[Dhaka Tribune] Before we get into a debate over the difference between an idol and a sculpture, the fundamentalists among us should be asked whether they acknowledge and recognise the Supreme Court in the first place.My guess is that they'd demand shariah.
Indeed several Islamist attacks have been directed against courts and judges precisely because the holy men said judges and courts uphold and represent an un-Islamic dispensation, if not a godless one.
Um... The symbolism of Lady Justice is that she's blindfolded -- meaning she's neutral. She holds scales to weigh evidence. She holds a sword, representing the power of the state. She's not a goddess, as the camel's nose Islamists insist, she's an allegory. Ptui.
The Supreme Court, where Lady Justice stands with her scales, is dedicated to upholding the constitution of Bangladesh. This constitution, in true democratic spirit, upholds and embraces the illusory sovereignty of the citizen. It is the citizen who is the source of all power.
Not too long ago -- I'm too lazy to look it up, but we had it here -- Bangla officially disavowed secularism, regarding itself as Islamic.
This philosophy directly contradicts with that of the Islamist parties, and hence the conflict between a democratic system and one prescribed by Islamists.
Having disavowed secularism they're now inching their way toward caving in to the plausibly deniably Pak-affiliated Islamic bastards that opposed the establishment of Bangladesh in the first place.
However,
women are made to be loved, not understood...
when holy men talk about Lady Justice and not the iconic Aparajeyo Bangla or any of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s busts, it can only be presumed that they attach more significance to this statue than the others.
Or that they haven't come for the others yet.
Now, if they do not even recognise an institution then they cannot comment on it. If Bangladesh does not recognise a country, then our government cannot urge that government to behave responsibly. But such reasoning can only be expected to work with a reasonable and rational quarter, which the Islamists have shown little evidence of being.
Rationality is a western construct, not applicable to proper Third Worlders.
Soon after getting an assurance from the prime minister that Lady Justice would be removed, the holy mens were out with the demand of removing all statues.
Including the representations of gods of the native Hindoo population.
One cannot presume any longer that the prime minister was just trying to placate a room full of holy men when she assured them of having a word about the sword wielding, scale bearing Banglicised Lady Justice.
I guess placating is just another word for caving in, unless she shares the same stupid beliefs.
But the mullahs then demanded removal of all statues.
... and the suppression of the Hindoo minority, and any Jains or Buddhists or Bacchantes inhabiting the country. And Shiites and Ahmadis, even though they're not big on statuary.
That would include all statues and sculptures like Aparajeyo Bangla, Raju Bhashkorjo, and the hundreds of busts of the prime minister’s father, not to mention the millions of idols of deities that are worshipped around the country.
That's what I just said.
This is a perfect example of why one should not relent to communal pressures, no matter how insignificant they might seem.
The neutrality represented by the blindfold and the scales is an aspect of secularism.
And as regards the debate of whether it is an idol or a statue, it is pointless.
The gods can be regarded as allegories. Is there an actual Lady Lakshmi inhabiting some ethereal abode? Or is Lady Luck a concept? Having been her plaything a few times in the past seventy years, I lean toward the latter interpretation.
Those saying it is not an idol but a sculpture are treading a very dangerous path. Even agreeing to take up such a line of argument would suggest one is worse or better than the other.
I'd say that those who regard Lady Justice as a goddess are the ones treading the dangerous path, one leading toward ignorance and superstition. The professionally indignant are continually treading that same path, whether the offending statue be Lady Justice or Lady Lakshmi or the late Robert E. Lee.
There is the suggestion that perhaps it would have been OK for the holy men to make the demand if this were an idol that people worship. It is not.
I've never seen anyone bow down to the location of Lady Justice, nor even bring her flowers. She is the Roman goddess Iustitia. She remains a poor, often violated allegorical goddess. There are a few people who worship her, a lot more who prefer to have her forbidden, banished, arrested in some Gethsemane and crucified on some Golgotha because having her strong and healthy would be dangerous to their grasp for power.
So what if this is the Roman goddess of justice? It is this concept of justice being blindfolded that we have embraced. Bengali, Buddhist, agnostic, bigot or buffoon, Lady Justice doesn’t see the difference.
Only clerics and the professionally indignant do. Dhaka is no different from New Orleans in that respect.
She has her scales to test the strength of one’s argument and evidence against another, and she has her sword to deliver swift justice. Removal of the statue of Lady Justice now, will threaten the idols and statues everywhere forever.
... and with them tolerance and rationality. And, of course, justice.