November 1971 that number had risen to nearly 10 million. Pakistan declared war on India in Mid-December but was defeated and a new nation was born with Mujib as the president.

Cost to India

We captured 93,000 Pakistani soldiers but lost close to 4000 soldiers in this fight. And thousands more wounded- a heavy price we paid by India. Later according to Shimla agreement India returned almost a lakh soldiers and captured territory too. Bangladesh prospered but gradually Pakistan got into terrorism full time and went down economically.

Relations with Bangladesh were cordial and for India we had largely a peaceful coexistence and all was quiet on the eastern front thereafter. West Pakistan, now only Pakistan always had a grouse against India and resorted to policy of ‘bleeding India with thousand cuts’. Akin to situation ‘since Jhatka was not possible, go for Halal- drop by drop.’ It did not work and the butchers knife boomeranged and cut them into shreds economically as well politically.

Bhangra Desh

All was going well with this new and young nation -53 years old. There was political stability, very good economic growth and quality of life was consistently becoming better and better for a common man. As if every body lived happily thereafter.

Bhangra is a type of traditional folk dance of Punjab. In a typical performance, several dancers execute vigorous kicks, leaps, and bends of the body—often with upraised, thrusting arm or shoulder movements to the beat of a dhol . An energetic Punjabi dance, bhangra originated with Punjabi farmers as a cultural and communal celebration. It got adapted in all Punjabi weddings and family functions too. Obviously, such functions were laced with alcohol as a mark of celebration. No Punjabi function can be celebrated without a big dash of ‘daru’. Liquor does pep you up in more than one way and mostly in fact without exception some guys went a bit overboard in their happier moments- too glad. And it is then a situation of let down your hair and let go. People go berserk and to an outsider it looks chaotically rowdy. All brakes fail and it is difficult sometimes to stop the enthusiastic dancers and an elderly man – usually the head of the family-has to come and say ‘oye hun buss ho jao, kaffee ho gaya’. It is like ‘how is the josh’? And josh is uncontrollable and next morning when liquor starts showing the signs of receding the guys realised that last night was over the top. For some it is moment of reckoning.

Bangladesh also got into some kind of frenzy all of a sudden and it was not a celebration, instead was a deliberation of sorts. All of a sudden student’s agitation started against reservations and then it took an ugly turn. The PM Sheikh Hasina had to use force and this dance of ‘undemocracy’ went out of control. The army refused to listen to the PM and she had to flee the country within 45 minutes to take refuge in India. The old man to stop the Bhangra was 84 year old Mohammad Yunas who parachuted into this He was expected to cool down tempers but had a tough task ahead as the whole nation was high on some heady ‘unknown energy potion’. The jury is still out as to why this Bhangra started and who started it. The world at large is still not clear as to who engineered it or was it organic- yet so organised and quick. Bangladesh became Bhangradesh.

After shocks

Once the people get back to normal state of sanity after the liquor potion effect is over, the nation will pay a heavy price for dancing and killing each other on the roads. Economy will take the first hit and common man dancing hard for several weeks will be hit by a sledge hammer of poverty and unrest. Marks and Spencer a global apparel brand had outsourced most of its manufacturing to Bangladesh- don’t know how will this move forward as the nation moves backwards?

We sacrificed 4000 OF OURS ( IN VAIN?) to make them Bangladesh from east Pakistan and they killed their own in hundreds to make it East Pakistan again- at least situation wise – BACK TO SQUARE ONE.

India be warned

Most likely this was not organic but was engineered by bigger powers. People from India must remain alert and safeguard your interests and sovereignty. That is the most important thing for a human being. Belonging to a nation that is stable and safe.

This is a very important article in today’s geopolitical context and the whole world is in a state of chaotic flux. The western powers feel that they are losing their hegemony and grip over smaller nations who are becoming economically stronger and are no more at their mercy. The powers like US and others may be conniving together to destabilize the entire global south- which will be a steady state of dominance for them. They are again doing that divide and rule game by pitching one against the other. Pakistan is desperate for survival and China is looking for expansion- so why not share the booty? Therefore, US and China would definitely benefit if Bangladesh is destabilized. And remains so- this will also hurt India as the refugees will yet again try to cross over to India for safety and livelihood. They will take the situation back by 50 years as it was in 1970 in East Pakistan then. That time Army was killing them but today they are killing each other- no cost destabilization. Also killing two birds without a stone! Once the insiders connive it makes the task of big rogue powers much easier. Unfortunately, such a fertile situation exists in India too. We have enough jaichands, the left liberals and some sections of political opposition who would be glad to sell their own nation to grab power.

Cow manure is a haven for beneficial microorganisms crucial to soil fertility. These beneficial microorganisms are fungi and bacteria, which break the organic cow manure, allowing the nutrients to be absorbed by the plants.
Unfortunately, we have piles of cow dung within our own people. We also have earth worm like slimy guys who also make an area fertile- in this case for foreign powers.