Nahid-Asif-Mahfuz failed, Awami League has also become active – Farhad Mazhar’s anger

Farhad Mazhar, the theoretician of the July anti-government movement, has claimed that he sent his girlfriend Farida Akhtar to Dr. Yunus’ interim government as part of a strategic struggle. For the same reason, he asked Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, and Mahfuz Alam to be part of the interim government.

However, Farhad Mazhar alleged that these three advisors failed to fulfill their duties and create new settlements.

He made this allegation during the Khaled Muhiuddin program hosted by journalist Khaled Muhiuddin on Friday, May 22nd.

Farhad Mazhar, a close aide to Yunus Sarkar, has been highly critical of Yunus and his advisors. When asked whether he should have barred his long-time live-in girlfriend Farida Akhtar from serving as an advisor, Farhad Mazhar claimed that he had asked Farida Akhtar, Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Mahfuz Alam to be part of the interim government for strategic reasons.

Explaining the matter, he claimed, “I asked Farida, Mahfuz, Nahid and Asif to be part of the interim government. This is a strategic question. I am not stupid, so I have to fight this fight. What would have changed there if Farida had not gone? Because of being in that fight, I can now tell you at least some information about the ministries. Whether there is anything else or not, I now have a complete picture of how to restructure fisheries and livestock.”

Farhad Mazhar said, “I have to form Bangladesh. This is part of the struggle. There will be some strategies, some policies in it. What I said when Farida was (in the government), I am still saying. I am not saying anything new. She has continued her struggle, she has done her work. If she has done something wrong in her ministry or cannot manage her ministry properly, tell me. We will definitely criticize her.”

Farhad Mazhar strongly criticized the role of the three student representatives who went to the interim government. He also directly highlighted his influence on the three former advisors.

Farhad Mazhar said, “I have repeatedly told Nahid to run the ministry properly. I said, if you do not run the ministry properly, then in the future I will not be able to appoint any young person of your age to the ministerial position. You have gone, you have got such a big opportunity, no one has got such a big historical opportunity. But none of them have run the ministry properly. I have now raised the complaint publicly.”

Farhad Mazhar also expressed disappointment with Asif Mahmud’s performance. He said, Asif has not run any (ministry). Now there are allegations of corruption against him. We did not want to hear these. We wanted them to run the ministry and show that they are capable of running a ministry.

Alleging failure against another advisor Mahfuz Alam, Farhad Mazhar said, “Mahfuz did not run the ministry either. He did not do any of the work that Mahfuz needed to do for his friends. All the media outlets he gave to were from the Awami League. So why is he talking about the Awami League coming today? He has been repeatedly told to do television. He was in that position at the time. He has been told to publish a newspaper. He has done nothing.”

Farhad Mazhar said about his disappointment, “You are now seeing that all the Awami Leaguers have become active, that happened during his (Mahfuz) tenure. Now that he is coming and giving big messages – Awami League is coming, it happened for him. If you want to deal with Awami League, then first deal with it in the ideological field, in the ideological field. You have to criticize Bengali nationalism. You have to criticize how Bengali nationalism has taken the form of fascism here. But you have gone against 1971.”

Dr. Farhad Mazhar, harshly criticizing Mahfuz, whom Yunus had introduced as the mastermind of July, said, “Mahfuz’s thoughts and theories are harmful, his personal behavior is also harmful. Because he did not have any relationship with any friend. But because of Mahfuz, the situation has reached such a negative point today. The division and division among the students is due to Mahfuz’s personal character.

Farhad Mazhar said, “I could not guide the NCP properly because of Mahfuz and his followers. What Mahfuz is writing now is also wrong in theory. He is using conservatism from my writing, even though he does not know what conservatism means. If you do not read Thomas Hobbes, you will not understand conservatism.”

Bhasani said this against authoritarianism. The theoretician of authoritarianism was Thomas Hobbes. So if you don’t fully understand Hobbes, you won’t understand Bhasani’s politics. This is not simply the use of an Islamic word. For Mahfuz, using an Islamic word is a way of bringing forward a kind of Muslim national identity. And I am vehemently against all forms of nationalism. I think religious nationalism and so-called Bengali nationalism based on language and culture—both of these are extremely harmful to the people of Bangladesh.