Human attraction to forbidden things is insatiable. The first man in the history of the world was Adam or Aadam. If he had not eaten the forbidden fruit with Eve, we would not have had the human race. This attraction was so strong that Adam, avoiding the touch of the paradise of heaven, came down to the world of earth. What an attraction! What an insatiable attraction.
There is a wonderful historical story behind this ban. As you know, in the newly established Russia or Soviet Union, Lenin banned a book by Boris Pasternak. Legend has it that Lenin was like this: when a child or infant is given a glass of sugar, due to his addiction to sweets, he eats it without considering the good or bad. Which is fatal for his body. Saving him from this is the duty of the parents as well as the duty of the nation and the head of the government or country. That is why the book was banned. What is the result? Even after the ban was lifted, people were eager to read this book, and it still has a following in the world today. Yet it is a very ordinary book.
Bengali writer Buddhadev Bose. The gentleman was ahead of his time. I always say, if Buddhadev Bose had not been born, we would still have to write prose in the style of Bankim or Rabindranath or Nazrul. The discussion of good or bad is pointless. The main thing is that Buddhadev Bose taught us to write prose in small sentences. One of his unique novels is called “Raat Bhare Brishti”. The novel has three characters who tell their own stories. It is believed that Premanshu is Buddhadev Bose, Malati is his wife Pratibha Bose and Jayant is Nazrul. A case was filed against this love triangle novel on charges of nudity. This novel was temporarily banned. But there was nothing special about it. This story, which went all the way to the court, raised the novel to the heights of the sky. The reader swallowed it because of being banned or because it was criticized.
Samaresh Basu is another leader of our Bengali literature. His novel, which was banned, has survived with a certain force. The accusers and the experts of banning it have disappeared.
These are examples but they are real. In fact, if the aggression in banning is not systematic and logical, it will not last. The Awami League, which ruled the country with great power for fifteen to sixteen years, had banned Jamaat in various ways. The reality is that they could not do politics in the open field. If it had been the case that they could have done politics without opposing the Liberation War, opposing the country and conspiring against 1971, would we have seen today’s reality? As far as it seems, we could not have seen it. Just as the left-wing hardliners spread their monocentric ideology, they talked about Jamaat and their religion-based politics. Whether people would accept it or not would have been a matter of consideration. But that did not happen.
The main point is, no one or any group or opinion can be stopped through banning. You will almost always see a fuss about the book of such and such a writer. The price on the head of those writers is declared to be lakhs of taka. Except for one or two, the rest survive just fine. Even if you are disappointed after reading it, the result of that book is to make the world happy. In other words, whatever the book is, the author has become a celebrity and the book has got a raw market. After knowing all this, the game or tendency to ban it does not go away.
Recently, a bill was passed in the country to ban the activities of Awami League, one of the oldest parties in this country and the subcontinent. Hasn’t such a bill been passed before? All the more cruel bills were passed. Did the indemnity law not to try Bangabandhu, the father of the country, the architect of the Liberation War and independence, and his family, survive? One by one, almost all of them were hanging on the noose. The meaning is simple, banning history or the course of time by law cannot be stopped. Just like throwing big stones cannot block the flow of water or the path of a river.
I am not a politician. I do not belong to any party. But I love the land and people of my country’s liberation war and the war-won land. That is why my history is my document. Is it possible to ban the Awami League, which is associated with this pride, if you want? If it were possible, the leaders who have been in power for only one and a half years and have become arrogant would talk nonsense? The essence of what they are saying now is walking backwards. When you see these people denying responsibility one by one and claiming to be innocent, you will understand how powerful the power of truth is.
I was surprised to see Asif Nazrul expressing his incompetence regarding the demolition of Dhanmondi 32 and saying, “Wasn’t it right?” All the people of a government saw the movie, saw the drama, saw the bulldozer, saw the demolition, and now they are saying it wasn’t right. Then you will say that they are in the same place as before?
I was surprised to notice that since the ban was announced, there has been a flood of posts on social media. There is a tide everywhere inside and outside the country. People are writing in that tide without any hesitation that we are party members. For some reason, it seems like someone has thrown a stone at Bhimrul’s house. Or the stone has fallen in the mouth of the stopped stream. Now who will stop this continuous flow? Who will ban this support or love?
Banning is not the solution. Rather, democracy can only work if everyone is given a chance and given what they deserve. Which was also the case during Ziaur Rahman’s reign. The rule of multi-party democracy is to accept everyone’s opinion. Of course, murderers, sinners or thieves are different. They must be punished. And the country and the country’s politics must be kept out of the ban. I can’t even write about good deeds because good deeds are almost on the way to being banned. Still, the first day of Baishakh fell on a Tuesday. Who knows which people will leave and which will be kept?
Writer: Ajay Dasgupta, a Bangladeshi poet, author, and journalist residing in Sydney
