JMI organises special lecture on ‘Movement of History in South Asia’ by Bangladeshi Journalist Syed Badrul Ahsan

The Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) organized a special lecture on ‘Movement of History in South Asia’ on Saturday 21st January 2023 at Mir Anis Hall of the university. The renowned journalist Mr. Syed Badrul Ahsan from Bangladesh was invited to deliver the talk. Prof. Mohd. Muslim Khan,HoD, Department of Political Science, JMI welcomed guests Mr. Syed Badrul Ahsan, Prof. Najma Akhtar, Vice Chancellor JMI, Mr. Atul Aneja, Moderator, and Mr Ranjan Mukherjee, Guest of Honour, by felicitating them with saplings.

The talk was chaired by the JMI Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhtar who welcomed the guest speaker and introduced the theme. In her welcome address she spoke about the importance of the history of the region and stressed on the need of constructive cooperation among the regional countries in order to overcome issues. She also emphasized on the need for academic exchange between Bangladesh and India, particularly at the university level so that a wider understanding could be promoted.

The talk was moderated by Mr. Atul Aneja, former senior journalist of The Hindu and currently editor of India Narrative, an online news portal. Mr. Aneja brought the current South Asian political scenario and set the stage for the talk. Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, former Air Commodore IAF and former Additional Director-General of Prasar Bharti attended the lecture as Guest of Honor.

Mr. Syed Badrul Ahsan began his lecture by saying that Bangladesh is not covered and given appropriate attention in the mainstream Indian media the way it is supposed to be. It remained confined to its North Eastern states, particularly West Bengal. He also expressed his view about India by stressing the importance of the country for Bangladesh. He said that India has a global reputation being a large country and having a close relationship with India is beneficial for a developing country like Bangladesh; it becomes even more important when it comes to South Asia.

Mr. Ahsan also discussed the emergence of Bangladesh from a very challenging and bloody liberation movement. He informed the audience that Bangladesh faced acute challenges from 1971 to 1974. The country also experienced military dictatorship. He also talked about Bangladeshi nationalism that was purely based on a particular language i.e. Bangla. He emphasized to develop people to people contact and increase trade relationship to strengthen the relationship among South Asian countries specially India and Bangladesh. He emphasizes to forget the past history and move forward with developmental goals. He also shed some light on regional groupings like SAARC. He said that SAARC did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve because of some reasons and stressed that if SAARC doesn’t function, some other framework must also be tried.

Towards the end, he took several questions from the audience and provided convincing explanations to all the questions.

The program ended with a formal vote of thanks by Dr. Krishnaswamy Dara, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, JMI.