The tumultuous and controversial post-independence phase in Bangladesh's history that also saw a crippling famine is the theme of a new novel by Bangladeshi-Canadian writer Neamat Imam.
It is the 1970s. After a bloody struggle, Bangladesh is an independent nation. But thousands are pouring into Dhaka from all over the country, looking for food and shelter. Among them is Nur Hussain, an uneducated young man from a remote village, who is only good at mimicking a famous speech of Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The main protagonist of the novel is Biswas, a staff writer for a newspaper called Freedom Fighter, who chronicles Bangladesh's freedom struggle and who tells the story of the first four years immediately after the country's independence.
Nur turns up at Biswas' doorstep, seeking employment. Initially Nur is a burden for Biswas, but then Biswas, who has recently lost his job, has the idea of turning Nur into a fake Sheikh Mujib.
He selects Nur to mimic Mujib's historic 7 March 1971 speech in which the leader proclaimed, "Our struggle is for our freedom. Our struggle is for our independence." Nur used to memorise the speech "phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence, trying to pronounce every word correctly, giving them the typical Mujibist phonetic character".
Biswas always stood besides Nur, coaching him through the whole process of learning the speech.
With the blessings of the political establishment, Nur starts cashing in on the nationalist fervour of the city's poorest. But even as the money rolls in, the tension between the two men increases and reaches a violent climax when Nur refuses to stick to the script.
