It is obvious in the character of Suranjan and his stubborn father Sudhamoy that they have put blind faith in the communist regime. But at the same point one also feels them to be ignorant and having overlying pride in their countrymen, which after some time proves to be fatal. Taslima has very veraciously lurched about the marginalized minority by the dominant. Very truly depicting the psyche and pickle faced by the subaltern i.e. Suranjan and the many others who are absconding the country. When reading the novel for the first time, come across very stubborn Suranjan and Sudhamoy as they are hardly showing any impact of the Babri Masjid incident on their face. Gayatri Spivak in Can the Subaltern Speak says ‘My view is that the radical practice should attend to this double session of representations rather than reintroduce the individual subject through totalizing concepts of power and desire’.
Hence they are falling prey to the strong for being the non-resistant group. They try their level best to make some changes but the trauma by some or the other means gives birth to some very inhumane acts.
Where is Maya? No one answered Suranjan’s question. Kironmoyee, who was sitting abstractedly by the window, got up and went to the kitchen. It began to dawn on Suranjan that perhaps he had failed in his responsibility towards his parents and sister.
Suranjan is subaltern in two conduct one by his religion and another by failing in his duty towards his family. His life is isolated from his family for the time being. One may also feel or rather question Suranjan’s inability to accomplish his family’s wish of eloping to India as his loss of Masculinity or to a greater extent his feeling of impotency. The novel Lajja is not rated as Ms Nasreen's most outstanding work but it deals with a sensitive issue. The young daughter of the family is raped and to its utter frustration and dismay the family finds it deserted even by its secular Muslim friends. A young liberal Hindu is transformed into a fanatic and a communalist. Yes, I used to call myself a human being , and I believed in humanism .but these Muslims did not let me stay human .they made me a Hindu.
Suranjan was a leftist and a progressive person who was stodge with the ideals of Bengali nationalism. But when he saw all his ideals crumble around him in turmoil of communal frenzy. This alteration confirms how frantic emotion gradually turned communist.
Suranjan, mauled and battered, angry and vengeful, almost rapes a Muslim whore just to prove that Hindus are also capable of raping.
Even Suranjan is stunned when his friends confront him "Many told Suranjan - why did you then demolish Babri Masjid? You! You are a Hindu. Suranjan in India and Suranjan in Dhaka are one and same. Is India then the really homeland of Suranjan? Was he an alien in the country from the day of his birth? The question again is controversial as it gets us back to the circumstances that one faces at a particular time.
‘And what are you going to do with your name? Nilanjana is a dead give away.’ Sudhamoy said remembering, even as he spoke ,the time he had called himself Shirajuddin.
The fear of survival haunts everyone. Sudhamoy has tried to protect himself from the dominant by putting on the skin of the dominant. It seems all right as it would be better than getting killed and cut into pieces later. It seems that Taslima is not giving us a clear a complete of Bangladesh. It makes us believe that Bangladesh is a fundamentalist state where most Muslims are communal and Hindu-haters. However, the scenario was not what was shown, many progressive Muslims organized themselves quickly and stood by the side of the oppressed and harassed Hindus against their frenzied brotherhood. It makes one think is being called a Bangladeshi more important than being called a Bengali. A new way of approaching this dilemma is to do away with the identity of Region and Religion , but think with the identity of one’s language. In critiquing it such a practice of evolution into a new class is called the ‘transformation of Consciousness’. According to Spivak this barely occurs due to the shrewd politically powerful subaltern who by presenting their involvement benefit themselves while the knowledgeable few who represent themselves very apparent. It has worked in many cases , the powerful example would be the French, it has been observed that French people have more respect for those who can speak and understand their language . Marx suggested the way out of the society which has divide into dominant and resistant .He recommend that the modes of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life is by liberating from the differences of all follies and concentrate on the social existence as the only consciousness .
The term subaltern at one time gives a secured position to one while takes away the security from the other. In India our democratic system works in the similar manner, when any formality is done or any competitive exam is given the form filling becomes the best scenario they ask you. Are you coming from any subaltern / minority group? And the options are likely to be are you Muslim? or are you Sikh ? Instead the question should be are you coming from an economically backward strata of the society. The irony of the sentences above is one goes according to ones religion even the country’s government cannot make out between the needy and the self complacent. For speaking of minority the number of Muslim population in India exceeds the number of Hindus. A very disturbing thing about the characters is that Taslima has made them appear very small in the world of globalization. Each one is conscious about religion and community .No one seem to be aware of their class consciousness. There is no attempt made to think beyond the limits of Extremist religious thoughts. It is this class consciousness that the countries of South Asia lacks.
Simultaneously, the image of Bangladesh and other Indian sub continent has comparatively less importance in international politics. For past many decades Indian sub continent have been just a market place and dumping ground for the stern world .Hence still have secondary status when it comes to solving the conflicts among our self. This derogatory position effects the routine and thus widely affects our social harmony and peace .The third world is existing but in the hands of the first world rulers. Thus when see the disputes between the adjacent countries feel and seldom make it happen through our way of religion. The countries of Indian subcontinent which are facing the problems of religious riots are India , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka. But this subaltern attitude develops because while framing their constitution the government forgets that the society in their country is an ethnic composition of mixed religion. India in that means has tried to do something in the favor of every religious group, and in one of its amendment has framed different marriage laws for Hindus and Muslims.
However , there are steps taken by many organizations to fight against the crude. There seen hardly any improvements in it. Whereas government regulation and state sponsored religion encourages sects to fight the church and state, a truly competitive religious market encourages religious tolerance and mutual respect if only as matter of necessity. For the time being Bangladesh's secular roots are holding, but the fundamentalist cause is in the ascendant. And as the rise of militant Muslim groups in Indonesia has shown, economic collapse and political crisis can galvanize support for extremists very quickly. The process is not irreversible, but if left unchallenged for too long, Bangladesh could deteriorate and become a new nest for terror. There is still time for a counter-revolution.
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