Hasina and Teresa award

So the picture of the week on the Awami League web site is - as always - priceless. It depicts Hasina Wajed receiving an award named after Mother Teresa. This award is made by some unknown and unheard of committee and capitalises on the name Mother Teresa. That name is associated, rightly or wrongly - mainly wrongly in my opinion - with saintliness and care for the sick and destitute. The posting of the pic and the acceptance of the award ( for “unmatched contribution to public life” (!!)) quite clearly indicate that AL wants to cash in on whatever kudos there is attached to the Mother Teresa brand. I find it a bit incongruous that Hasina can happily accept this award with all the pious connotations of the brand and then a few days later earnestly call for revenge attacks on people….not very saintly or caring at all, I would say.

Still, the pic certainly makes a change from the usual pics of battered and bleeding AL activists. The site has become a bit of a fetish site for gory pics. Gore manufactured in the street agitation Hasina herself launches and then depicted in 16 million colours on the web.

If you recall, Mother Teresa used to hobnob with military dictators, and most infamously with Pinochet. Maybe Khaleda, given her lineage, will get an award too one of these days…