As Eid-ul-Fitr approaches, a mood of joy and celebration fills the air. That is exactly what one would expect. In Dhaka city this mood is manifested more tellingly than perhaps any other place in the country. That too is quite expected. The changing cityscape of Dhaka, with its newly sprung shopping malls, plazas, arcades, entertainment parks, high-rise mansions and growing fleets of BMWs and SUVs seems to lend an added lustre to the joy and festivity. But the human situation being what it is, amid every joy something is felt to be missing – with some pain is our sincerest laughter fraught, as a Romantic poet wrote. But in our case it is not only the philosophical loss of fulfilment. The shadow of gross and mundane pains and deprivation hangs over the entire Eid festivity. The whining of the have-nots does not rend the air in the literal sense but a sensitive ear and sensitive mind will not fail to discern what is particularly amiss in this season’s Eid and the conscientious ones may even be weighed down by a sense of guilt. The sight of women and men coming out of the shopping centres and flagging down their waiting cars, with bulged-out bags of purchases scintillating in decorative blink-lights, is not only delightful but a concrete illustration of the new religion of consumerism as propagated by the prophets of global trade. It is so comforting to note that we too are partners in the worldwide celebration of market, consumption and profit maximisation. But then –
   Equality, in every society, is no more than a lofty ideal and pious wish and the evident asymmetry and imbalance are not peculiar to Bangladesh; but that does not mean Eid’s message of equality should be so mercilessly pilloried. The trend of high prices which was never halted seems to have climaxed during this Eid season. And the prices have further been escalated by VAT although no one can be sure whether the VAT collection goes to the intended coffers. Every year there were some alternatives to the glossy shop windows to which the common people have no access. The low-budget consumers could turn to the alternative market in order to make the best of their constricted Eid budgets. On the foothills of the glamorous shopping malls small sellers and low-income buyers would freely transact their own businesses, perhaps joyfully thinking of themselves as participants, though in a lesser degree, of the coming festival. This year the poor did not have the privilege of what we may call the alternative market (some gave it naughty names like Reagan Market, Clinton Market, Bush Market but this writer thinks it will be more apt to call it World Bank Market. American presidents did not like to be personally branded as anti-poor and one of them, Lyndon B Johnson who escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War, from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 in early 1968, was known to be otherwise very pro-poor). This World Bank market with its one-man traders and a motley crowd of low-income buyers has been all but eliminated and the disproportion between actual buyers and dazed spectators has widened. Some of these traders have of late managed to steal back to their old places and are doing some business timidly, of course on sufferance of the black-robed and blue-robed law enforcers. That the authorities are unrepentant over the eviction of roadside hawkers is clear from the example of Rajshahi. The evicted street vendors of Rajshahi had restarted their trade on vans leaving the sidewalks free but had obtained permission from the authorities that they would be allowed to use the sidewalk till the coming Eid. That did not save them and they faced eviction and had to demonstrate. Finally it was intervention by the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police commissioner that enabled them to ply their pavement trade for the remaining few days before Eid. But their small trades were grievously hurt and some who had floated loans hoping to do good business during the Eid season will be in dire straits. In other words, the authorities learnt nothing from last January’s experience.
   While the law enforcers evicted the hawkers, the glossy shopping malls have almost put out of business the retail traders. If the shopping malls sell butter and imported toiletries and suiting, there is no problem. But why are they allowed to sell meat, fish and vegetables? Selling vegetables is the economic lifeline of the poor grocers and vendors. The shopping malls with their vast outlay and refrigeration system and storage facilities are able to buy the perishables cheaper and at the best of times, store them longer and sell them at the best of times, and thus control the market while the small vendor finds that the rug has been pulled from under his feet. Where is the protection of the poor? It may be argued that these shopping malls generate employment and the small vendors will be employed. But who among the vendors will be employed? Only those who are young, literate, handsome, smart and clever? What about those who lose out in the race? And they are so much greater in numbers. Are we noticing that a Darwinian play is cruelly unfolding around us? In India corporatisation of retail trade (by the Reliance group, for example) is currently being bitterly opposed by the progressive forces.
   Some of those very elegant shops and manufacturers used to make special Eid offers and bumper sales and announce price cuts to reach out to low-budget buyers. Such advertisements are fewer this year. The price cuts and bumper sales were sometimes not genuine but these were part of Eid shopping anyway. In short, Eid shopping is becoming more and more exclusionist. On the other hand, the mediagenic ‘lehenga’ priced at around half-a-million taka, another highlight of the glamorous Eid bazaar, is not in evidence this year. Perhaps those who can afford the fabulous lehenga do not want to risk coming under the Anti-Corruption Commission’s scanner, discriminatory and selective though that scanner is. Some other positive features of this year’s Eid celebration are a seemingly lowered demand for imported saris and an increase in popularity of handloom (due perhaps to the well-planned fairs and exhibitions).
   When we said above that Eid’s message of equality is being pilloried, we said this in secular perspective; but this equality is also being violated by the authorities concerned in the core practice of religion itself. Every year in the Eid jamaat the highest office holders of the republic are invariably seen praying in the first row just behind the imam, the prayer leader. In other words, protocol is being enforced in a religious gathering which is completely repugnant to the principles and tenets of Islam. Needless to emphasise, all are equal in Eid jamaat and status, etc has no relevance. Once these VVIPs said their Eid prayers in a separate enclosure within the jamaat. The scene was photographed and beamed across the world and none at the decision making level felt embarrassed, for this has become standard practice and we are no longer shocked. Inequality is being institutionalised in both religious and secular spheres.