Could the nationwide spectacle of violence and vandalism that we witnessed last week, starting with the attack on the historic address of Dhanmandi Road 32 on February 5, and spreading to some 35 districts over the course of the following four days, stir the interim government into realising the primary importance of maintaining law and order? Although it was all too little, and too late, Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus eventually issued three statements in two days, expressing his concern over the rampant vandalism and arson at various locations across the country, in each case targeting structures or homes or institutions associated with the deposed Awami League. In a sense, there can be no escaping the fact that this is all karma at work, and the AL is simply reaping what it sowed over the course of its 15 years in power, till it all fell apart last August 5.

Beyond all the questions left unanswered, such as who brought the fleet of bulldozers, who they belonged to or who was paying for them, in the vast majority of cases, it was the helpless role of the local police and administration that would stick in the minds of citizens. And let's not forget, even though it would be completely understandable if we do, that the Army remains deployed on the ground with full magistracy powers. They all stood aside, as if indulging the public's appetite for destruction. Nothing spoke more directly to the sense of lawlessness and anarchy that seemed to overwhelm us for four days straight.

Of course, even outside the series of incidents that are being bundled together to fuel the narratives of Bangladesh going into the hands of Islamic extremists, mazaars (shrines) did come under attack in some quarters. The International Organisation of Sufism recently alleged that 80 shrines and darbars were attacked, damaged, looted and set on fire in Bangladesh. Some of these incidents took place just within weeks of the government taking over power. The rest took place later. Even in January some mazaars came under attack. Then in various places of the country baul concerts and festivals were closed down, or prevented from happening at all - usually after action initiated by the local branch of Hefazat e Islam. Women's football matches were obstructed. Actresses were even prevented from inaugurating retail outlets and showrooms.

The festival of destructive energy rightly raised questions of politics and history to begin with. It would only sow more division in our society, it was a slight on our history, you couldn't fight an ideology with a bulldozer and crane, surely. Yet a generation of Bangladeshis today is hell-bent on preventing the AL from ever emerging again, as a force to be reckoned with in Bangladesh politics.

And so there have been fresh calls to ban the Awami League this week, from both the Anti-Discrimination Students movement that led from the front during the Uprising, and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee, or Janac, which is expected to evolve into the much-talked about and much-anticipated political party led by the students of the Uprising. Even now, they are furiously working away at forming all the different committees, all the way down to the unions under each upazila. In spite of everything, most people are inclined to view this positively. We may end with the immortal words of the great Italian political theorist of the 20th century, Antonio Gramsci, himself describing a post-revolutionary moment in one of his stories: "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters."