Sultana Kamal has urged the women rights activists to give no excuses for not taking up the fight against religious extremism. The human rights campaigner gave the example of her late mother poet Sufia Kamal’s fight and said the trend of backing off for personal interests has affected everyone now.
“Okay, so what happens if you speak? There will be no result if you do not speak out. Then why don’t you speak?” she asked.
“You are not talking for fear of doing something, taking risks. We run our organisations by safeguarding many interests,” she said.
She was speaking at a programme to mark the 17th death anniversary of her mother.
“We are wrapping ourselves with the cover of interests. We are pulling ourselves backwards, giving the excuse that nothing can be done,” Sultana Kamal said.
Poet Sufia Kamal was also a woman rights campaign leader and a pioneer of many movements, including those against religious bigotry and communalism. She spent her life on women empowerment and literary works.
She took an active part in every freedom struggle of the Bengali nation, including the Language Movement, struggle for independence, Liberation War and anti-autocracy movement.
Speaking about her, Sultana Kamal said, “We now always think of saving ourselves first, but Sufia Kamal was against this idea. “When she started work as a teenager, was the situation any better than it is now? Did she fear anything?… She didn’t,” Sultana Kamal added.
She was critical of the Awami League for ‘negotiating with religious extremists for votes’, despite being the party that led the struggle for independence. PRIP Trust Executive Director Aroma Dutta, Mahila Parishad President Ayesha Khatun, Hill Women’s Federation President Chanchana Chakma, among others, were present.
