Rickshaw Revelations

As the well-known journalist BertilLintner wrote, "According to a foreign diplomat in Dhaka, ‘In the 1960s and 1970s, it was the leftistswho were seen as incorruptible purists. Today, the role model for many young men in rural areas is thededicated Islamic cleric with his skull cap, flowing robes and beard.’"

Life has become grim for rural leftists today. In the past few months, leftists are being hunted down by anotorious Islamist gang leader in west and northwest Bangladesh, a religious fanatic called BanglaBhai.The leftists being hunted are villagers belonging to various factions, the most well-known of which is thePurba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP), or Sarbahara group.

As recently reported in Frontline magazine (June 19-July 02, 2004, article by Haroon Habib writingfrom Dhaka), mostly Bangla language newspapers report that Bangla Bhai’s men levy protection tolls onvillagers, order them to wear tupi (cap), go to mosque regularly, and force women to wear burqa or hijab.Those who defy in any way are subjected to physical abuse and/or their property is wasted.

Bangla Bhai’s cadres identify "anti-social elements" as they define it and mete out vigilantejustice. They usually kill their victims in gruesome ways and often mutilate their bodies. In the last week ofMay, one of the three supposedly Left extremists caught by Bangla Bhai’s operatives was beaten to death andhanged upside down from a roadside tree in Bogra.

The main Dhaka newspapers deny such goings on, and the government of Khaleda Zia pretends that the policehave been notified to capture him. However, in four northwestern districts—Rajshahi, Naogaon, Natore andBogra—police are collaborating with this gang and justify what they do by saying they are undermanned andcannot control all the criminal elements. Not only does the government turn a blind eye, P.M. Begam Zia alsoappointed a Jama’ati as the Agriculture Minister, thus ensuring Islamist influence and a free rein forBangla Bhai and other Islamist forces in the rural areas.

Bangla Bhai has an MA from Rajshahi University, and he’s not stupid. He launched his organisation JagrotaMuslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) on April 1, 2004, and claims that the group by now commands three lakhactivists across the country. "Our goal is to root out Sarbahara men and corruption from society, seizeillegal weapons and establish the ideal of the Rasul (Prophet Hazrat Mohammed (SA)," he recently toldHasibur Rahman Bilu, Borga correspondent of The Daily Star. Thus, secularists growing increasinganguished at what has happened to their Sonar Bangladesh, now see this gang operator as the instigator ofTalebanisation in the entire country.

It is well known by now that until Bangla Bhai appeared, eastern Bangladesh—areas around Sylhet, Comilla,Chittagong and Teknaf—in particular had become the main hotbed of jihadism, terrorist training camps (seethe various articles by Bertil Lintner), and anti-secularism. Much has been written on these developments, butso far none of the published material has ever provided grass-roots evidence of where public opinion, theviews of the chhoto lok, stand. Yet these are the very people the jihadis and worse are so successfulin organizing.

Thus, it behooves analysts to take a look at the rickshas, an important source of visual revelationson public opinion. Ricksha pictures tend to be ignored by the gentry as vulgar and not art, but myyears of research on ricksha art have shown me all too clearly what the common man in the streets hason his mind. The gentry ignore him at their peril.

To illustrate my point, here are some photos, shot by a young Bangladeshi, Shaon, a few months ago in thetown of Comilla.One picture shows Saddam. The last time Saddam Husain appeared in ricksha art, that Iknow about, was on Dhaka rickshas around the first Gulf War. I unfortunately was not able to visitComilla at that time to see what they were painting on their rickshas, but I would not be surprised ifSaddam was depicted.

In one photo we see both Bin Laden and Saddam, "together at last" (I say that sardonically, as the Bushpolicy in the US is that he and Saddam were connected, whereas all expert analysis says otherwise). Bin Ladenis the main hero, and one of the paintings of him bears a call to self immolation in jihad.

Joanna Kirkpatrick, PhD is an anthropologist and researcher and authorof multimedia CD-ROM: Transports of Delight. The Ricksha Artsof Bangladesh. Indiana University Press, 2003.