(This write-up I pen in response to Mr. Md. Anwarul Kabir’s article. I am afraid, I have written many unpleasant things about Bengali culture and due to that some may find in me a fanatic Muslim who is trying to nullifying the cultural unity of the Bengali speaking people. The fact is far from the truth. I do not adhere to any religion and religion has never been a concern in my personal or social life. Here I am trying to find out the truth and nothing but the truth about Bengali culture and warning others not to be carried away by emotion and thereby ignoring the religious fanaticism that is deeply ingrained in the psyche of the Bengali speaking peoples. Unity of Bengali speaking people should be our objective but that is impossible without recognizing where the problem lies and try to take action to solve it first. What I have written here is my personal views based on my observation of Bengali society at large).

I highly appreciate Mr. Md. Anwarul Kabir’s sincere desire for building a cultural bridge between two Bengali speaking people. But the serious and immediate problem is Mr. Kabir’s name, especially the first surname (Mohammad). It indicates that he is a Muslim. Similarly Gauranga Mitra, the student he met in Calcutta or Kalkatta, is a Hindu by all means, and to be exact, GENERALLY. Exception may be there but exception can not be any example when we talk about a society or a nation. I do not say so because I care much about religion but I surely and sincerely do care to find out the truth without being charged with emotion or sentiments.

The fact is, people in the Indian Sub-continent at large were and even today very much are, either Hindu or a Muslim and there is very little in-between. A man like Pundit Nehru, the father of Indian secularism, could not even go over it. Rabindranath was a confused Hindu very much so even though he had Muslim chef and relished Muslim dishes. Religious fanaticism, unfortunately, was and is deep in the psyche of the people of the sub-continent. Mr. Kabir disapproves Jinnah’s two nation theory and may I ask him, if two nation “theory* is not acceptable or valid, on what basis Bangladesh claims her independent existence? And talking about culture, may I point out that cultural division in Bengal started, indeed, the day Baktiar Khilji established his kingdom in Bengal around 1204. Again, India was divided, I firmly believe, NOT because Jinnah wanted so but it was the Bengali Hindus (the upper caste I mean) who did not like to be governed by the majority Muslims in Bengal whom the minority upper caste Hindus considered ‘inferior’ people.

If Bengali Hindu leaders joined Fazlul Huq or encouraged other Muslim leaders against division of Bengal (i.e. if they supported united Bengal) the history of the sub-continent would have been different. In 1905 the Hindus who waged war against Lord Curzon’s division of Bengal and brought the colonial government to their knees, did not raise a finger when the same Bengal was divided in 1947. Public memory is too short but for emotional Muslim Bengalis it seems to me that their memory chip is fully blank.

Now let us turn to Bengali culture. “Culture is the chronic life style of a group of people often referred to as ethnic people. Culture consists of systematic distinctively visible patterns of behaviours and thoughts that are passed on from one generation to the next. This definition of culture includes beliefs, values, food habits, language, accent, socio-economic activities, political and social organisations as well as the usage of technology and the equipment”.

Bengali culture as per the definition must be the faiths and values of the Bengali people. Language could be added to it in narrow sense. Two religious groups are dominant in Bengali speaking area, the Muslims and the Hindus and no doubt that their faiths make their cultures different. A practising devote Calcutta Muslim finds it much easier to mingle with a Malaysian Muslim rather than his next door Hindu neighbour. The question of a Hindu mingling with a Muslim was a rare thing in the past; the situation is almost the same even today. Food habit, dress-code and even the words they use in their language differ widely between these two communities. Mr. Kabir calls his elder sister ‘Appa’ and elder brother’s wife ‘Bhabi’ whereas the equivalent words to these salutations for a Hindu Bengali are ‘Didi’ and ‘Bau-di’. Am I right Mr. Kabir?

Names of personal relationships are concrete examples how the Hindu and Muslim culture differs. Dada, Bou-di, Didi, Jamai-Babu, Jatha, Kaka, Khuro, Pishi, Mashi, etc. are some of the Hindu words and nomenclature of very personal relationships of the Bengali Hindus. No Muslim uses these words except but to please a Hindu now and then. Muslims have their own words for these personal relationships (Bhai, Bhabi, Apa, Dulabhai, Chacha, Khala, Phupu, etc.). Likewise some other literal words are also not the same as the Muslims use in Bengal. Such words are: Jol, Jhol, Mangsho, Bhagawan, Paap, Punya, Swarga, etc. On the other hand, Muslims have their alternate words for the same in Bengali. The Muslims words for above are: Pani, Surua, Gosht (or Goshto or Gosh), Allah, Gunah, Soab, Behest, etc.

These are examples of minor nature but the emphasis on it both the Hindus and the Muslims put can not be ignored by any neutral observer. The literature created by the Hindus in Bengali language is distinctively different than their Muslim counterparts. It includes theme, family language, substance, religious pitch, etc. remarkably different from each other. The Bengali Hindus always looked down upon the Muslims and behaved as if the Muslims do not exit and they need not be considered for anything. Tagore was once asked why there is no Muslim character in his literature. His blunt answer was that he knew nothing about them (except, as evidence suggests, he knew well how to collect rents from his majority Muslim tenants with iron hands). The Muslims (but except a few) developed due to this behaviour towards them some sorts of disdain to Hindu population at large and to their religion in particular.

The Bengali or Bangla culture is primarily based, in many ways, on ignorance or low level education, limited technological advancement, less demanding attitude towards life, passivity to challenges, etc. Moreover, we must remember, such a culture is strongly influenced, in most cases, by its religious cultural aspects anywhere. Although there are a few exceptions but even today an individual Bengali-speaking person, generally speaking, is either a Muslim or a Hindu. Indeed, religion has played a very strong role in the development of the Bengali life style since the ancient times. If it were not so, Bangladesh would have merged with India in 1972 when the country was created by direct Indian military intervention.

Indian objective was not to make an independent Bangladesh; her first choice was to unite East Pakistan with India, second preference if the first was not possible was, to make it a vassal state and, her last option, was to make an independent friendly state if and when the first and second alternatives did not work. Indian diplomat J. N. Dixit has recorded the fact correctly in his book the “Liberation and Beyond”. India did not build fence with her boarder with Pakistan, her arch enemy. Why the fence around Bangladesh? How many Bangladeshi are killed each year by Indian security forces in Indo-Bangla boarder? This is savage and barbarian behaviour both by the Indians and the Bangladeshis. No where today solders at boarders are so trigger-happy as it is in the boarder between India and Bangladesh. Cultural bridge is good but ground work for it, both the Bengali speaking people, must build first.

The river is deep and isolated bumpy rock all around, attempting to build a straight bridge without proper survey and removing all hindrance could be dangerous. With economic development India can not have any interest except dominating and subduing Bangladesh and how the weak and vulnerable country can take the initiative to make a bridge by levelling the bottom of a treacherous river is a big question. A bridge is a good thing and there must be a bridge based mutual respect and a sense of solidarity for each other’s economic, social and political interest. Do both Bangladesh and West Bengal have it? Do the Hindus in Bangladesh and the Muslims in West Bengal or in India have this respect for each other or do both the communities in these two countries get equal rights in every aspect of their life?

Religious differences between the Hindus and the Muslims, not only in Bengal but in the whole Indian sub-continent, are fundamental, paramount and unmistakably provocative. The Muslims believe in one God (Allah) concept which is completely separated from his creation. Their faith teaches survival of the individual soul after death. Muslim attitude towards life is essentially echoing positively in many respects and very much individualistic. His worship is simple and austere and neither idols nor pictures are allowed in it. Hinduism, on the other hand, is very complicated, luxuriant in its ideals and forms and plentiful in symbols. The creator and his creations are one and indivisible in Hinduism and individual matters very little in this religion.

As for equality of men, it is a concept very foreign to Hinduism. The caste system of this social practice is again a very confusing element that has tormented human souls at all times and of which there is no parallel in any other religious practices. Hindus sometime believe 'Ahingsha Param Dharma' (non-violence is the highest religious duty) whereas the Muslims prefer 'an eye for an eye' if the opponent wrongfully superimposes unwanted demand. The Muslims bury their dead as it is done by the Jews and the Christians.

The Hindus choose to cremate them. In short, the Muslims have a clear-cut, democratic, and simple religion whereas the Hindus have a religious practice which is abstruse, essentially undemocratic, and highly complicated. The Hindus and the Muslims, not only in Bengal but in the whole Indian sub-continent, do not prefer inter-marriages while avoid mingling socially and have lived within their own social and cultural fortification since the Muslim religion was firmly implanted in India thousand years ago. I am not talking about Mr. Kabir, a university teacher in Bangladesh or my good friend in Sweden Prof. Maini who cherishes eating beef steak with me (but he make is very well I must say) but ordinary Muslims and Hindus in Bengali speaking regions of the Indian sub-continent. Mr. Jinnah's "Two Nations" theory was solidly based on these fundamental differences of the Hindus and the Muslims and it is very doubtful if we can ever prove that the theory was wrong without being hypocritical or attempting very deliberately to deceive our sense of judgement of things.

This analysis, however, is not an attempt to display 'an intellectual show' or to undermine a good case in the public forum (on Bengali culture) but it is humbly presented for clarity of understanding and judgement of things in the right perspective. The objective of this write-up is also not to discourage Hindu-Muslim social contact and cultural tolerance or even amalgamation if possible. In these days religious fanaticism must not be fancied and nobody should be discriminated or unfairly treated for his faith, colour or cultural variance. As a writer of this note I sincerely believe what I said but surely I am deadly against propagating mutilated history even if that propagation is for a good cause. As a matter of fact, we must know and recognise that Bengali speaking people has two distinct cultures within the Bengali speaking region.

A multi-cultural society is colourful, vibrant and interesting provided one respects the other and vice-versa. Fighting on cultural question is very much wrong and an act of primitive behaviour. Bengali speaking people need not and must not fight on cultural issues and cultural bridge must be built with everybody irrespective of religion, race and language. West Bengal shares with Bangladesh the language and racially Bengali people are the same people. What both Bangladesh and West Bengal need most is to develop mutual respect and tolerance to each other on religious and cultural questions. That is also the only way both the Bengali speaking people can coexist peacefully and prosper economically, socially, politically and culturally.

(Any response to this write-up is welcome but please do make it, if any, through NFB only. No direct personal contact, please.)

Tayeb Husain
Sweden
E-mail: th12sw@yahoo.com