“Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, razakar! Ke boleche, ke boleche, sairachar- sairachar.” The slogan that translates to ‘Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar! Who says that, who says that, dictator, dictator!’ echoed on the streets of Dhaka as students from several colleges flooded them to protest against job quotas. Bangladesh is in the grips of a massive students’ protest, which has prompted countries, including India, to issue travel advisories.
The agitation against civil service quotas for descendants of freedom fighters intensified and turned violent, resulting in at least six deaths. Schools and colleges have been shut down, and mobile internet and transportation services were suspended as students clashed with security personnel across major cities.
The protests and the slogans referring to Razakars didn’t emerge out of the blue.
SHEIKH HASINA QUESTIONS PROTESTERS ON RAZAKARS
While there had been debates and protests in Bangladesh centred around a quota system in its civil services where 30% of the seats had been reserved for children of freedom fighters or the mukti joddaa, before 2018, a statement by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with a Razakar reference acted as additional fuel for the agitation fire.
“Are the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters not talented? Are only the children and grandchildren of Razakars [collaborators with Pakistan in 1971] talented? Why do they have so much resentment towards freedom fighters? If the grandchildren of the freedom fighters don’t get quota benefits, should the grandchildren of Razakars get the benefit?,” said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a few days ago.
While Hasina’s remark, which stirred memories from the 1971 Liberation War, also fuelled protesters who called the statement “disparaging”. They alleged preferential treatment for the descendants of freedom fighters at the expense of merit.
Hasina’s reference to Razakars, according to the protesting students, was to associate them with “the collaborators with Pakistan in 1971”.
Interestingly, the Supreme Court recently suspended the High Court’s order that upheld the quota reserving 30% civil service seats for the descendants of freedom fighters.
However, Hasina’s statement was not the lone Razakar reference. Following the Prime Minister, her party members fanned the anguish among the protesting students by making similar statements, according to Dhaka-based newspaper The Daily Star.
“Razakars have no right to hold the blood-stained red and green flag of the Liberation War martyrs”, said Dipu Moni, the Social Welfare Minister.
“No demands will be accepted from those who want to become Razakars,” said Mohammad Ali Arafat, the State Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
THE POLITICS OF QUOTA PROTEST IN BANGLADESH
As in numerous protests and movements around the world, the one in Bangladesh over quotas for the descendants of freedom fighters, too, started as an apolitical one. While the friends of the ruling dispensation claim the protests not to be an organic reaction of students, it has not been devoid of political colours.
While the Sheikh Hasina-led ruling party Awami League and its student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, actively tried to repress the movement, the opposition parties, including the Khaleda Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its student wing publicly sided with the protesting students, according to Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladesh expert and post-doctoral researcher at University of Oslo, Norway.
“The protests have been largely peaceful but the ruling party student wing with the support of other ruling party wings and police came down heavily on the protestors,” Mubashar Hasan tells IndiaToday.In.
“The opposition is trying to expand its popular base by aligning with popular demands like the quota movement,” he explains.
Hasina, who won the Bangladesh general polls earlier this year, experts hint that she has been ruling with an iron fist. The January election was boycotted by the BNP. It is possible that the protests aren’t just about job quotas, and an expression of frustration over the Hasina-led Awami League government. Hasina has become the Prime Minister for the fourth consecutive term amid allegations of massive electoral rigging.
Oslo-based Mubashar Hasan believes that the protests, where Hasina is labelled a “dictator”, also indicate doubts about her election engineering.
“Hasina’s government was thriving in disseminating fear in society. Now, it seems that fear has gone away, and as a result it is plausible to argue that there is growing and explicit criticism of Hasina’s leadership and, by publicly calling her dictator through slogans, it is evident that students are questioning her election engineering too,” Mubashar Hasan tells India Today.In.
There are artworks, memes, rap songs, and slogans circulating on social media calling Sheikh Hasina a dictator. It was unthinkable previously, according to Hasan.
To paint all the protesting students as Razakar was clearly not taken kindly, and in turn, ignited the slogan, “Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar! Ke boleche, ke boleche, sairachar- sairachar”. A clear attack on Hasina and her name-calling.
ROLE OF RAZAKAR IN 1971 LIBERATION WAR OF BANGLADESH
The Razakar reference, which has long been a symbol of treachery and betrayal in the eyes of pro-Liberation Bangladeshis, thus hurt the sentiments of the protesting students.
During the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the Razakars, a locally recruited paramilitary force by General Tikka Khan, who is infamous as ‘The Butcher of Bengal’. The Razakars betrayed the Bengalis fighting for their independence by collaborating with the Pakistani army and committing brutal atrocities. Composed of mostly pro-Pakistani Bengalis and Biharis, they assisted the Pakistani military in raids, mass rapes and killings, and torture and arson.
The Razakars, along with other radical religious militias like Al-Badr and Al-Shams, became the face of brutal action, and targeted civilians, students, intellectuals, and religious minorities, who raised their voices against the Pakistani occupation and exploitation of Bangladesh.
The Al-Badr and Al-Shams were raised to counter the Mukti Bahini, the guerrilla resistance movement, backed by the Indian Army.
This betrayal by the Razakars led to the deaths of 3 million Bengalis and the rape of up to 4 million women, making them synonymous with treachery in Bangladesh and those who opposed its liberation.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Razakar remark, endorsed by party leaders, touched a raw nerve and added fuel to the quota agitation fire. In a country where most issues have a 1971 link, Razakar is that part of history not many want to be associated with. And after 50 years, the Razakars are back to haunt Bangladesh.