It’s common for someone raised in a rural area to long for the excitement and variety of city life; after growing tired of self-sufficiency and quiet domesticity, they prefer the hustle and bustle of the big cities. However, for Golam Rabbani, things were different as he was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He grew up independent and adaptive to a busy lifestyle. It was where he got educated, started his career, and lived his whole life. However, he wanted to go somewhere where people were distressed and unprivileged, a place where there was no facility for a comfortable life, but why did he settle there? It was so his mind and soul could get a taste of tranquility – something he’d longed for a very long time in the city. He wants to spend every single moment where he can contribute to people and society.
“Village politics is so critical and complicated that we should avoid it because it is contagious.” Hence, village life, though it seemed calm and serene from the surface, wasn’t anything of the sort at all. Besides lacking employment opportunities and cities’ leisure activities, Golam Rabbani wanted first-hand experience to discover why people avoided village life and why village politics was so complicated. People’s perception still has a negative view of village politics, especially in the tea stall on each corner of the village. Still, Nayan Bangalee wants to pursue artistic and classical tuning in politics in the village.
He engaged himself in the complexities of local politics to revive his natural curiosity. Chauddagram, his village, was more valuable than gold for him because it was the land of his forefathers, and everyone there already knew him. However, Golam Rabbani is an honest and direct person. His intentions toward other people are genuine and positive, but when he started telling the locals about his vision, they were baffled. Still, he remained persistent, believing that he could impart his goal and the truth in a non-threatening manner to people who were only familiar with politicians’ wheedling speeches.
“People are closely knit together in villages,” says Golam Rabbani. Little did he know that those villagers could not decide for themselves. He noticed a uniform thinking pattern throughout the village. They didn’t think sensibly to form their own opinions but instead relied on others because they were all interlinked. He also discovered that the villagers were prone to misinterpret everything they didn’t completely understand, so he had to reach their cognitive level to converse with them. Despite being raised in the city, he quickly grasped the mindset of the villagers. Steadily, he proved that he had what it takes to be a good politician who caters to people with various thinking capacities.
“That was village politics,” shares Golam, “If it could get any more complicated than this, it would easily fill ten books, and even then, it would have been difficult to explain.”
Though the courageous leader failed in the elections, he did manage to show people the ugly face of the system – he didn’t hide the corruption. He changed the mindset of people who viewed corruption as a part of village culture. Golam Rabbani, in a true sense, understood the complexity of village life instead of becoming a part of it. Most people in the village are straightforward and pious, but they are used by politicians and utilize village strength as their vote bank. A voter can not be a bank for others. The voter has every right to vote with their own choice, and Nayan Bangalee promised to his soil that he would protect their rights till his death. Democracy is the solution – the norms of social work politics are the only solution for Nayan Bangalee to implement this political culture in all village societies in Bangladesh, where people are laborious, energetic, and hard-working. They try to obey the command of their superior leader.
Nayan Bangalee was the victim of a village conspiracy on 20th January 2011 as a Mayoral candidate – the symbol was Wall Clock – government and their syndicate manipulated the election result nakedly. They announced the ruling party candidate’s winning declaration when Golam practically won the election. He deeply realized that villagers are the victims of this so-called elite administration and villagers are constantly abused by them whether they are innocent.
Golam Rabbani Nayan Bangalee quoted, “I know my worthy 20 years was a precious time, and family blamed me that why I wasted a huge amount of time and spoiling my life staying in the village; I know what I dug and pointed out no researcher could find this like me.” He planted social politics to upgrade the image of politics but faced many obstacles. After his election, he organized a program at the Press Club on 6th February where Justice AKBadrul Huq was a chief guest, and he presided. Still, in the meantime secret govt agency raided his house and threatened his wife and mom that they would make him disappear if he continued to blame Govt for the unfair election.
He is now in the USA as a self-exile and still pursuing the international community to ensure democracy in Bangladesh by conducting a free, fair, and neutral election. He introduced a political school named “ Bangaleer Patshala” and provided virtual training to all village politicians and running his mission from abroad – help him and visit