The Politics of Funeral

When state mechanisms fail, when people do not feel safe to express their opinion, specially in public matters, their grievances, their dissensions find ways in unusual sites. Sometimes it is expressed in the loudness of 'Amen' in unison during the congregation of an Islamic supplication. Some times it is exhibited in the funeral of certain people. And I'm sure there are more outlandish examples out there.

It is etched in my memory that during a night supplication at Mecca the Imam was praying for the well-being of the Muslims around the globe and the betterment of their conditions etc. And every time the congregate would leave no strength to reply with an 'Amen' in unison. The more passionately the Imam asked for their collective needs the louder it got. But as soon as the Imam started to ask for the well-being of its ruling class and the King the loud 'Amen' started to dissolve into diminuendo. Until it ended with a muttering when the Imam specially mentioned its crown Prince.

Up until now, in the history of Bangladesh three largest funerals have been prayed on three distinct incidents that bore national importance. The first one was held when Ziaur Rahman, who first proclaimed Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan and who is the founder of BNP, was assassinated by his own military comrades.

Then there was the funeral of Professor Ghulam Azam, the retired figurehead of Bangladesh Jamaat Islami, who was convicted and imprisoned for life by Hasina's kangaroo court. Remember that this presence was despite all efforts by the then Hasina regime who used to employ every means to prevent any kind of public procession.

The last one we had a few days ago was that of Osman Hadi the promising young leader that rose from the July'24 mass upheaval.

Of these three the largest one was undoubtedly of Hadi's.

 

Compare these janazas with that of Sheikh Mujib's. Who after been killed by some Mukti Bahini members was buried in secret fearing public backlash and desecration of his dead body. Barely a handful of people were present in his janaza. No wonder that no photo or video evidence of that burial ceremony was ever witnessed by the public.

It seems that Hadi's janaza has alarmed the upper echelons of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main contender of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI) in the upcoming election. It should be noted that in both instances where BNP came to power through fair election it needed Jamaat's support. Naturally with the entire leadership of Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) having fled to India after the July'24 mass upheaval, BNP and Jamaat are the only real contenders. Although this is an unprecedented situation in Bangladesh's political landscape where a center-right political party like BNP is contending an Islamist party like Jamaat, machinations are already visible to influence public opinion through made-up election polls, contentious media advocacy and the like.

The shameful tendency to undercount Hadi's janaza presence by BNP's partymen exhibits the role a mere janaza can play in a country where political processes have long been dismantled. BNP even tried to out-compete Hadi's janaza with a larger procession on the occasion of Tariq Rahman's return. And they visibly failed. Yet we saw how all national media tried to aggrandize the reception ceremony in a concerted effort.

But what surprised me the most is the cover of Al-Jazeera. With suspicious synchronicity it echoed the lines of the notorious Delhi Star, widely considered to be the mouthpiece of Indian hegemony, who updated its initial reporting from 'hundreds of people' to 'tens of thousands'.

 

Conversely, we saw a propaganda push by the local media with their news titled in English in contrast to their regular Bengali title and by BNP's social media influencers to prove the presence of a million people in the reception ceremony of Tariq Rahman which is factually wrong. Al-Jazeera again parroted along the same line of a million people presence.

We wonder if this is a deliberate editorial policy of Al-Jazeera or just a reflection of their poor journalistic practices for sourcing local information? It might sound conspiratorial but I wouldn't be surprised if local lobbies or special-interest groups have exploited their system.

But if it is indeed an editorial policy then perhaps we might probe it further to look for a cross-continental geopolitical nexus? In the recent AFG vs PAK conflict we saw how the Saudis sided with PAK and the Qataris with AFG. We wonder if that Gulf tribal fued have anything to do with the local politics of Bangladesh.

Traditionally both BNP and Jamaat have enjoyed the patronage across the Gulf. But in a delicate situation like this our imagination wants to run wild. Depending on how things unfold we might be seeing the Qataris backing BNP in their bid to balance out the Saudi axis and the Saudis then in turn will have to back Jamaat. It is widely perceived that Jamaat has secured the blessings of Türkiye. But in that case BNP in its presumably recent realignment with the Indian hegemony simply has nothing beneficial to offer to the Qataris. And the Qataris are smart enough to not invest for a lost cause.

Is it then just a result of careless journalism from AJ? C'mon!