Secularism and Bangladesh
M Shadman ,Toronto, Ontario
Bangladesh as a small country has a lot to learn from India: technologically, in trading and economics, developing infrastructure, developing tourism, even election methods. India has turned itself into a global power in today's world boasting to be one of the largest and fastest growing economies, a challenge which none but China can rival. With such a strong partner beside us, I think Bangladesh can use the Indian model, and use Indian as a strategic partner to develop itself into a stronger country. One of the first steps would be allowing foreign investments (under favourable conditions of course). But these decisions of favourable/unfavourable deals should be made quickly, and efficiently instead of elongating the method and taking years to come up with a decision. Living abroad I understand that the ball is now in Bangladesh's court, the expectation is high for our country economically (just as our cricket team), it is now for Bangladeshi policy makers to either deliver results or crash out of the global competition.Now coming to the comments made by the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka. Firstly, I will thank him for advising Bangladesh on better implementation of "secularism". It is unfortunate but the comments of the Indian HC warrant some criticism. India is far ahead of Bangladesh in all of the above cases, but lags behind in secularism. I do not mean to have any tone of sarcasm in my letter, and I understand that the condition of Hindus in Bangladesh is not good according to international standards, but my comparison between the two countries is prompted by the Indian HC's comments. He mentioned, "Democracy in India is very strong as there is no division or discrepancy among people of different faiths and values because of the practice of real secularism". I think the HC was positioned in Bangladesh in 2002 and really did not get a chance to have a look at the Indian news at that time. As much as I respect and admire India's development, I have to be critical of the treatment meted out to Muslims, not because I am a Muslim myself, but because I am a human being. Having secularism in a country may be good for democracy, but it is meaningless if it is not practised.
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