The religious men delivering these blustery speeches are not religious men at all but especially astute political actors who are adept at creating narratives that put Islam on one side, and virtually everything else -- art, literature, music, pluralism, education, secularism, intellectualism, logic -- on the other. They are expert, seductive orators and tens of millions of Bangladeshis are under their charismatic sway. Often, they rise in a great tumult when these god-men are challenged or when they are instigated by them to do so. To say these speeches are seditious would be a gross understatement; they are far more than that. Those attempts are themselves blights upon the purpose of civilization, and darkness cannot be defeated with more darkness.

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 17, 2020 20:03 UTC