“Ministerial position not a reward for anti-fascism stance”: Farooki

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, the newly appointed cultural affairs adviser, has said that he did not take up the ministerial position as a reward for his “stance against Awami fascism.”

He made the statement in response to journalists during his first visit at the Secretariat on Monday.

Farooki said, "I believe our team is great. We will have a meeting. There, we will brainstorm – what can we do? After we leave, we should be able to say we have done something visible. Once it is ready, we will present it to the Chief Adviser."

"After that approval, we will present it to you. You will also know. We will share the roadmap, what we want to do. On the day we leave, you will judge how successful we have been and where we have failed. For the failures, we will apologize."

When asked about the criticism from student movement leaders, the cultural adviser replied, "My position, what I do, what I’ve done – if you check my Facebook activity over the last 15 years, you will understand. Don’t just look at a few posts, look at all of it. You can also understand my position by watching my films."

He continued, "To say that I support fascists is unbelievable. There is no need to respond to this. Read my writings. ‘What shall we do with this consciousness?’ – I wrote in 2014, the day fascism began at Shahbagh, read it. Also, in 2015, I wrote an article titled ‘In Search of Buts and Ifs’."

"Whether I stood against fascism or not – I did not come to take this ministerial position as a reward for that. What matters is whether I can do this job. Those who believe in me, think I can do it. Then I thought, yes, maybe I can."

"So, judge me by my work. I do not need a ministerial position as a reward for being anti-fascist,” Farooki said.