Bangladesh News

Hundreds of people in a festive mood gathered round the Mirpur10 roundabout. If you, for any reason, happen to miss the banners dangling from the foot over bridge at the roundabout, you would surely consider this a festival. But in fact, this seemingly cultural event is organised as part of the ongoing campaign to create public opinion against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Aziz.
As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. The eerie calm over the uncertainty of chief election commissioner’s stepping down started to dissolve as soon as adviser Mahbubul Alam saw ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ after Monday’s meeting with the CEC. The city, it seemed, started rocking with the zeal of the 14-party activists who were on movement for a long time.

The third phase of the blockade starting on November 20 was not like the recent blockade days. It seemed city dwellers were choked in fear and uncertainty. Vehicular movement was down drastically. Academic institutions, commercial establishments and even the kitchen markets witnessed an unusual calm.

Reena Amin, a street singer, has recently turned out to be the most endearing person to city dwellers for her parody songs, ‘Aziz, tor lojja- shorom nai? jonogoner kotha akbar bhaiba dakhna bhai. Aziz, tor mathay nai re chul, podottag na koriley korbi boro bhool’ ( O shameless Aziz! Don’t you have a bit of shame? Think of the mass for once. You will regret it if you don’t step down.)

On the second day of the blockade, the worn out ‘waste land’ became alive. Tens of thousands of people gathered round the performers at Tejgaon, Mohakhali, Mirpur 1 and 10, Gabtoli, Shyamoli, Shukrabad, Russell square, the High Court premises, Paltan, Uttara, Jatrabari and Kachpur. Spontaneous street children danced to the tunes of songs and got huge rounds of applause from the crowd.

In most cases, the singers sang on the CEC’s removal, but at times songs of people’s agony during the four-party alliance’s five years tenure were also performed -’Jalaiya bazarey agun, khaleda kothay geli re, de na dakha akbar amarey’, (You set the essentials on fire, where have you gone, Khaleda? Why don’t you dare appear before us now?).

At Bangabandhu Avenue, yesterday, performers staged a drama on the liberation war of 1971 portraying dreadful acts committed by the collaborators and war criminals. Near at the Gulistan cinema hall, another cultural show was organised by Bangladesh Cinema Artists’ Association where popular movie personality ATM Shamsuzzaman, well known for his villainous roles, delivered a mock-speech.

Street vendors did a brisk business at all rally venues. Some were selling nuts, some bananas and some sweets. In front of Shukrabad, some were even selling Khichuri (a hotchpotch of rice and lentil). Among all these vendors bottled water sellers were the busiest.

Whatever songs or dramas were staged against the CEC, election was after all in the minds of all rally goers, ‘Khaleda Nizami desher bhalo chaay na , Khomotay ashbe ebar Sheikh Hasina’ (Khaleda-Nizami do not want people’s welfare, Sheikh Hasina is the right one to run the country)

The most significant part of the ongoing movement is, it was non-violent. Songs on the liberation war and current politics at the street shows rejuvenated the city dwellers. Women’s participation at these rallies was the sign of growing political awareness among women.