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In the long history of the evolution of world civilisation, there are rare and stirring historical turning points that do not end with the fall of a particular political government or the usual change of power, but rather awaken the intense pulse of a radical and far-reaching transformation deep within a stagnant society, and the bloody mass uprising of July 24 was just such a glorious chapter, which made the entire nation stand on the horizon of a new possibility. The July uprising of 2024 is as important in the history of this nation as 1947 and 1971. That is, through 24, we have started a new journey; we have sworn that some things of the past will never return to our national life. First of all, our struggle was against the dictatorship that was entrenched in the nation. The people had taken away the freedom of politics and expression, and so that no one could build political resistance against their dictatorship, Awami League tried to suppress any kind of demonstration or protest programme with imprisonment, torture and shooting. The Awami dictators knew that they had lost the support of the people. That is why they organised three consecutive shameful and openly rigged elections. In a fair democracy, the government has to be the representative of the people. Among the times when the journey of democracy has been disrupted in the history of Bangladesh, the most severe was the Awami period of 2009-24. This period was so terrible that every organ of the state was partisan. Even the judiciary, the last refuge of the people against the government, was not outside this partisanship. As it went beyond the scope of accountability, the level of corruption went beyond the limit. Looting took place in the name of mega projects. After observing this terrible form of tyranny, the message of the July mass uprising was “Enough is enough”. Hasina’s fascist government has to be overthrown; arrangements have to be made so that dictatorships never arise again in the future. Therefore, the expectation of the July uprising is a strong, sustainable and stable democracy.
For the proper functioning of democracy, the independence of the three organs of the state, namely, the legislative, executive and judicial branches, must be ensured. The accountability of the executive and the administration must be ensured, so that corruption, incompetence and inefficiency can be eliminated and the state machinery can become efficient.
Sadly, however, whenever the throne of the state apparatus had trembled under its immediate shock, a long and tragic story of the failure of new authorities due to the extreme lack of structural and foresight began. The policymakers who were trusted to bring about epoch-making reforms in the state have destroyed that invaluable potential in the bud due to their extremely narrow political vision, vile selfishness and strategic short-sightedness. This disillusioned and demonic form has become even more evident before us in the political and social transformation of the last two years. Immediately after the mass uprising, the policymakers and state reformers who took upon themselves the sacred responsibility of building a new Bangladesh were obsessed with the illusion of power and took some controversial, irresponsible and stubborn decisions, for which the main mantra of the uprising are going to be turned into dust today. Due to their vile and impractical decisions, the old fascist syndicates hiding in the cracks of the administrative structure have not only changed their shells, but have become even stronger in a new guise and have obtained a license to take the breath away from the common people, which is the biggest proof of their bankruptcy. At a time when a grand celebration was going on at the picturesque table of policy-making, standing on the fresh blood of the youth of July, this extreme failure of the state at the highest level spread a deep and poisonous message of disappointment to every level of society. Consequently, all dreams of long-term reforms have become just files of documents for the attention of a few people.
While in office in 2025, an advisor of the interim government, and also a well-known face of the July uprising, Mahfuz Alam said in a status late at night on his verified Facebook profile, “These days, many people are being cut off because their tails are being cut, so they are against me.” This statement revealed a complex reality: there was conflict, suspicion and a power struggle going on within the movement. He also claimed that the ‘greats’ of a newly formed party are conspiring against him. According to him, a certain circle is almost completely corrupt, and some are being attacked because they try to stay out of this corruption. What is most deeply regrettable in this statement is the accusation of turning the July uprising into a ‘money-making machine’. Umama Fatema, the former spokesperson of the anti-discrimination student movement, also highlighted this aspect. She directly alleged that many are using it for personal gain, financial benefits and power, sacrificing the sanctity of the movement.
When we look beyond this structural and policy-making failure and look deeper into the society and into the smallest sphere of the daily lives of ordinary people, a strange, contradictory and double-edged psychological picture emerges before our eyes, which is a shameless farce with the great sacrifice of July. Although everyone has been vocal in their support for the 100% implementation of the July Charter and the repair of the state, in the small sphere of their personal lives, people have completely failed to come out even an inch from the circle of old corruption, individual-centred irregularities and opportunism. In the experience of the past two years, we have repeatedly seen that those who were just a few days ago taking to the streets for state reform have again freely indulged in hundreds of immoral and petty practices in their personal lives, such as coercion, violation of traffic laws, illegal occupation of sidewalks or abuse of power at the slightest opportunity. This persistent failure to capture even a little of the sacred spirit of July at this small and visible level of daily life is not just some isolated or fleeting incident; it is a terrible and rotten form of our overall social and moral decline, which is gradually hollowing out the collective desire for change of a nation from within. Everyone in society talks about change and wants to see corruption or reform in others, but when it comes to making a small concession or adhering to principles in their own case, everyone shamelessly takes a stand for the old plundering system according to their own convenience, as a result of which the July Charter has been reduced to a mere empty slogan and anecdote; and the common people are forever deprived of its real benefits.
Right next to this two-faced and opportunistic social character, the country’s traditional political parties have been joined in parallel by the extremely opportunistic, plunderous and power-based politics, which has pushed the bloody achievements of July into a deep and catastrophic crisis, where the parties have only been busy in the dirty fight to expand their own party dominance. In the political arena of the last two years, we have seen very clearly how the old allies and beneficiaries of fascism have taken refuge in new guises within political parties. The new parties formed on the fresh blood of the students and the masses, or the traditional old parties, have all become blinded by the lust for power and are in a sick competition to corner each other. This severe lack of an internal democratic culture within the political parties and their anti-reform stance of seizing power at any cost have repeatedly shown that they never wanted to accept the original spirit or emotion of the July uprising as part of their party agenda, but have only used it as a ladder to power.
And all these accumulated failures, the extreme inferiority of policymakers, the moral degradation of the daily lives of the common people and the continuous opportunism of political parties have now presented a Himalayan-like insurmountable and all-consuming challenge to Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has just come to power after a long and thorny path. On the one hand, this newly elected political party now faces the immense pressure of meeting the sky-high expectations of party leaders and activists from the grassroots to the top level, and on the other hand, there is the historical obligation to implement the fundamental and structural reforms of the July Charter, which has created an inexplicable and complex political equation. Although the past political reality has a glorious history of long struggle, it has become an almost impossible ordeal for BNP to bring about the desired transformation by clearing the mountains of garbage and syndicates accumulated at every level of the state machinery for years. As the new government moves forward, having to properly patch up the wounds of the last two years of political turmoil and the extreme disappointment of the people and maintaining the balance between the greedy opportunist circles of power within the party and the angry pro-reform public anger outside has become a deadly and existential struggle for them.
Ultimately, the short-sighted inferiority of policymakers, the extreme failure in implementing the July spirit in the daily lives of the common people, the blind greed for power of the political parties and the mountainous challenges facing the BNP have all combined to plunge the great dream of the July uprising into an abyss of terrible uncertainty, from which the only and inevitable way out is collective honesty and uncompromising political goodwill.
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The writer is Editorial Assistant at Daily Sun