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The resignation of British Home Secretary David Blunkett increases the pressure once more on Prime Minister Tony Blair. That certainly does not mean that the prime minister is in any danger of losing his job or his party is at risk of losing power. It simply means that the kind of buffeting Mr. Blair has received in the last few years, in the political sense, is an experience no politician would like to go through. For a number of years, until last year, the government Mr. Blair has led was regularly accused of putting a spin on everything it did. The very natural impression dawned on people that the Blair government was more interested in image than substance. So what was given out as signs of modernity by the government somehow became lost in spin. People like Alastair Campbell, now mercifully gone, went to every extent possible to exercise control over what went out and what came back in. Which is when it also began to dawn on people that the prime minister and the people around him were actually control freaks unable or unwilling to tolerate dissent around them and within their ranks.
   In the last few years, Tony Blair has lost a number of individuals who once gave the government the kind of strength necessary to project and promote policy. At the beginning of the Labour government, one euphemistically described as New Labour, everything was in place for a good show on the part of politicians coming back to office after a long interregnum of eighteen years. But pretty soon things began somehow to go wrong. One way in which trouble was suspected has always been the issue of the rivalry between the prime minister and his chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown. Even today, there is unending speculation about when Mr. Blair will actually make way for Mr. Brown. The latest on the subject is that the prime minister means to lead his party to a record third consecutive victory at elections before finally calling it a day. Whether there really is any significance to that third-term win for the prime minister, meaning that he might be inclined to match the record of Margaret Thatcher, is open to question. The reality, however, is that there are people in the Brown camp who clearly wish the prime minister would leave sooner rather than later. Questions of a prime ministerial departure from office apart, there is the litter of people who have fallen in these past few years. Peter Mandelson’s case is rather well-known, for he was appointed to the cabinet twice and removed twice. These days he has found a new niche, as a commissioner in the European Union. But some of the biggest losses for the prime minister have been the resignations of Robin Cook and Clare Short from the government. Both of these individuals have always had a record for self-esteem bordering on stubbornness. Their departure, over Iraq policy, surely strengthened Blair’s hand. But it also left him quite lonely at the top. And now, with the departure of Blunkett over an issue centering first around custody of the child he claims was born out of his sexual relationship with a woman not his wife and then zeroing in on the matter of the nanny with visa-related problems, the prime minister cannot be a happy man.
   But one certainly must give credit to Tony Blair for being what he has been so far. He has remained unfazed despite all the mauling he has been getting since his arrival at 10 Downing Street. Some of the idealism that was there when he first came to office in 1997 may have gone. But in its place has emerged a maturity any politician in the world will be proud to be credited for. It is therefore safe to say that the time for Mr. Blair to walk away into the sunset is yet a long way away.

Najma Anwar will be missed

The death of Najma Anwar leaves the world of Bengali aesthetics that much poorer. She was a powerful presence on stage, and an equally assertive force on television drama programmes. Just how much of versatility there was in her came through her narration of the story of Taramon Bibi, the freedom fighter for whom national recognition of valour came a little too late in the day, twenty four years after she had waged war in defence of the liberty of this country. While narrating the exploits and the agony of Taramon Bibi, Najma Anwar went deep into the personality of her character and almost convinced us that she was Taramon Bibi. That says a whole lot about the artistic abilities in Najma Anwar.
   With Najma Anwar’s passing on Tuesday — and one hardly need say that — a huge vacuum has been created in our world. She was only in her early sixties, which is not quite the age at which we expect a person of Najma Anwar’s vigour and verve to die. Observed from such a perspective, the death of the artiste was a sudden occurrence as it were. We do not of course know whether or not she was suffering from any ailment, of the kind that results in a quick and sudden end. Perhaps one reason why many of us have not quite known the person behind the personality in the artiste, because she appeared to shun the kind of limelight which so many celebrities are constantly yearning to be in, Najma Anwar remained something of a private person for people. It was only when she appeared on television and played the many roles which were to take her to a particularly high place in the theatrical scheme of things that we were reminded of the force that drove her. She had, apart from her acting skills, a way with dialectical Bangla. Her use of sophisticated dialogue came together with an ability to speak the Dhakaiya version of the language in the plays. She was equally at ease in upper class urban roles and typical middle class representations of life.
   Najma Anwar will be missed, badly. Our heartfelt tributes go out to her.

There always comes a time in the life of a nation when it must remember itself. For Bengalis, remembrance has largely been a matter of recalling the sacrifices made by their fellow citizens in the year of their biggest trauma and their deepest sense of triumph. For all of us in this land, 1971 remains a watershed in our lives. There was in it a rediscovery of ourselves in as much as there was an emergence in our souls of a certain knowledge of what we as a nation were capable of achieving for ourselves. There are all the songs we sang in the course of the War of Liberation, music that catapulted us to heights we never knew we were capable of scaling. It was those songs, heard in some of the darkest twilights of this land, that inexorably led us on to the political goal of freedom.
   In very broad measure, the struggle for the liberation of Bangladesh effectively began in early March 1971 through the initiation of the non-violent non-cooperation movement. We will not here go into the academics of the situation at the time, save only to say that once the meeting of the newly elected national assembly of Pakistan was put off by the Islamabad based military junta, the idea of Bangladesh assumed something of clarity. The song, Joi Bangla Banglar Joi / Hobe Hobe Hobe / Hobe Nischoi, came to symbolise the new spirit of the country. It was obvious to all astute observers of national politics that a new nation had taken the first tentative steps towards moving away from the communal structure into which it had been thrown back in the 1940s. It was also noticeable in early March 1971 that the Bengali identity was being given a bit more of concreteness through the Tagore song, Amar Sonar Bangla / Aami Tomaye Bhalo Bashi. It remains a measure of our sense of patriotism that the song was eventually transformed into the national anthem of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
   But the power of song truly came into play once the war went underway. It was Abdul Jabbar who in the early stages of the struggle set the tone for the role music would play in the prosecution of the war. His Salam Salam Hajar Salam was a recurrent tribute to the soldiers of freedom, living and martyred, and in a very poignant way served as a harbinger of the battle stories that were to shape up in the course of the nine-month war. Add to that Apel Mahmood’s exotic combination of nature and war in Mora Ekti Phool Ke Bachabo Bole Juddho Kori. A remembrance of the tune is revealing, even all these years after the end of the war, of the energy that was passed into the public consciousness by those old songs of the land and its struggle for sheer survival. But while newer songs began to be written as the war turned more intense, there were also the moments when the country went back to Tagore and Nazrul in search of the land and its heritage. While Tagore was recreated in the form of O Amar Desher Mati / Tomar Pore Thekai Matha, a soothing, reflective piece if ever there was one, it was the militancy that poured out of Nazrul’s Karar Oi Loho Kopat. Nazrul came again, through the rhythmic sounds of the marching song that is Chal Chal Chal. Yet another Nazrul song, Jago Onoshon Bondi Othore Joto, served to add newer substance to the long story of the military struggle of 1971.
   A particular song that was frequently played over Shwadhin Bangla Betar was the Ferdousi Rahman number (the singer, though, was unable to cross over to Mujibnagar), Amar Mon Bholano Chokh Jurhano / Ei Aparoop Mori Mori / Shonar Bangla Amar Dhaatri Amar / Roop Dekhi Tor Noyon Bhori. Note that within the cadences of the song you have the heritage of the country coming alive. And heritage, of the kind that hearkens back to the glory of old rural Bengal, makes itself manifest through Rothindranath Roy’s Chhotoder Boroder Shokoler / Goriber Nishsher Fokirer / Amari Desh Shob Manusher. That heritage then mingles with the new revolutionary spirit of Bengali nationalism to produce Samar Das’ Purbo Digonte Shurjo Uthechhe / Rokto Lal Rokto Lal Rokto Lal. The militant nature of the struggle is also adequately reflected in the chorus Jonotar Sangram Cholbe / Amader Sangram Cholbe. A particular form of poetry shoots off the Apel Mahmood number, Teer Hara Ei Dheu-er Shagor Parhi Dibo Re. The place of the river in the life of the Bengali, the river as indeed a metaphor, is what lends vitality to the song.
   The War of Liberation was conceived and waged around the personality of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was his absence that quite took away much of the shine from the struggle; and yet, in a curious contrast, an absent leader became the catalyst for the entire war. Apart from the regular Bajrakantha programme of Shwadhin Bangla Betar, there were the songs that were composed around the Bengali leader. By far the most well-known and regularly hummed is Shono Ekti Mujiborer Theke / Lokkho Mujiborer Konthoshshorer Dhoni Protidhoni / Akashe Batashe Uthe Roni / Bangladesh Amar Bangladesh. Significant too was Jabbar’s Sharhe Shaat Koti Manusher Aaj Ekti Naam / Mujibor Mujibor Mujibor Mujibor / Sharhe Shaat Koti Proshner Jobab Peyegelam. There was then the variation on an old Abbasuddin song that turned out to be widely acclaimed as a war number. It was Mujib Baiya Jao Re / Nirjatito Desher Majhi / Jonogoner Nao Re Mujib / Baiya Jao Re. There was too the quite prosaic Amar Neta Sheikh Mujib / Tomar Neta Sheikh Mujib. There will be many who might remember that after Bangabandhu returned home from imprisonment in Pakistan, Sandhya Mukherjee produced a very lilting Bangabandhu Tumi Phire Ele / Tomar Mukto Shwadhin Banglae. The songs were unceasing proof that the destiny of the Bengali nation was relentlessly being shaped around the pre-eminent Bengali nationalist politician of the time. Mujib was the undisputed leader and the war was what his image made it out to be.
   The fundamental concept behind the War of Liberation was the secular nationalist spirit of Bengalis. It was just this concept that was underlined in the song, Banglar Hindu / Banglar Bouddho / Banglar Khrishtan / Banglar Mussulman ? Amra Shobai Bangali. In addition to evoking the non-communal nature of the war, the struggle was a reminder of a lost past which came in tune with a real present. That was the theme in Shona Shona Shona Loke Bole Shona / Shona Noi Toto Khati / Bolo Joto Khati Tar Cheye Khati / Bangladesher Mati. In 1971, songs spoke of the soul of Bengal, again through the inevitability of Rabindranath Tagore: Aji Bangladesher Hridoy Hote Kokhon Aponi. And the imagery kept diversifying. The soul matters in Banglar Gaan Banglar Praan Ek Shoore Badha / Ektara Ar Dotara Te Hoy Je Shadha. Bangladesh was mother to its children. It gathered its dead sons to its bosom and it sometimes had little idea where some of those children may have disappeared. In Bhebo Na Go Maa / Tomar Chhelera Hariye Giyecche Pothe. The mother imagery appears once again in Bangla Moder Bangla Maa / Amar Tomar Koti Shontan / Epar Bangla Opar Bangla / Shoibe Na Opoman. The sacrifices came thick and fast, upon the other, to a point where it was emblazoned again in song, Rokto Diye Naam Likhecchi / Bangladesher Naam. To the oppressors, a message went out in the Ajit Roy number, Bicharpoti Tomar Bichar Korbe Jara / Aaj Jegechhe Ei Jonota. On the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr in 1971, an elegy in the form of Chaand Tumi Phire Jao / Dekho Manusher Khoone Khoone Roktim Bangla, drenched the soul in all consuming sadness. Happiness, it said, was on hold until the darkness was swept away.
   The dawning of freedom was the moment for a new fusion of song and soul in the country. Saiful Islam’s Bangladesher Kobi Aami / Shob Cheye Bhagyoban / Aami Likhte Perechhi Bishsher Shera Muktir Itihash was heard profusely in the early days of freedom. The song, Ogo Bondhu Tumi Chinte Paro Ki Bangla Tomar Bangla / Jaake Rekhe Gachho Ponchishe Raater Aaage, was a recapitulation of the horrors of the genocide the Pakistan army let loose in the nocturnal hours of 25 March.
   In the declining afternoon of a winter’s day, Dhaka Radio burst into life with Abdul Jabbar’s Hajar Bochhor Pore / Abar Eshechhi Phire / Banglar Booke Achhi Danrhiye. The soldiers of freedom were coming home. The war had been fought and won. It was December, and it was the sixteenth day. There was spring in the air. (Reprint)
   Bhadralok Conversations will appear on Saturday.