Nayan bangalee autobiography - People of our society don’t need support from so called politician rather than real social workers strong contributions for different layers of the people in the society.
We will not allow any more any form of non-productive politics but we will encourage those who contributed for their society as a social responsible social worker.
Nayan Bangalee Autobiography
Founder of the National Youth Forum of Bangladesh
When I established the National Youth Forum of Bangladesh, I thought that this forum could contribute to society. Moreover, I thought that this could empower the youth to speak for themselves and stand for their rights. I wanted the youth of the country to be able to fight for their rights and take a stand if there is anything happening against the laws and something that is dangerous for society. When I was forming this forum, I had a desire inside me that this would help the youth to change society.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - I believed if I joined any political party, this wouldn’t give me the authority to empower the nation because they would make me stay busy with the party’s work and stay in the party office. They wouldn’t give me any assignment where I could directly work for the youth or the civilians. This was the reason why I changed my mind. I decided that I would do the politics, but differently. I made a goal to do social work-based politics and stay away from those political parties.
When I started in 2001, it was a very difficult phase of my life, and it was a very tough time for me to start. Even though a lot of people, including political activists,
youth leaders, and student leaders, told me I was not on the right track, I never gave a thought to them and continued my work to empower the people. I blamed them for not doing anything for society and only doing their politics to benefit themselves and the other parties.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - I thought student politics was ruining the academic career of the students working for them. They weren’t focusing much on their studies and were just busy with political work, which wasn’t actually doing anything for the students or the youth of the country. They were mostly busy with the party leader inside the campus, doing their campaigns, not attending classes, and pressurizing the teachers and other governing bodies of the school. For me, this was not the student’s politics. I wanted them to ban student politics because we don’t need them.
I tried to raise my voice against them, and in return, they attacked me several times. One day, I was taking tea, and around eight to ten student leaders came and raged at me. They were furious because I said things against student politics.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - I tried to make them understand how this kind of politics was of no use to the student themselves. They were wasting their time doing those things. I told them the youth movement was much more important because we could benefit the students if we worked regarding education policies and issues that students were facing inside the campus and university. But, if students are busy with the party office and working for the government political party issues, they are wasting their time.
So, in 2004, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh awarded me the National Youth Award 2004 because of my work and activities for the youth of the country. This made other political leaders unhappy because they thought I wasn’t doing the right work.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - That time was a very struggling phase of my life because I made a union in the garment sector and wanted them to raise their voice against the injustice they were facing. I had a very strong belief in social work because our actions were being monitored by the youth and young generation of our country, and they would follow what we were doing. So, we had a big responsibility.
In my opinion, every politician should start their career in social work or as a
social activist because this would ensure them understand the issues a common man faces every day. I was working for the union because I wanted them to have dignity while they were working in the factories or offices. I wanted to speak for their rights because the worker’s class people were undermined by the wealthier ones. They were poor, they weren’t in good shape, and a lot of landlords grabbed their lands and weren’t paying them the rent they deserved.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - This has been my dream since 2001. We tried a lot and struggled to work for the betterment of the lower-class society of our country. As a social worker, my political perspective was to work for society, not for any political party.
Finally, in 2006, we started the electoral campaign with our social organization leaders and other people. We wanted people to understand how they can elect a political leader, how they can support their leader, and what will be the campaign strategy and voting strategy. We started this with the election commission.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - In the same year, Anwar Chaudhry, who was the ambassador and High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, visited our office along with Brigadier Shaukat Hussain, who was the election commissioner of Bangladesh. Shaukat Hussain gave us the opportunity as a youth group to start a campaign for a good candidate and prepare for the fair elections.
Our second step was to find a social leader who was a social activist and would work for society with honesty and dedication. But unfortunately, political parties opposed our proposal and
wanted us to appoint a leader who was a businessman, working to earn money through illegal ways, and would get a chance to turn their black money into white through this designation of a social leader.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - For political leaders, nothing was more important than making money. They didn’t care for the people of the country and only did things to benefit themselves. I was with the garments worker, but the political leaders were supporting the owners of the garment industry. They weren’t doing anything for the labor, so it was a really tough time for me to endure social-based politics and take care of the workers and laborers.
The political leaders weren’t happy with my activities as we were working differently. We were supporting different people, and that made them furious. They started attacking me, and once I was in my home and one of the leaders came, harassed me in front of my father, and handed me over to the police station. He blamed me for working for the laborers, but fortunately, the police couldn’t find anything against me, so they let me go.
I tried talking to them and the chairperson of the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party and told them that if they worked only for the garment owners and rich people, who would be responsible for the social work? Isn’t social work a part of a political party’s work? What will happen in their future? Will they ever become a leader themselves? But nothing happened. They never heard me.
Nayan bangalee autobiography - The political parties made a union and nominated their favorite candidate. They wanted someone who would benefit them and other rich people in the country. They had no care for the people living and working day and night to earn bread and butter for their families. Those were the people who needed our help, needed someone to speak for them and ensure they got their basic rights.
This was the reason why I supported social work-based politics. It benefits not only the country but all those different classes living together. This type of politics would help workers and laborers who wanted someone on their heads to speak for them and to ensure that they got what they deserved.
