The secular leadership of a fanatical populace
When the voters of secular leaders who are averse to religion are fanatical people, the leaders inevitably become hypocritical religious adherents. In countries like ours, where the majority of voters are driven by religious
sentiments, this is the real face of secular democracy. In addition to pretending to be hypocritical religionists, sometimes they also have to become anti-Muslim, anti-Hindu, anti-Jeuish, etc. That is, the secular parties try to garner the votes of the larger religious communities by suppressing and oppressing minority groups whose votes can be disregarded.
Before discussing our country's situation, let's look at the condition of the United Kingdom, the cradle of modern civilization, and the United States, which has emerged as the guardian of democracy worldwide.
One of the major parties in the United Kingdom is the Conservative Party. They are right-wing. In the 2019 election, this party openly conducted anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic campaigns to attract the votes of the larger Christian population. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself assisted in this. The United States, known as the paradise of secular democracy, is also unable to escape the shadow of religious politics. On the contrary, this country is the main promoter of Islamophobia worldwide.
After Barack Hussein Obama (Barakat Hossain Osama) won the 2008 presidential election in the United States, many thought that the policies of the George Bush administration, which viewed Muslims as suspected criminals and terrorists solely because of their religious identity, would change. However, even after Obama held power twice, he was not seen to take any strong steps against the rise of Islamophobia in the United States. The anti-Muslim and racist tendencies observed in American society today were created by the Bush and Obama administrations. Former President Donald Trump came to power by fuelling these hatreds.
Now let's talk about Bangladesh. The people of our country are well aware of the influence of religion on politics and the religious deception of politicians.
The Muslim League, which led the establishment of Pakistan in 1947, was practically buried in East Bengal in the 1954 elections, just seven years later. The reason was the misuse of religious sentiments and religious fervor. The country became independent. We know that according to Articles 12 and 38 of the original 1972 constitution, religious-based politics was prohibited. After the restoration of the 1972 constitution, naturally, religious-based politics should have been banned in the country. However, both the government and the Election Commission are seemingly trying to avoid the issue due to its sensitive nature. Barrister Amir-ul Islam, a prominent lawyer and one of the framers of Bangladesh's constitution, said about this, "This debate has kept the public in the dark and confused about the constitution. Our state religion is Islam. However, after the reprinting of the constitution, we need to see if there is anything that conflicts with it in any way."
Therefore, according to the fundamental principles of the constitution, the use of religion in Bangladeshi politics, i.e., using religion for political purposes, is unconstitutional and thus illegal. However, religious-based parties still exist here. Major political parties use religion in various ways before elections. Even among secular and nationalist political parties, religious-based political behavior can be observed to varying extents.
One of Bangladesh's major political parties is the BNP, which has sought votes by promising to protect Islam before elections. According to their campaign, "Islam will not survive in the country if the Awami League remains in power." BNP's founder, Ziaur Rahman, included "Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim" in the constitution with a focus on election politics. Subsequently, military ruler Hussein Muhammad Ershad declared Islam as the state religion, also targeting election politics.
The most propagated slogan of Jamaat-e-Islami was, "We will vote for those who follow Allah." In contrast, the Awami League's widely used slogan was, "La ilaha illallah, the owner of the boat (the party symbol) is Allah.” To secure minority votes, the party also campaigned that if they were not elected, Hindus would not be able to stay in the country and would be driven out by fundamentalists.
Additionally, leaders of major political parties perform Hajj or Umrah before elections, become disciples of spiritual leaders (pirs), visit shrines, wear skullcaps, and distribute photos of themselves sitting on prayer mats with prayer beads in hand. Some even have marks on their foreheads from prostration. Even leaders of staunchly atheist and communist parties become Hajj pilgrims during election season. However, their true masters are not Allah. Their real masters are the powerful and wealthy Western states. The advice and proposals from these Western masters are seen as orders by them. Our lawmakers draft the constitution by copying from their countries, and our economy runs according to their capitalist, interest-based system.
This secular leadership blindly follows the West without considering their own circumstances. They are setting up industries, opening factories, and importing tractors to modernize agriculture, all because they have learned from their
Western masters that factories and industries are the only way to economic development. In their pursuit of economic progress, they naturally adopt their masters' interest-based capitalist economic system in their own countries. Since these Western masters are the real lords of their national lives, the command of another lord, Allah, to "not consume interest," making interest (riba) haram in national and personal life, is of no concern to them. They do not consider abandoning what their Western masters have deemed correct just because Allah, from long ago, prohibited it. They think it is backward thinking, regressive to follow that.
Apart from tipping the electoral scales in their favor, there is another reason why the leaders of secular parties adopt a religious guise. What is it? It is the pressure from parties aiming to establish Islam in national life, which exists in our country and all other Muslim-majority countries. The current leadership of the Muslim world is aware of this pressure and is countering it in every way possible. One of their methods to counter this is to deceive the ignorant, uneducated masses about true Islam by performing external, unnecessary acts to show that they, too, are excellent Muslims. This includes allocating some funds for building and repairing mosques, printing pictures of mosques on currency notes, declaring Friday as a holiday, etc. In English, this is called "window dressing"—painting a false facade to deceive people.
One of the most laughable methods of deception is declaring Islam as the state religion or naming the state as the Islamic Republic of ... This does not bring any fundamental change; the non-Islamic state system, which is contrary to the commands of Allah, remains fully intact. However, the ignorant masses, who are unaware of the true outline of Islam, believe that "Islam is being established" and become very happy. They consider their governments to be very pious and support them. The former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, who was the leader of a socialist party, once faced massive public protests. He countered them by declaring Friday as a holiday and bringing the Imam of the Holy Kaaba to lead Friday prayers in various cities. However, he could not ultimately save himself, as it was too late by then. That history is a tale of deception by the United States, the flag-bearer of humanity, and a history of genocide of millions of people.
In their attempt to portray themselves as knowledgeable leaders, the current leadership of the Muslim world often try to make fools of the ignorant masses. They address public gatherings, stating that Islam is not just the greatest religion but a complete way of life (a complete way of life should inevitably include political, economic, social, legal, administrative, and educational systems—this is common knowledge), and only Islam can bring prosperity to the world. Upon hearing these speeches, the naive public applaud, shout slogans in support of their leaders, and believe that they are under the leadership of excellent Muslim leaders. After the speech, the leaders return to their secretariat and govern the country according to the policies of their former colonial masters and their secular, unbelieving systems. The irony is that once a nation known for its scholars, jurists, and religious teachers has now fallen into ignorance and foolishness to the extent that even basic common sense to understand the hypocrisy of their leaders has been lost.
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