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Assamese rockstar in Bangladesh challenges CAAcophony
Yudhajit Shankar Das | TNN | Updated: Feb 7, 2020, 09:20 IST
TNN
Maqsoodul Haque performs in Adelaide during his 2018 tour of Australia
Maqsoodul Haque
is an
Assamese rockstar
who sings in Bangla. The jazz-rock fusion musician, popularly known as Mac, is one of the most prominent singers in
Bangladesh
. And while Mac, who traces his roots to Borholla and Jorhat in Upper Assam, has unequivocally supported the protests against pan-India NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but as a "proud Bangladeshi" he is also agonised by the fact that his country has been vilified in the citizenship-immigrant debate. And in this anti- and pro-CAA cacophony, Mac's is a rare voice, that of an Assamese person in Bangladesh.
Mac believes an anti-Bangladesh hysteria has been drummed up to sell NRC and CAA. He says Hindus in Bangladesh are better off than anywhere else in the world. "Our economic indicators are far more robust than those of India's and people, regardless of religion, see more opportunity in staying in the country," says Mac. Do Bangladeshi Hindus, a minority community, need an insurance from India? "I won't say there are no hate crimes, but as far as persecution is concerned it is rare in comparison to the number of Muslims beaten or killed by Hindutva vigilantes in India just for eating beef," says Mac.
He says he doesn't have a single among his over thousand Hindu friends who want to leave Bangladesh because of persecution.
'Reverse Migration'
Illegal immigration over the decades from Bangladesh is blamed for changing Assam's demography. But Mac claims there's an interesting phenomenon of "reverse migration" taking place "amid all this hullabaloo". "There are more Hindus from all over India who hold the best white-collar jobs in corporate sectors and continue to live in Bangladesh even after their visas expire because life there is so good," says Mac.
It may be white-collar jobs in Bangladesh that attract people from India, but it is the poor, unskilled people who cross over into India for a life with two square meals a day.
Numbers counter Mac's claim. The share of minorities, Hindus being the largest constituent, in Bangladesh's population has fallen from 23% in 1951 to 14.3% in 1974 (after the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan) to a dismal 9.4% in 2011. The sharp decline in the share of population is blamed on migration of Hindus from the country.
Secularism in the Genes
A second-generation Assamese Bangladeshi, Mac has had a strong bond with Assam having spent many winter vacations in the state as a kid. His parents had migrated to Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, in 1952. Mac was born in 1957.
"The greatest gift that I have inherited from my parents is an ability to speak Assamese fluently which leaves many awestruck," says the 63-year-old singer. So it isn't surprising that Mac's 120-sq-ft house in Dhaka has several japis (traditional conical hats) and traditional Assamese bell metal utensils like 'baan-bati' on display. And he is most often seen with a gamcha as a headgear like people in Assam who love to sport their gamusas.
Mac, who swears by Assam's reformist icon Sankardev and Sufi poet-cum-preacher Ajan Fakir, was in for a pleasant surprise when he visited his paternal village in Assam in October after a gap of 24 years. He was in Jorhat on an invitation for an event to mark the death anniversary of the legendary musician Bhupen Hazarika. The singer saw that the first gate of Atkheliya Namghar in Borholla was constructed right in front of his ancestral house as a mark of respect for his eldest maternal uncle Shafiur Rahman Xhonkwar who had been the president of the historical shrine of the Ahoms for 18 years.
"Secularism isn't a philosophy. It has to be embedded in one's genetics. You don't have to tell Assamese people to be secular. We are secular genetically," says Mac, who always sports a Buddha pendant.
Once when he was accosted by a mullah for wearing the pendant which the person said wasn't Islamic, Mac ended the conversation saying that music was his only religion.
A supporter of the anti-CAA protests in Assam, Mac frequently raises the slogan of Joi Aai Axom (Hail mother Assam), but cautions against being sentimental over the issue. He says he is happy that Assam for the first time has been the catalyst of a non-violent movement that is being replicated across the country. But the musician doesn't approve of the hate being peddled by both the camps. "NRC is an internal matter of India, but since Bangladesh has unnecessarily been dragged into the histrionics, I have nothing but revulsion as the stench of xenophobia and bigotry has enveloped the region," says Mac. "It is sad that India has once again gotten embroiled in divisive politics of identity."
Mac was a founding member of Bangladesh's pioneer rock band Feedback in 1976 and now leads Maqsood O' dHaka. "He is a living legend," says Deb Chowdhury, the lead vocalist of Sahajiya folk band, with which Mac performed at the Kolkata Sabala Mela on December 28. Mac, who has performed across continents, has also inspired generations of musicians across borders.
The Assamese in Bangladesh
Educated Assamese families migrated to Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, after Partition because of better employment opportunities. "The closest to me with Assamese roots are members of my paternal family and country cousins numbering not more than 500. We all speak fluent Assamese among ourselves," says Mac. The members, mostly residing in Dhaka, meet about five times a year and celebrate festivals like Bihu. "Most of us have Bengali spouses and hybrid Bengali-Assamese children," adds Mac.
The community, says Mac, is doing well and some of its members are millionaires, which he says wouldn't have been possible "if our ancestors didn't prefer to travel".
There is a sizeable Assamese community in Assam Basti in Rangmati of Chittagong Hill Tracts, with its members having the honorific 'Asom' as their surname, says Mac. They are about 5,000 in number but can't speak Assamese, rues Mac. "Many Assamese intellectuals are taking them to Guwahati and helping them learn the mother tongue they have lost," adds Mac.
Mac's father Abu Nasser Ziaul Haque, or Sona as he was popularly known, had fought World War II as a sailor with the Royal Indian Navy. He was decorated for valour during a fight with the Japanese in Akyab, Burma (now Myanmar) when he was just 18. "My father was one of the greatest admirers of Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur and his only slogan in life was 'Joy Bangla'," says Mac.
The proud Assamese says, as a community, those from Assam refused to flee the Pakistani genocide and hid out the nine nightmarish months when Pakistani troops and their stooges went about their pogrom. "Millions of Bengalis were then fleeing the war and going across to West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. In those nine months our loyalty was with the Bengalis and we did free Bangladesh," says Mac. Many Assamese joined the guerilla fighters of Mukti Bahini and several were martyred in the 1971 war, he adds.
Invited to perform in Assam, Mac sings his Bengali songs. "My dream project is to get all my songs translated in Assamese and sing them," the desire in his voice is difficult to miss. "But the cost entailed has always been a deterrent," he adds.
A Land-Locked Mindset?
Mac isn't new to anti-government protests. Mac's was a prominent voice during the 2013 Shahbag Movement when Bangladesh rose up seeking death sentence for a 1971 war crimes convict. It was also the time when the country united to seek a ban on the fundamentalist Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party. Thousands of people took to the streets in peaceful protest for two months with music and recitations. So, even as he supports the anti-CAA and NRC protests, Mac cautions against "ultra nationalism" in Assam.
Mac, who is also an author with works published both in English and Bengali, says it is an undeniable fact that immigrants have been an integral part of Assam. "What disturbs me when I think of Assam is is that as a race we haven't gotten into the culture of thinking globally. I think Assam needs to get rid of its victimhood mentality and also the traps of ultra-nationalism if it wants to uphold its unique identity," says Mac. "Assam's intelligentsia and civil society may look at working out an Assamese national thought process to unlock itself from its geographical land-lock," he adds.
Assam, he says, simply cannot afford to look at Bangladesh as a place where "wicked mias and munshis live". The singer has a proposal. "Come visit Bangladesh, meet people for real before forming ridiculous and conceited opinions."
Mac as early as in the 1990s raised his voice against religious extremism with songs like 'Parvardigar'. He says Bangladesh in its fight against bigotry has seen scores of free-thinkers, bloggers and activists hacked to death and it was no surprise he too was included in the hit-list, a threat with which he lives even today.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.time...enges-caacophony/amp_articleshow/73998341.cms
Yudhajit Shankar Das | TNN | Updated: Feb 7, 2020, 09:20 IST
Maqsoodul Haque performs in Adelaide during his 2018 tour of Australia
Maqsoodul Haque
is an
Assamese rockstar
who sings in Bangla. The jazz-rock fusion musician, popularly known as Mac, is one of the most prominent singers in
Bangladesh
. And while Mac, who traces his roots to Borholla and Jorhat in Upper Assam, has unequivocally supported the protests against pan-India NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but as a "proud Bangladeshi" he is also agonised by the fact that his country has been vilified in the citizenship-immigrant debate. And in this anti- and pro-CAA cacophony, Mac's is a rare voice, that of an Assamese person in Bangladesh.
Mac believes an anti-Bangladesh hysteria has been drummed up to sell NRC and CAA. He says Hindus in Bangladesh are better off than anywhere else in the world. "Our economic indicators are far more robust than those of India's and people, regardless of religion, see more opportunity in staying in the country," says Mac. Do Bangladeshi Hindus, a minority community, need an insurance from India? "I won't say there are no hate crimes, but as far as persecution is concerned it is rare in comparison to the number of Muslims beaten or killed by Hindutva vigilantes in India just for eating beef," says Mac.
He says he doesn't have a single among his over thousand Hindu friends who want to leave Bangladesh because of persecution.
'Reverse Migration'
Illegal immigration over the decades from Bangladesh is blamed for changing Assam's demography. But Mac claims there's an interesting phenomenon of "reverse migration" taking place "amid all this hullabaloo". "There are more Hindus from all over India who hold the best white-collar jobs in corporate sectors and continue to live in Bangladesh even after their visas expire because life there is so good," says Mac.
It may be white-collar jobs in Bangladesh that attract people from India, but it is the poor, unskilled people who cross over into India for a life with two square meals a day.
Numbers counter Mac's claim. The share of minorities, Hindus being the largest constituent, in Bangladesh's population has fallen from 23% in 1951 to 14.3% in 1974 (after the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan) to a dismal 9.4% in 2011. The sharp decline in the share of population is blamed on migration of Hindus from the country.
Secularism in the Genes
A second-generation Assamese Bangladeshi, Mac has had a strong bond with Assam having spent many winter vacations in the state as a kid. His parents had migrated to Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, in 1952. Mac was born in 1957.
"The greatest gift that I have inherited from my parents is an ability to speak Assamese fluently which leaves many awestruck," says the 63-year-old singer. So it isn't surprising that Mac's 120-sq-ft house in Dhaka has several japis (traditional conical hats) and traditional Assamese bell metal utensils like 'baan-bati' on display. And he is most often seen with a gamcha as a headgear like people in Assam who love to sport their gamusas.
Mac, who swears by Assam's reformist icon Sankardev and Sufi poet-cum-preacher Ajan Fakir, was in for a pleasant surprise when he visited his paternal village in Assam in October after a gap of 24 years. He was in Jorhat on an invitation for an event to mark the death anniversary of the legendary musician Bhupen Hazarika. The singer saw that the first gate of Atkheliya Namghar in Borholla was constructed right in front of his ancestral house as a mark of respect for his eldest maternal uncle Shafiur Rahman Xhonkwar who had been the president of the historical shrine of the Ahoms for 18 years.
"Secularism isn't a philosophy. It has to be embedded in one's genetics. You don't have to tell Assamese people to be secular. We are secular genetically," says Mac, who always sports a Buddha pendant.
Once when he was accosted by a mullah for wearing the pendant which the person said wasn't Islamic, Mac ended the conversation saying that music was his only religion.
A supporter of the anti-CAA protests in Assam, Mac frequently raises the slogan of Joi Aai Axom (Hail mother Assam), but cautions against being sentimental over the issue. He says he is happy that Assam for the first time has been the catalyst of a non-violent movement that is being replicated across the country. But the musician doesn't approve of the hate being peddled by both the camps. "NRC is an internal matter of India, but since Bangladesh has unnecessarily been dragged into the histrionics, I have nothing but revulsion as the stench of xenophobia and bigotry has enveloped the region," says Mac. "It is sad that India has once again gotten embroiled in divisive politics of identity."
Mac was a founding member of Bangladesh's pioneer rock band Feedback in 1976 and now leads Maqsood O' dHaka. "He is a living legend," says Deb Chowdhury, the lead vocalist of Sahajiya folk band, with which Mac performed at the Kolkata Sabala Mela on December 28. Mac, who has performed across continents, has also inspired generations of musicians across borders.
The Assamese in Bangladesh
Educated Assamese families migrated to Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, after Partition because of better employment opportunities. "The closest to me with Assamese roots are members of my paternal family and country cousins numbering not more than 500. We all speak fluent Assamese among ourselves," says Mac. The members, mostly residing in Dhaka, meet about five times a year and celebrate festivals like Bihu. "Most of us have Bengali spouses and hybrid Bengali-Assamese children," adds Mac.
The community, says Mac, is doing well and some of its members are millionaires, which he says wouldn't have been possible "if our ancestors didn't prefer to travel".
There is a sizeable Assamese community in Assam Basti in Rangmati of Chittagong Hill Tracts, with its members having the honorific 'Asom' as their surname, says Mac. They are about 5,000 in number but can't speak Assamese, rues Mac. "Many Assamese intellectuals are taking them to Guwahati and helping them learn the mother tongue they have lost," adds Mac.
Mac's father Abu Nasser Ziaul Haque, or Sona as he was popularly known, had fought World War II as a sailor with the Royal Indian Navy. He was decorated for valour during a fight with the Japanese in Akyab, Burma (now Myanmar) when he was just 18. "My father was one of the greatest admirers of Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur and his only slogan in life was 'Joy Bangla'," says Mac.
The proud Assamese says, as a community, those from Assam refused to flee the Pakistani genocide and hid out the nine nightmarish months when Pakistani troops and their stooges went about their pogrom. "Millions of Bengalis were then fleeing the war and going across to West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. In those nine months our loyalty was with the Bengalis and we did free Bangladesh," says Mac. Many Assamese joined the guerilla fighters of Mukti Bahini and several were martyred in the 1971 war, he adds.
Invited to perform in Assam, Mac sings his Bengali songs. "My dream project is to get all my songs translated in Assamese and sing them," the desire in his voice is difficult to miss. "But the cost entailed has always been a deterrent," he adds.
A Land-Locked Mindset?
Mac isn't new to anti-government protests. Mac's was a prominent voice during the 2013 Shahbag Movement when Bangladesh rose up seeking death sentence for a 1971 war crimes convict. It was also the time when the country united to seek a ban on the fundamentalist Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party. Thousands of people took to the streets in peaceful protest for two months with music and recitations. So, even as he supports the anti-CAA and NRC protests, Mac cautions against "ultra nationalism" in Assam.
Mac, who is also an author with works published both in English and Bengali, says it is an undeniable fact that immigrants have been an integral part of Assam. "What disturbs me when I think of Assam is is that as a race we haven't gotten into the culture of thinking globally. I think Assam needs to get rid of its victimhood mentality and also the traps of ultra-nationalism if it wants to uphold its unique identity," says Mac. "Assam's intelligentsia and civil society may look at working out an Assamese national thought process to unlock itself from its geographical land-lock," he adds.
Assam, he says, simply cannot afford to look at Bangladesh as a place where "wicked mias and munshis live". The singer has a proposal. "Come visit Bangladesh, meet people for real before forming ridiculous and conceited opinions."
Mac as early as in the 1990s raised his voice against religious extremism with songs like 'Parvardigar'. He says Bangladesh in its fight against bigotry has seen scores of free-thinkers, bloggers and activists hacked to death and it was no surprise he too was included in the hit-list, a threat with which he lives even today.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.time...enges-caacophony/amp_articleshow/73998341.cms
