Bangladesh Nationalism and Bangladesh National Anthem (Hardcover)

Most of the “isms” -- Nationalism, Ethnic Nationalism, Religious Nationalism, Multinationalism, Transnationalism, Internationalism, Capitalism, Communism, Feminism, Environmentalism, Tribalism, Communalism, Secularism, Fundamentalism, Heroism, Terrorism, Zionism, Individualism, and the like – are widely discussed and sometimes even hotly disputed. Similarly, Bangladesh being unfortunately fraught with divisive pro-and-anti-Indian sentiments and interests from the moment it started having its birth pangs in 1971, Bangladesh or Bangladesh (i) Nationalism and also the National Anthem of Bangladesh are perhaps among the most contested, at least to the people of Bangladesh and the bordering Indian state of West Bengal, including those interested in South Asia, at home and abroad. Some scholars are not comfortable with the concept of Bangladesh nationalism standing alone. They think, by itself, it is incomplete, and would like to take it further in consideration of what is Bengali nationalism that would encompass the whole Bengali-speaking region in the Indian subcontinent stretching all the way to Arakan/Rakhine in Myanmar.

There are, however, other scholars who think that the ideology of Bangladesh nationalism, as first put forward by President Ziaur Rahman, the most farsighted and statesmanlike President Bangladesh has ever had so far, needs to be contextualized for all its practical and necessary purposes. There are a host of reasons, in fact, the best of reasons -- political, patriotic, geographical, territorial, religious, minority-majority, tribal and ethnic--, not just those related to Bengali language and culture of the whole united Bengal and even beyond with its mostly Hindu Western part, which has been seen to be highly unfriendly to Muslim majority Bangladesh. In fact, India as a whole has been fantastically and phenomenally hostile and inimical to Bangladesh from the beginning. In this scenario, I controvert the idea of a broader Bengali nationalism and argue for Bangladesh nationalism, which I contend to be politically correct, convenient and expedient.