Using a wartime slur to score political points

The Razakar Bahini was a paramilitary force created by the Pakistan Army with local collaborators during the Liberation War in 1971. After liberation, it became a popular term of derision and abuse to denote those who acted against our struggle for freedom and the Mukti Bahini, and those who helped the Pakistan occupational forces during the war. The Razakars were directly involved with the killings of our intellectuals just before our victory on December 16.

After liberation, Razakars were treated as pariahs in our society. Even their descendants have not been spared of this disgraceful tag, and have had to bear the brunt of the stigma. However, the absence of an official list of Razakars has, more often than not, allowed people and political parties to abuse the term to attack their opponents. A partial list of Razakars was prepared in December 2019, but the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs withdrew it amid huge controversy and criticism, as the flawed list contained the names of many Language Movement veterans and freedom fighters.

For the Awami League, the party which led the country to liberation from the Pakistan occupational forces, a Razakar is a face of anti-liberation and communal force. The largest secular democratic party of the country used this slur to run smear campaigns against the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami as well. Unfortunately, the dubious tag has turned against the ruling party, with its leaders and activists now freely using "Razakar" to slander each other and malign political reputations of inner party rivals, regardless of whether they are actually Razakars or not.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader himself acknowledged this disturbing trend during a programme at the Sonargaon hotel on October 27. "While scrutinising the candidates vying for nominations for the upcoming union parishad elections, we have observed that the party members are slandering each other with such allegations," Quader said. Expressing his annoyance, he called this phenomenon "insufferable."

The slur "Tui Razakar" ("You are a Razakar") first gained popularity in vernacular discourse when BTV aired popular writer Humayun Ahmed's drama-series "Bohubrihi" in the late 80s. This was a period when the history and the events of the Liberation War were being dragged through deliberately muddied waters. Distortions of historical facts ran rampant, and open and honest discussions about the events following the Liberation War were filtered through the partisan lenses and censorship. It was at this crucial juncture of history that "Bohubrihi" was aired, and the play tactfully uttered the taboo word "Razakar" via the mouth of an unimpeachable being—a parrot. The parrot, trained to be the voice of a censored nation, opportunistically let out shrieks of "Tui Razakar," bringing to the forefront what could not be said.

Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam, who lost her son to the Liberation War in 1971, gave the first push for the trial of war criminals during the 1990s. She led an unprecedented movement in the early 90s to bring the perpetrators of 1971 war crimes to justice. She led the formation of Gono Adalat (People's Court) on March 26, 1992, where former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam, the mastermind of the atrocities during the war, was tried.

In 2013, this slur again resurfaced, as a rallying call, a slogan during the Shahbagh movement, through which justice against war crimes gained momentum. Demonstrators let out blood-curdling battle cries of "Tui Razakar" to unite the nation to take a stand against war criminals.

However, the popular slogan that was once a call used for the common cause of a secular society got lost in translation over time, because of vested interests. Branding someone as a Razakar has now become, among many other things, a common weapon for grassroots Awami League leaders and activists to blame each other during the ongoing union parishad elections. Many contenders from across the country are alleging that the ruling party is nominating a Razakar or a member of a Razakar family as its candidates. They are holding press conferences, bringing out processions in their local area, and even sending written allegations to party chief Sheikh Hasina's Dhanmondi office, which the Awami League general secretary mentioned in his remarks on October 27.

For instance, the grassroots workers of Tambulpur union in Rangpur's Pirgachha upazila wrote a letter to the Rangpur unit president and general secretary of the party, asking to take action against Shaheen Sardar, general secretary of the party in the union unit, alleging that his father had been involved with the Peace Committee, which was formed by the Pakistan Army to help them against the Bengali freedom fighters during the war in 1971. Shaheen Sardar received Awami League nomination for the chairman post of Tambulpur union parishad.

The same allegation has been raised against the Awami League candidates in Bancharampur upazila of Brahmanbaria, Monirampur upazila of Jashore, Sujanagar upazila of Pabna, and some other districts.

This scenario is nothing new. This happened before, during the ruling party's student wing Chhatra League's central council election in 2018. At that time, Chhatra League leaders and activists accused each other of being affiliated with Razakar families or the BNP student wing, Chhatra Dal.

If, for the sake of the argument, we assume that the allegations raised by the grassroots leaders are true, then the next pertinent and very serious question is: How have so many Razakars infiltrated the Awami League, a party that led the Liberation War successfully and claims to be the flagbearer of the Liberation War spirit? And how did those intruders get party portfolios?

In the recent past, the Awami League leaders, on many occasions, alleged that many opportunist activists from Jamaat and its student wing Chhatra Shibir infiltrated the party and were now creating chaos within the party.

As the grassroots leaders are branding each other as Razakars and even filing written complaints to party high-ups against each other, it appears that these intruders have been and are being rehabilitated within the party, despite Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the rest of the party top brass repeatedly warning that they should not allow "infiltrators into the party."

In 2020, the party had claimed that they had prepared a list of infiltrators and would take actions against them. But no action has followed that promise yet.

The Awami League has been in power for 13 years, which is the longest period for a party to run the government in Bangladesh. Political analysts argue that if a party remains in power for a long time, it is common for people from different platforms to infiltrate it and commit many misdeeds using the ruling party's name. And the ruling party bears the brunt of it. There is also the fact that, in the absence of an opposition, a section of the ruling party members become corrupt.

The onus is certainly on the Awami League to stop the infiltration and rehabilitations of communal forces within the party, if it is to maintain its image as the home of liberal and free-thinking people. But the big question is: Who is going to tie the bell around the cat's neck?

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee is the chief reporter of The Daily Star.