Sujayendra Das :
H.M. Ershad, once upon a time was a towering personality in Bangladesh politics as well as in defense services. He departed for eternal peace on July 14, but his nonagenarian life was mixture of positives and negatives. In between – I have spoken to some sections of societies about him both in Bangladesh and India but some evoked positives whereas there are quite good numbers of citizens in both nations who chastised him deeply on account of his acts he had committed during his tenures as President and Chief of Army Staff of his country. It is true that human qualities have variations of its own. Some have positiveness in them whereas there are many human beings who are mixture of positive and negative temperaments. Despite all the odds it is the humble responsibility of all human beings to pay reverence to positive aspects of humane lives. Mr Ershad might be controversial and maligned person but still he was an erudite man with special aptitude in literary pursuit.
While analysing Mr Ershad from his political aspect there was streams of jeering and pejorative remarks about him over the way he ran country’s administration for a period of eight years or more than that. In these periods he was utterly ruthless and led the country to tatters. As per the views of intellectual classes of Dhaka city, regime of Ershad was a regime of utter chaos and ruthlessness which led the nation to a total disarray instead of witnessing traces of development’. Anyhow when age advances in the lives of human beings same way General-cum-politician Ershad transformed himself completely and became a man of creativity with tinges of repentance in him. As he is now deceased people will remember him deeply when he started writing poems which created some impact upon societal upliftment. After his demise this writer from the Indian city of Kolkata researched out from some video clippings in the You Tube, and in the subsequent paragraph it is my endeavor to portray his achievements as President of Bangladesh.
General Ershad was able to decentralise the judiciary of Bangladesh. He minimised his ministerial colleagues. Autonomous bodies were reduced to only 109 from 155. He took step to formulate National Drug Policy with banning around 1800 spurious medicines. Development of communication system was another achievement of him. President Ershad laid the foundation for signing of Teesta accord. He was deeply cordial towards India and rest of the globe. He maintained close interactions with friends in his birth place Dinhjata (which is now located in Indian side of Coochbehar). He laid the foundation for oil and gas exploration of Bangladesh. He also laid the foundation for development of domestic and international telecommunication services.
Apart from political prowess, he was also a prolific reader. Irrespective of Ershad’s several negative and positive aspects of his character he was rather a man of excellence which none of his countryperson could deny.
(Sujayendra Das, writes from Kolkata, India)
