As we sift through the ashes of July, removing broken chunks of dictators, discarding torn flags of oppression and gently picking up broken lives of revolutionaries, the clean-up pauses.
Memories of the days gone flood back. The blackouts everywhere. A country digitally disconnected. Check-posts operated by goons. Kids murdered everywhere in the country.
At least 1,400 lives were taken from us in the span of 20 days.
The police, tasked with protecting the people, showed their true colours once again following 5 August. As if taking the lives of people wasn't enough, most upped and ran, leaving everyone without protection.
The RAB, such an elite force apparently, also stuck its tail between its legs and disappeared almost overnight.
Politicians who had promised they would die for their beloved leader Sheikh Hasina were also missing.
All rhetoric had fallen flat.
As law and order deteriorated, neighbourhoods started banding together and made their own form of police. WhatsApp groups transformed overnight into vigilante groups.
The people were reclaiming what was rightfully theirs: the entire country.
Kids took to the streets again to control traffic, reminiscent of 2018 when Hasina's bloody fists hammered down to crush the Road Safety Movement.
Even on the anniversary of her fall, Hasina's statement meant nothing, just denial and confusion.
Perhaps no one is as disconnected from reality as the AL.
While the nation united as Hasina fled, her loud remonstrations about this being all a Shibir or foreign ploy fell on nobody's ears. There was no substance to it, whatsoever.
As the days without AL progressed, the party turned its Facebook page into a meme goldmine. When Hasina came live for the first time after her fall – the fateful day when Dhanmondi-32 would fall – people were shocked to hear what she had to say: the same old tiresome routine of crying over the loss of her father, playing the victim again.
By then it was clear to all that Hasina didn't need sympathy. But she clearly needed therapy.
Back on Facebook, AL did its best to lose the last veneer of legitimacy. It was a clown's party, a veritable circus.
But it was shocking how such a badly organised, cowardly, ineffective party full of the biggest turncoats kept the country in a lockdown for 15 years.
The answer wasn't us the people: it was brute force and of course the lack of organisation by their opposition parties as well.
Now that the dust has settled, the cries are muted and some tears have dried, we all can also take stock of what has happened in the year since a fascist force was dismantled.
Where we stand
It is, perhaps, the most honest and brutal criticism of all political parties that even a year into Hasina's fall, none have managed to gain the trust of the majority.
The BNP had somewhat of an empty field to score goals, but the actions of some party members have only led to the erosion of any trust the party had managed to build following its corruption-plagued 2001-2006 reign.
According to BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, more than 2,500 leaders and activists have been expelled during the 11 months till July this year, mostly for various offences, including extortion, murder and much more.
The number is staggering. While the top brass continues to speak of unity and a new Bangladesh, for anyone watching, it seems like old habits die hard.
With party acting chairman Tarique Rahman still a virtual presence, questions arise on who really is running the show behind the scenes.
And of course, a reign of corruption is hard to shrug off. Even now, BNP's latest goons are terrorising small roadside stall owners to attend their rallies or risk losing their livelihood. This is on top of the money they already collect from the shops.
Then there is the party of the revolutionaries, the National Citizen Party.
Ably helmed by Nahid Islam, the party has still consistently found itself in hot waters.
Similar to the BNP, its members have also engaged in extortion, mob violence and beat downs.
But its worse offence has been an utter inability to carve out a niche for itself.
Where does NCP fall on the political spectrum? Is it centre right, far right, to the left?
While an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami is understandable from a political standpoint, how cosy they get is also a matter to deliberate.
The presence of NCP allies in the interim government has not done it any favours either, with criticism of favouritism abounding.
How the party has dealt with controversies has also left a bitter taste. It is thought the party leaders are themselves at loggerheads. Being whisked away by the army from Gopalganj after AL supporters vandalised their rally didn't do the party any favours either.
Then there is the Jamaat-e-Islami. The party has never won a majority and it will be quite unexpected if they manage to do so this time around.
Jamaat, to its credit, has managed to set a blueprint for how rallies can be held in the capital without causing a day of stress for commuters. It has also managed to mostly stay away from any controversy.
But that's just one thing. The fear with Jamaat has always been the same: the rise of religious hardliners. While it may not be party-supported, radical elements within or outside the party can become emboldened if it comes to power.
Then, of course, is the biggest stain on the party – that it played an anti-liberation role during the 1971 Liberation War.
Since August last year, there has been a rise of the so-called "Touhidi Janata", who have been a bigger nuisance than most others.
So far, the people have resisted succumbing to religion-based rulers.
Of course, if the majority of the people choose an Islamic style of ruling, then that is completely their right. Democracy, after all, should prevail.
At the moment though, while it should have been a time to discuss and commit to sweeping reforms, most political parties have stuck to rhetoric instead, debating wordings and semantics, and demanding an election as a solution to everything.
Now the attention should turn to the interim government. What have they done so far.
A reckoning beyond politics
Before we turn to the interim government, there are others who have perhaps escaped scrutiny.
The scrutiny, and even criticism, is not unwarranted. A state doesn't function in a vacuum.
Since August 2024, the country has witnessed a number of serious infractions. But much of it was perhaps a continuation of what had been happening before that.
The groundwork, it could be argued, had been laid for decades.
Lest we forget, a few days before the fall of Hasina, a number of top businessmen and industrialists spent hours praising her to high heavens.
They all committed to standing by her.
In the days that followed her fall, many of them did an about face as expected.
Statements of solidarity with the July movement were issued. But these words mostly rang hollow.
The RMG sector – Bangladesh's prized export jewel – almost came to a standstill as owners continued to drag their feet on wageboard and wage-related issues.
Protests flared up, more lives were lost.
Bus owners also went on strike when they were asked to function within the auspices of the law.
South City Corporation and National Board of Revenue officials also went on strike over different demands.
Press freedom is still all about lip service. While some in the media were quick to change colours when it suited them, their self-censorship prevails.
While some protests which paralysed the city and other areas stemmed from years of unheard and unheeded grievances, others came from incompetence and refusal to abide by the law.
The interim government faced all of these challenges, but how well they did is up for debate.
On the mob violence front, the interim government miserably failed, while its tacit approval to a few instances only raised eyebrows.
The investment summit, while much hyped, was not a straightforward success either.
Inflation was tamed to a certain extent, bringing respite, while dollar prices were also stabilised, which are two standout achievements.
Its reform commissions, meanwhile, have only acted as suggestions, with many still lacking clarity on what exactly is to be done.
While on the surface the government can say it has stemmed rising crime levels, the truth is that on the ground, people still feel unsafe.
The police, as usual, are found wanting – springing to action only when social media demands it.
Corruption is not a thing of the past either. Allegations have been raised against top interim government officials and their involvement in creating new nexuses of bribery.
Internationally, however, Bangladesh may be in a better standing than before, despite its tussles with India.
Western support has grown, but it means nothing: the West, too, has been rife with treachery for far too long to forget.
What a report card for the interim government's year in charge would look like is up for debate.
But that's politics for you. You cannot make everyone happy.
In the end, however, what is to come rests squarely on our shoulders. The blueprint for fighting oppression has been laid.
What we must not do now is forget the faces who fought so hard to protect fascism, even those claiming to be apolitical. We must not reinstate chameleons to former positions of power.
As Thomas Jefferson so aptly said: "The government you elect is the government you deserve."
Let's no longer be satisfied choosing the lesser of evils.
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