Our great poet Rabindranath Tagore and many other eminent Bengalis regretted Bengalis living as half-dead people. They lamented for us and tried to revive us with manly courage and self respect to live as full humans.
Can we say that they have been able to impress upon us and change us? Had they succeeded we would not have been where we are now, docile, insensitive and unmoved against all wrongs and lies. In a country like ours where people live without rights and vote are considered as pernicious as fully dead.
I have yet to know how to be proud of us as a great nation living safe and free, despite the fact we have highly educated people. But their education has not changed their inherent Bengali deformity in character of living listlessly as half-dead. Their own safety is the first law.
So generally speaking our educated people have no collective responsibility to us or make the nation an example of pride. Sadly, our educated people are not for us.
If they prefer to live half-dead we have no hope to build a good future. Those who feel glorious for just being Bengali, it is different.
One hundred and seventy million people or more are voiceless and powerless against a minuscule few and live in fear. There is no determination or courage to improve ourselves as a nation alive with a fighting zeal for freedom and dignity.
It is not just the ordinary people who are afraid to act but also anybody in any important position to serve the people is fearful to serve the people. To most of them job is important, which is natural, but with little sense of responsibility to the people or the country. They are oblivious that the money for their jobs comes from the people.
We are living in an age where people are the masters and fighting everywhere against injustices done to people. The people in Hong Kong, Tunisia, Cuba, Palestine, Myanmar and everywhere else, are in the streets protesting not to remain servile and suffer. Laying down their lives to gun wielding people paid by people, but not yielding.
After long struggle and huge loss of lives, we find that the practice of democracy is nobody’s business. The rule of law is the civilised living to give people the protection of law for their safety has little or no meaning. If one is lucky one gets some help after two or three stages. The truth is like half-dead a man freed has no need.
The state is a polity but we do not need political knowledge, experience or intellectual freedom of debate for discharging the great responsibility of running the country sensibly and rightly. The loyalty against the people is so easily purchasable with public money.
Our weakness of character is known to us also and much discussed but we are not ready to cure the suicidal virus of selfishness at the cost of the people and the country. The half-dead people cannot be worth listening to.
It has been proved that the government is so blindly organised that it cannot see its way to do anything about the mess and suffering of the people. The pillars of the government have been broken. Running the government has become arrogance of power to too many people.
Our future lies in those who are ready to defy living half-dead, sick and senseless and who will depend on the wisdom of the wise.
