Mainul Hussain’s tongue

Mainul Hussain’s tongue
Hamid-ul Huq Heera

Bangladesh’s present law adviser, Barrister Mainul Hussain, has marvelous advantages. Lately, his tongue is wagging incessantly when he speaks before news reporters to lambaste fallen politicians. Only days ago he used to support politicians from one particular party. But now he took the onus on him to admonish them.

First, some background information. If you follow Bangladesh’s current politics you may already know that Bangladesh’s titular chief is none other than Dr. Fakhruddin, who worked for World Bank in the 1980s and 1990s stationed at Washington DC. The force behind the government, i.e., the military, has appointed Barrister Mainul Hussain as the law adviser who is also serving as the spokesperson for the military-backed interim government. He is the most cunning person and he is unwittingly doing all the messy stuff to destabilize the political condition of Bangladesh. At times, the opportunist Mainul Hussain gives threats and issues warnings to the politicians. Therefore, it is pertinent to know who this man is. Let us probe his past.

Mainul Hussain in his twenties received nomination in 1970 parliamentary election from Bangladesh Awami League only because he was a son of Tofazzal Hussain aka Manik Mia. He did not know the ABCs of politics due to his tender age. But, he used his father’s identity and got elected in 1970. The shrewd young barrister did not jeopardize his comfort and stayed back while many people like another shrewd barrister Moudud Ahmed joined Bangladesh Liberation war. The popular vernacular newspaper, Ittefaq, was perceived as the mouthpiece of Awami League. The angry Pakistani military, therefore, destroyed Ittefaq building. But, see how Mainul Hussain - - an avid supporter of Pakistani military - - sold his soul and extended his hands of friendship toward the Pakistani generals. By hobnobbing with the Paki generals, Mainul Hussain was able to extract a large sum of money for repairing machineries and printing Ittefaq in 1971 but this time his paper became right away the mouthpiece of Pakistani military while publishing demoralizing news about our glorious freedom fight. In a sense he became a Fifth Columnist.

This wayward son of Manik Mia became a fan of the military establishment. The Paki general taught him how to salute a general. The teaching he got during 1971 made him a lifelong sycophant of army. This servile attitude of Mainul Hussain for military never faded away and up until now one could see his slavish devotion for the men in uniform.

The changeover in August 1975 brought military back into the seat of power. The mastermind for bringing military by killing Sheikh Mujib was Khandoker Mushtaque. Dear readers, see what Mainul Hussain did. He joined hands with killer Mushtaque, provided support and strengths to the killer military gang by writing editorials in his paper, the Ittefaq. Some days later, Mainul Hussain saw people throwing stones and shoes to Mushtaque when he went to Baitul Mukarram mosque. And cunning Mainul Hussain did not see much prospect and he left Mushtaque's party, Democratic League. After Mushtaque, military man Ziaur Rahman showed his strengths as a strong ruler - who formed a hybrid party BNP. Army strength is what Mainul Hussain likes the most. He served in Zia's BNP religiously until recently. He was ready to offer free legal services to any troubled case on BNP’s mischievous acts. You see him in the court to defend fraudulent clients. Dear readers, do you know who was the attorney for fraud justice Faizee appointed by Khaleda Zia? He is none other than Mainul Hussain. Such is his true color.

Mainul Hussain's love for democracy knows no bounds! He refused to join the national government in 1974 for the cause of democracy. But now, in the emergency rule, there is no democracy but the vocal and smiling [conspiratorial too!] Mainul Hussain is an unabashed advisor - who is saying everyday that Bangladeshis do not have any fundamental rights in the emergency rule. A hypocrite of the century, one might say!

Mainul Hussain's hypocrisy has no limit! He gave recently a sermon to destroy family dynasty in politics. The mischievous barrister became the editor of Ittefaq not by his merit but by inheritance. As a crown prince in Manik Mia dynasty he suddenly became the president of the editorial board. Did he attend any journalism school to learn the art of writing editorials? No. But he pontificates at every opportunity he gets by saying that dynastical politics is bad. Thus he has a double standard – one for him and the other for politicians he abhor.


Mainul Hussain foams at the mouth while mentioning the evil effect of musclemanship in politics. Now he declared his one-man jihad to clean Bangladesh politics by wiping out musclemanship from our politics. Fair enough. But do you know that years ago, the same Mainul Hussain hired hooligans to capture the Ittefaq building from his brother.

Mainul Hussain is not only a zealous man but suffers from inferiority complex. The vernacular newspapers Janakntha and Jugantor had earned popularity and thereby their circulation grew by leaps and bounds. However, this caused enough grief in Mainul Hussain. He was upset knowing that his paper, Ittefaq, lost its luster and became a third rated paper in Bangladesh . Consequently, sheer out of jealousy, he suddenly turned against Janakantha editor Atiqullah Khan Masud and Jugantor owner Nurul Islam Babul when opportunity landed in his door. Look what happened to these two gentlemen. Mainul Hussain goaded the military to arrest them after getting into power. He has been uttering such words against the editors stating that they have no knowledge of journalism.

May I ask, where in the world did Mainul Hussain get lessons on journalism? His only qualification is that he is the son of a newspaper editor. This is his sole qualification on journalism. Mainul Hussain is so myopic that he very conveniently forgot that he inherited Ittefaq from his father. Shameless as he is, he will never admit once that family fortune has helped him catapult to the position he is holding now.