鈥業 AM worried.鈥� Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen鈥檚 recent observation on Bangladesh鈥檚 post-fascism situation, for understandable reasons, has received wide publicity. Sen made this comment in an exclusive interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Without doubt, Sen has a keen interest in Bangladesh, and he genuinely wishes for the country鈥檚 socio-economic progress. He never missed an opportunity to mention his roots in Bangladesh and the country鈥檚 achievements since its independence in 1971.
Unfortunately, Sen seems to have a very blinkered view about the country. He warned about the dangers of selective publicity, but ironically, he himself was very selective. He chose to ignore all the misdeeds of Hasina but viewed a few unfortunate post-Hasina incidents of violence against minorities as communal, ignoring the political context and the Awami League鈥檚 鈥榤inority card鈥�.
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Sen, a great humanist, advocate of democracy
Amartya Sen is an ardent advocate of human rights who sees development as freedom. He emphatically rejects the false dichotomy between democracy and development. For him, it is a wrong question to ask whether a country is fit for democracy. To him, 鈥楢 country does not have to be deemed fit for democracy; rather, it has to become fit through democracy鈥�.
Sen emphasises, 鈥楾here is, in fact, no convincing general evidence that authoritarian governance and the suppression of political and civil rights are really beneficial to economic development. Indeed, the general statistical picture does not permit any such induction. Systematic empirical studies 鈥� give no real support to the claim that there is a general conflict between political rights and economic performance鈥�.
Sen further notes, 鈥楶olitical and civil rights give people the opportunity to draw attention forcefully to general needs and to demand appropriate public action. The response of a government to the acute suffering of its people often depends on the pressure that is put on it. The exercise of political rights (such as voting, criticising, protesting, and the like) can make a real difference to the political incentives that operate on a government鈥�.
(Please see Amartya Kumar Sen, 鈥楧emocracy as a Universal Value鈥�, Journal of Democracy, vol. 10, issue 3, July 1999.
Sheikh Hasina is an anti-thesis of Sen. She brutally suppressed democratic and political rights of the people to justify her development narratives. In fact, most dictators use the same argument, as was Field Marshal Ayub Khan when he ruled Pakistan with iron hands. But sadly, Hasina鈥檚 brutality and suppression of political rights surpassed all.
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Sen鈥檚 Bangladesh albatross
Sen is also a great admirer of Sheikh Mujib and his Awami League. As the keynote speaker, Sen spoke about 鈥楤angabandhu & Visions of Bangladesh鈥� at the South Asia Centre of London School of Economics to celebrate Sheikh Mujib鈥檚 birth centenary.听
But Sen never mentions Mujib鈥檚 gross violations of human rights, the extra-judicial killing of more than 30,000 (as reported in Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood by journalist Anthony Mascarenhas), the raising of a private Gestapo-type security force, the rigging of the country鈥檚 first national election in 1973, and turning the country into a one-party state, under his authoritarian leadership.
Although Sen regarded the 1974 famine as man-made, he did not include it on his list of severe famines or disasters that occurred in history due to policy failures, went uncriticised because 鈥榯here were no opposition parties in parliament, no free press, and no multiparty elections鈥�.听
Sen had not said a word about Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 misdeeds but endorsed her brutal and illegitimate regime for keeping the so-called 鈥榗ommunal forces like Jamat鈥� under check, ignoring her trampling of democracy. He even implied that Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 farcical and fraudulent elections were 鈥榝air and free鈥� when he hoped 鈥榝uture elections will be more visibly free than many claim they have been鈥�.
Sen advised against banning the Awami League because that would be divisive. He hoped that the Bengali commitment to freedom and pluralism would persist, falsely implying that the fallen fascist regime had such commitment.
Thus, it seems Sen regards the Awami League as a regular democratic party. He does not seem to know that the Awami League, which Moulana Bhashani established as a party of common people, morphed into a fascistic organisation of kleptocrats under Mujib-Hasina leadership, involving itself in extortions, tortures, and thuggeries. Sen perhaps has no problem that Hitler鈥檚 Nazi Party (officially the National Socialist German Workers鈥� Party) and its symbol are banned in democratic Germany. But he fears trouble if the party of thugs, murders and criminals 鈥� unreformed and unrepentant 鈥� is banned.
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A friend of Yunus!
Sen claims Professor Yunus is his friend and also affirms that he has great confidence in Yunus.听But Sen chose not to say a word of support for Professor Yunus under attack when he came to Dhaka in 2011 to receive an honorary fellowship from the Bangla Academy during Hasina鈥檚 regime. His courting was a ploy or veil that vindictive Hasina used to neutralise or balance her dehumanising attack on Dr Yunus with epitaphs such as shud-khor, blood sucker, etc.听
Sen鈥檚 name was not on the list of over 100 global leaders and Nobel Laureates who signed an open letter of support for Professor Yunus.
Rather than airing his concerns and fears in the media, he could have easily picked up his phone to call his 鈥榝riend鈥� to appraise the situation.
The Sen tale would thereby remind some people of Aesop鈥檚 moral 鈥� a friend in need is a friend indeed.
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Anis Chowdhury is emeritus professor, Western Sydney University (Australia), is an admirer of Amartya Sen, and is a signatory to an open letter by more than 120 progressive economists against harassment of Amartya Sen by Visva-Bharati University. He held senior positions in the area of economic and social affairs at the United Nations in New York and Bangkok.
