Is the nation ready to celebrate the Victory Day?

Today's quinquagenarians, sexagenarians and septuagenarians were children, teenagers or youths these days back in 1971. Octogenarians, if of course they are fortunate to live this long, were mostly in the prime of their youth or in their early mid-life. Compared to the 2022's average life expectancy of 70.8 for men and 74.2 for women, people which were born in the late 40s, early 50s and 60s had a shorter longevity for reasons understandable. Barring a rare few, the octogenarians are unlikely to precisely relive the thrill and excitement they experienced in this month 52 years ago. Only the handful who still maintain good health and are gifted with a sharp memory can perhaps recollect the days that first began with the joint command of the Mukti Bahini and the Indian Army. This was followed by the recognition of Bangladesh as a free and sovereign country first by Bhutan and then immediately by India.

Freedom fighters who advanced on different war fronts are unlikely to miss the single detail of those decisive days. Some who lost their comrades-in-arms, some others who sustained minor to life-threatening injuries but survived can see those as vividly as it is happening right now. Those who lost their organs bear the painful memory all the time. Proud but certainly awfully frustrated they are to see that the land they fought to liberate has deviated from the course they dreamt of.

What is most regrettable is that amidst the hullaballoo of a national election and opposition to it by some contending parties, the very month that brought the nation its cherished and ultimate victory has taken a back seat. The exuberance and euphoria usually reserved for this month has been replaced by uncanny excitement on the one side and the grim mood and destructive policy on the other. The nation seems to be most ill prepared for celebrating the Victory Day this time.

But it is the time when the aging population, who were witness to the making of history, making of a nation or actively fought on the war front, inside the country as guerrilla fighters and participated in other capacities for making it happen, find themselves in the throes of expectation. In a way the entire nation, excepting the collaborators, was in the war. Even the refugees who had to flee to India had indirectly contributed to the cause of liberation. They lived a sub-human life in those nine months and they too were following with bated breath the international moves and developments after India joined the war.

What a time it was! It surely was the best of times in the life of the people of this land. Right at the time they were thinking that the worst was over and before long become a free nation, the Nixon-Kissinger duo known for their evil genius actually deployed the US Navy's Seventh Fleet in the Bay of Bengal. To counter this the Soviet Union also ordered its Mediterranean fleet to the Bay of Bengal in support of India. It is, therefore, the time to recapitulate the momentous events of December 1971. Instead, the nation is now engaged in acts inimical to the spirit of Liberation War and the sanctity of this month. Myopic, narrow and self-seeking politics is getting over the Bangalees' most treasured memory and achievements. The nation is failing to rise up to the loftiest of feelings and spirits that made the achievement possible.

How does a divided nation now propose to celebrate the Victory Day? Apart from the ritualistic celebration, there is a need for being honest and passionate about this success story. Politicians are giving the impression that they are concerned about anything but what moved today's sexagenarians and septuagenarians to take up arms against the barbaric Pakistani forces. Political parties needed mending the fences to be equal to the observance of the occasion.

Rather, the country is riven by fractious politics and it is so vitriolic that the universal franchise is not becoming what it really should be. Political parties are going their own ways ---a number of them to participate in the election boycotted by others. Routine blockades and hartals, on the other hand, are going on endlessly. Vehicles in their hundreds have so far been set on fire all across the country. This certainly makes people who have to perform their office duty and other businesses nervous but cannot refrain them from attending their routine works. But some do indeed have to pay a heavy price for no fault of their own as they become unsuspecting targets of arson attacks.

The unfolding political spectre is growing murkier and people are keeping their fingers crossed about how ominous it would be but no parties do care what the common people, who fall victim to the senseless rivalry, would like the parties to do. More importantly, the generations that fought the war is on their way out of the scene. They are pained to see the escalation of bitter enmity. The country they liberated certainly deserve better.