Prof Serajul warns of more incidents like ‘Razakar’ photo display

Emeritus Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury believes that if left-leaning political parties in Bangladesh fail to come together and form a united front to bring about a social revolution, incidents like the recent display of photos of "Razakars" at TSC will only become more widespread across the country.

According to him, Bangladesh has now turned into a colony, ruled by the bourgeoisie, reports bdnews24.com. 

The revered intellectual shared his views on Saturday afternoon at a discussion organised by the Anti-Fascism Left Alliance at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in Segun Bagicha.

On Tuesday, to mark the anniversary of the July Uprising, Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir staged an exhibition of photos of convicted war criminals at Dhaka University’s TSC as part of its programme “36 July: We Will Not Stop”, sparking anger among students.

In 1971, Jamaat opposed Bangladesh’s independence and, with the help of the Pakistani occupation forces, formed the Al-Badr and Al-Shams militias.

“Bangladesh has now become a colony. Once it was a British colony, then a Pakistani colony. Now, in an independent, sovereign Bangladesh, the colonial rulers, meaning the bourgeois rulers, are governing in exactly the same way," said Prof Serajul.

“Today, capitalism is rearing its head across the world, and that is also the case in Bangladesh. It was believed that the fall of the [Awami League] government meant the end of fascism, but capitalist fascism has reached an extreme level. As a result, the right-wing is becoming stronger, and US imperialist capitalists are gaining dominance.”

The socialist thinker said that what is needed now is to build a social revolution.

“Those who believe in socialism, who believe in social ownership, must come together to form a united front,” he said.