George Orwell’s 1984 is relevant again during Yunus’ totalitarian reign

 -Mrinmoy Sen

George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ is a dystopian or distorted history of the extreme arbitrary rule of a dictator. In this novel, a totalitarian, authoritarian and fascist government controls every aspect of every person’s life and monitors people at every moment. The main character of the novel is Winston Smith, who questions the truth of history and tries to rebel against government control. Eventually, he is captured by the government and has to face extreme torture.

The novel is set in a dystopian or extremely distorted state called Oceania.

Here, a dictatorial government called ‘Party’ under the leadership of Big Brother controls power and the distorted and extremely fascist cruel ruler ‘Big Brother’ controls this state. The main weapon of the Party is the ‘Thought Police’, who control people’s thoughts and behavior. The job of Big Brother’s ‘Thought Police’ is to control people’s ideas – no one can think against this state led by Big Brother in their thoughts and minds. If caught, the death penalty through the so-called trial of that person is inevitable.

Information is controlled by the ‘Ministry of Truth’. The job of this Ministry (Ministry of Truth) is to pass off all lies as truth, to propagate blatant lies as truth and to force all the people of the state to believe it. Its job is to write, change and distort history according to the wishes of Big Brother.

There is no freedom of speech and thought here. People are molded into a certain mold and are severely punished if they do anything against the party or the fascist ruler Big Brother or participate in propaganda.

The Big Brother character in this timeless novel by George Orwell is the present-day Yunus, who is an extremely cruel, inhuman, ruthless, dictatorial, lying, arbitrary fascist ruler. In the novel, the state called Oceania is currently Bangladesh. The people of Bangladesh are today crushed and disoriented by the cruel treatment of the totalitarian, arbitrary and terribly distorted fascist rule of the Big Brother ruler named Yunus. The main philosophy of George Orwell’s 1984 novel is, ‘war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength’ These central propagandas were the main basis for the management of the state called Oceania by the most heinous, worst fascist ruler in history, Big Brother. By forcing the people to believe this self-contradictory slogan, Big Brother wanted to control the psychology of the people of Oceania. Like the Big Brother ruler of Oceania, aren’t Yunus and his associates controlling the history and people of Bangladesh in the same way? Aren’t the Big Brother ruler of Bangladesh Yunus and his associates spreading propaganda like the worst fascist ruler of Oceania that, ‘Mob terrorism is the path to peace. Freedom is slavery. And stupidity is power.’ In other words, isn’t Big Brother Yunus forcing the people to believe that peace is established through mob terrorism. So create mobs everywhere. Isn’t Yunus saying that freedom is the greatest subjugation – so accept Pakistan’s slavery again. Isn’t Yunus forcing the people to believe that stupidity is power, so there is no need for the children of Bangladesh to learn to read and write, there is no need to waste time going to colleges and universities. Instead, do politics, make money, and have fun with drugs and sex.

(The phrase ‘War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength’ is a central slogan in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. It embodies the concept of doublethink, where contradictory ideas are simultaneously accepted as true by the Party’s members in Oceania. This slogan is a key element of the Party’s propaganda designed to control the population through manipulation and deception. )