One can imagine how abysmally the political environment of our country has been polluted, how nasty the insatiable greed of our leaders has begun to turn, how corruption has been rampant in every sphere of our life and how rule of law is being trampled over by the empowered that the only son of our first prime minister who is supposed to carry forward the standard his father was upholding has at long last decided he can no more afford to engage himself in active politics in Bangladesh. What a shame! What a tragedy!
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One of the rare statesmen we find in the political history of Bangladesh who was never greedy for power, whose clarion calls and diplomatic maneuvers had moved many nations of the world to lend their supports for our freedom movement, who by nature always shunned publicity, whose only dream during and after our liberation war was our salvation through safeguarding our liberty and sovereignty, whose extraordinary academic background was a cause of heartburn to many of our shallow-hearted politicians, whose command of both Bangla and English languages was so profound, who was ever ready to sacrifice his life for the welfare of our nation, and without whose Himalayan contributions in those days of our liberation struggles our victory on the 16th of December 1971 would have been next to impossible was the first and the founding prime minister of Bangladesh: Tajuddin Ahmad. People, who care even a little about the future of our nation, must have visualized the divine face of Tajuddin Ahmed as they were reading a news report that Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj, son of the country's first Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad, resigned as a lawmaker and declared that he would no longer be involved in active politics. Who else could do so? Who else has been so well groomed to shun greed for power?
One can imagine how abysmally the political environment of our country has been polluted, how nasty the insatiable greed of our leaders has begun to turn, how corruption has been rampant in every sphere of our life and how rule of law is being trampled over by the empowered that the only son of our first prime minister who is supposed to carry forward the standard his father was upholding has at long last decided he can no more afford to engage himself in active politics in Bangladesh. What a shame! What a tragedy!
On May 31, 2009, Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj had stepped down as state minister for home following what he told his close aides was a row with someone very close to a very important leader of the present government. Taj had demanded that the government issued a gazette notification on his resignation as state minister, as he thinks his dignity and the image of the government were getting tarnished for not doing so. He also said the government must take back around Tk 40 lakh deposited in his account as remuneration and allowances for the ministerial post. Then he felt impelled to quit from his post also as a law maker. The resignation of this young politician, who was elected as a member of parliament from Gazipur-4 constituency in 2001 and 2008 national polls, has come as a sudden shock to the whole nation at a time when the greed of some of our politicians has come as a terrible shame to the whole world.
Will we find a leader like Tajuddin Ahmed, our first prime minister, or at least like his son Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj who could navigate us in this juncture of the leadership crisis in Bangladesh? The probability for such a prospect, when politics means commercial trading, seems thin.
I was also wondering out of frustrations whether any of the daughters of Tajuddin Ahmed would ever come forward to fill the gap left by their brother as I was reading an excellent booklet titled “Biplober Desh Mishorey” written by Sharmin Ahmad Reepi, the eldest daughter of Tajuddin Ahmed.
While narrating in the booklet her vivid experiences on the recent movement of Egyptian liberation from dictatorship Sharmin Ahmad Reepi had mentioned she was overwhelmed when she was invited by her husband, Amr Khairy Abdalla, an Egyptian who is now Vice Rector of the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica, to visit Tahrir Square in Egypt on the first anniversary of Egyptian Revolution. The invitation was a pleasant surprise from her husband as a Valentine Day gift.
Sharmin Ahmad Reepi in her booklet “Biplober Desh Mishorey” wrote: “In the past, Amr gave me many gifts with pleasant surprises on many of our special occasions. But, this gift on the Valentine Day is unique indeed. This gift entwines merriment with respect. This gift was a window for me to see liberty of people. As I was relishing Amr’s Valentine Day gift, my soul was lost in ecstasy. I probed into the album of my memories where I could vividly read what my father Tajuddin Ahmad firmly believed in about liberty and wrote in a manuscript: ‘Slavery of a nation casts a dark shadow of subjugation for the whole humanity and liberty of a nation unleashes a dazzling floodlight of freedom for the whole mankind.’ ”
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One of the rare statesmen we find in the political history of Bangladesh who was never greedy for power, whose clarion calls and diplomatic maneuvers had moved many nations of the world to lend their supports for our freedom movement, who by nature always shunned publicity, whose only dream during and after our liberation war was our salvation through safeguarding our liberty and sovereignty, whose extraordinary academic background was a cause of heartburn to many of our shallow-hearted politicians, whose command of both Bangla and English languages was so profound, who was ever ready to sacrifice his life for the welfare of our nation, and without whose Himalayan contributions in those days of our liberation struggles our victory on the 16th of December 1971 would have been next to impossible was the first and the founding prime minister of Bangladesh: Tajuddin Ahmad. People, who care even a little about the future of our nation, must have visualized the divine face of Tajuddin Ahmed as they were reading a news report that Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj, son of the country's first Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad, resigned as a lawmaker and declared that he would no longer be involved in active politics. Who else could do so? Who else has been so well groomed to shun greed for power?
One can imagine how abysmally the political environment of our country has been polluted, how nasty the insatiable greed of our leaders has begun to turn, how corruption has been rampant in every sphere of our life and how rule of law is being trampled over by the empowered that the only son of our first prime minister who is supposed to carry forward the standard his father was upholding has at long last decided he can no more afford to engage himself in active politics in Bangladesh. What a shame! What a tragedy!
On May 31, 2009, Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj had stepped down as state minister for home following what he told his close aides was a row with someone very close to a very important leader of the present government. Taj had demanded that the government issued a gazette notification on his resignation as state minister, as he thinks his dignity and the image of the government were getting tarnished for not doing so. He also said the government must take back around Tk 40 lakh deposited in his account as remuneration and allowances for the ministerial post. Then he felt impelled to quit from his post also as a law maker. The resignation of this young politician, who was elected as a member of parliament from Gazipur-4 constituency in 2001 and 2008 national polls, has come as a sudden shock to the whole nation at a time when the greed of some of our politicians has come as a terrible shame to the whole world.
Will we find a leader like Tajuddin Ahmed, our first prime minister, or at least like his son Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj who could navigate us in this juncture of the leadership crisis in Bangladesh? The probability for such a prospect, when politics means commercial trading, seems thin.
I was also wondering out of frustrations whether any of the daughters of Tajuddin Ahmed would ever come forward to fill the gap left by their brother as I was reading an excellent booklet titled “Biplober Desh Mishorey” written by Sharmin Ahmad Reepi, the eldest daughter of Tajuddin Ahmed.
While narrating in the booklet her vivid experiences on the recent movement of Egyptian liberation from dictatorship Sharmin Ahmad Reepi had mentioned she was overwhelmed when she was invited by her husband, Amr Khairy Abdalla, an Egyptian who is now Vice Rector of the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica, to visit Tahrir Square in Egypt on the first anniversary of Egyptian Revolution. The invitation was a pleasant surprise from her husband as a Valentine Day gift.
Sharmin Ahmad Reepi in her booklet “Biplober Desh Mishorey” wrote: “In the past, Amr gave me many gifts with pleasant surprises on many of our special occasions. But, this gift on the Valentine Day is unique indeed. This gift entwines merriment with respect. This gift was a window for me to see liberty of people. As I was relishing Amr’s Valentine Day gift, my soul was lost in ecstasy. I probed into the album of my memories where I could vividly read what my father Tajuddin Ahmad firmly believed in about liberty and wrote in a manuscript: ‘Slavery of a nation casts a dark shadow of subjugation for the whole humanity and liberty of a nation unleashes a dazzling floodlight of freedom for the whole mankind.’ ”
