‘Mandar dafa bajna /Abir gul lala kum kum/ 

Keshor charato karawato/Kutuhal has e/Mandar dafa bajna.’  

(Mandolins are being played/colored powders getting sprinkled/ 

Tulip unfurling her petals/Women have curious smiles on their lips). 

(Hindustani Dhamar on the spring festival) 

…It was the year of 1989. Me and my immediate elder sister used to attend a Hindustani classical music class (as many other middle-class Bengali girls attend in their childhood or adolescence days and later most of them cannot continue for studies, work or etc. etc.) where our teacher used to train us in ‘Dhrupad’ and ‘Dhamar’- two unique forms of Hindustani classical music besides the too commonly practiced ‘Kheyal.’ Sometimes we used to ask the teacher meaning of all these Hindustani lyrics and he tried to explain at his best. The aforementioned lyrics of Dhamar was composed by any of the classical lyricists of the sub-continent (or to be more accurate, by the lyricists from Persia or Afghanistan up to the Indian sub-continent) to welcome the advent of spring and the word ‘gul lala’ means Tulip in Urdu and this Tulip is opening her petals in the spring (Keshar charato karawato). We know how much our Hindustani classical music has been enriched by the composers from Persia like Ameer Khasru and others. In fact, the word ‘Dafa’ means ‘Mandolin’, a particular type of musical instrument which used to be played in any festival in Persia and the adjoining regions and still it is played across a long route from Persia or central Asia to the Pakistan-North Indian territories. Although reputed Bengali musicians like Kabeer Suman are now-a-days advocating for writing Bengali Kheyals for better comprehension of the Bengali learners (as language often seems to be a barrier in understanding the North Indian classical music  and learning Hindustani classical is a pre-requisite for achieving minimum skills in music of this region), but can we ever deny that how the ancient and mostly Sanskrit-based Indian classical music has been just multiplied in her wealth and pomp through the incorporation of Persian or central Asian instruments, lyrics and tunes? Well, the aforementioned Dhamar signifies the spring festival in a Mughal court where women are playing with a number of colored powders, mandolins and Tulip flowers. 

No- don’t get worried! I don’t wish to write a long article on Hindustani classical music or brag about my adolescent days’ training in music- but a am I pretty much sure to write a political column today? No- rather let us cite little more lines from the poems or myths on the flower ‘Tulip’- an immensely colorful, vibrant and fragrant flower of our planet. 

Sylvia Plath, the poet requiring no adjectives, has depicted ‘Tulip’ in the following lines: 

“Tulips, tulips,
It is evident the tulips are to blame.
They tulip the tulip bed, I think.
Tulips erupt from the ground,
from the bud’s bud, sweating their tulip wax
in the sun’s tulip inferno.” 

According to the reports in the internet, the tulip was first discovered in Turkey around a thousand years ago, and its origin story is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. In Turkish legend, there were once two star-crossed lovers, a princess named Shirin, and Farhad, a stonemason. Shirin’s father opposed the love match–because one cannot allow a princess to marry a lowly tradesman–and so he ordered Farhad to complete a complex task. While the stonemason was off doing as he was told, Shirin’s father sent the young man a message saying that the princess was dead. Overcome by grief, Farhad took his own life. Of course, once Shirin heard this news, she ran off to find him. Upon discovering his body, she too killed herself, and as their blood pooled together, it formed the tulip (Tulip Magic, Legends and Folklore).  

Wikipedia, in its casual and very dispassionate tone of narration, depicts this flower as ‘Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the Tulipa genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. The tulip is a member of the lily family, Liliaceae, along with 14 other genera, where it is most closely related to Amana, Erythronium, and Gagea in the tribe Lilieae.’  

‘Growing wild over much of the Near East and Central Asia, tulips had probably been cultivated in Persia from the 10th century. Tulips were cultivated in Byzantine Constantinople as early as 1055 but they did not come to the attention of Northern Europeans until the sixteenth century, when Northern European diplomats to the Ottoman court observed and reported on them. Tulips were frequently depicted in Dutch Golden Age paintings, and have become associated with the Netherlands, the major producer for world markets, ever since,’ Wiki adds. 

And who of us at least have not watched the forever golden song from Bolywood movie ‘Silsila’ and that immortal song of Rekha-Amitav duo in the vast fields of Tulip?  

Tulip Siddique: The vibrant Bangladeshi-origin politician in the British Parliament  

I was yearning for a long time to pen this article exactly on this theme of aesthetics-music-myth-popular culture regarding the flower Tulip (rather than writing a conventional political column) when Ms. Tulip Siddique, granddaughter of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a member of the House of Commons of the British Parliament cum a Minister of U.K. was accused in December 2024 by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in an investigation into infrastructure projects, including a 2013 deal with Russia for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, in which it is demanded up to £3.9 billion was embezzled.  

The days were and still now very crucial since the 5th August 2024 era of vandalism and mobocracy has erupted. Even my most ‘detached from politics and absolute gentleman’ brother in our family could not resist writing a social media post on Tulip’s innocence against these alleged scams in December 2024- much to my astonishment. I was almost in tears while thinking about the all-out witch hunting programme against the most ‘tortured family’ in our political history! Yes, me too have often criticized Bangabandhu or our former PM Sheikh Hasina in a number of my social media posts or even in write-ups in newspapers. But how can we deny the 12 years of prison life of young Mujib, the ruthless assassination of his three sons including the 10-years’ old Russel, two young and pregnant daughters-in-laws, Begum Mujib (wife of Bangabandhu) and the great leader himself on the fateful night of August 15th of 1975? How can we evade the killing attempts on Sheikh Hasina via 21st August grenade attack (2004) that took the life of prominent Awami League leader Ivy Rahman and a good number of Awami League leaders (along with permanent injury and disablement of many of the AL supporters) and workers despite my upbringing in a left-leaning family? And the politics of utmost vengeance now we perceive through the burning down of Dhanmondi-32 house, arson attempt in the Liberation War Museum and numerous acts of vandalism? And then these rightists’ and hardcore Islamists’ all out attempt to tarnish the image and reputation of the nucleus family of Bangabandhu? His daughters and grandchildren who are still surviving? Funniest thing is when Sajeev Wazed Joy had to accept American passport after so many years of living, work and marriage in USA for the inevitable post-July reality, who else in the present Interim government of Bangladesh has not dual citizenship? Including Prof Yunus, Dr. Ali Reaz and all the big shots?  

But the dust was yet to be settled. Ordinary-most commoners like us, who had to endure all sorts of ill callings as ‘paid Awami agents’ in last 15 years despite our 9:00 AM to 5:00 AM jobs in different organizations and sometimes we used to feel pressed in condemning AL government on social media very unjustly for all sorts of social boycotts and attacks from the Bhasani lefts, BNP and Jamat activists- being one of these ‘crowd,’ I decided just to wait for the day when all these allegations will prove to be ‘fantasy.’  And it happened. The Russians denied all sorts of scam allegations flatly and Tulip got relieved. 

To our utter amazement and amusement, we found on 8th June evening the ‘Guardian’ report being viral and repeatedly being quoted in the Daily Star, Dhaka Tribune, the Business Standard, JAAGO news and every other Bangladeshi media where Tulip, as if to imitate her grandfather’s naïve and bold attitude towards life whose glimpses we can decipher in his two auto-biographies, has invited Dr. Yunus to the House of Commons to discuss the corruption allegations against her. I feel the intense ‘Faridpuri/Gopalganj’ style of naivety and courage to laugh at all the conspiracies against her and her great aunt as the reports quotes her: ‘Tulip Siddiq, has requested a meeting with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus during his visit to London next week, in an effort to clear up what she describes as a “misunderstanding” after corruption allegations made by his administration led to her resignation from the UK government, according to The Guardian (https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/tulip-seeks-meeting-yunus-over-corruption-allegations-the-guardian-reports-3913276).’  

“I have no property nor any business interests whatsoever in Bangladesh. The country is dear to my heart but it is not the country where I was born, live in or have built my career in. 

“I have sought to clarify this to the ACC but they refuse to engage with my lawyers in London and apparently keep sending correspondence to a random address in Dhaka.” 

Tulip added, “Every move in this fantasy investigation is briefed to the media, and yet no engagement was facilitated with my legal team.’ (https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/tulip-seeks-meeting-yunus-over-corruption-allegations-the-guardian-reports-3913276).’  

Hence the answer is ‘blowing in the wind!’  

And the responses from the existing, interim government of Bangladesh? Initially the Press Secretary Mr. Shafiqul Alam denied of receiving any such letter from Tulip. Then the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh was received at the Heathrow Airport of London by Ms. Abida Islam, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the United Kingdom on 10th June (Tuesday) morning. But  hardly there was any noteworthy dignitaries on the British side to welcome Prof. Yunus. Meantime, British PM Keir Starmer refused to meet Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who is in London seeking UK support to recover billions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by the former Sheikh Hasina regime, Financial Times reported on Thursday, according to a report of www.msn.com, citing the Financial Times.  

UK government officials confirmed there were no plans for Starmer to meet Yunus during his four-day visit, the report added. 

May be the British cabinet and the PM of UK himself may be embarrassed enough after the straight denial by the Russians of Tulip’s alleged involvement in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant which compelled her to resign from the British cabinet. Hence the British may not be very willing to buy another ‘corruption story’ so fast! To hide this ‘embarrassment,’ the Press Secretary initially mentioned about Starmer’s running visit to Canada though that too proved to be wrong and Starmer is staying in UK.  

On the other hand, Mystery arises over reports regarding Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s nomination for the King Charles III Harmony Award 2025. While the Bangladeshi government asserts that King Charles III personally nominated Dr. Yunus, the official list of recipients published by The King’s Foundation does not include his name (https://protectbangladesh.org/2025/06/09/mystery-surrounds-dr-yunuss-kings-foundation-award-nomination/). 

Pros and cons about the flower/the young politician Tulip:  

The rest to know about Tulip is, however, available in net. Still to summarize in brief, born on 16 September 1982 in Sutton, London, Tulip is the daughter of former Dhaka University professor Shafique Ahmed Siddique, and Sheikh Rehana. When she was 15, her family moved to Hampstead.  

Tulip has attended Scholastica, Dhaka, Bangladesh, The Royal School, Hampstead and Mill Hill School before finishing her undergraduate degree in English Literature at University College London and then a master’s degree at King’s College London. In September 2011, she did successfully complete a second master’s degree in Politics, Policy and Government.  

At the age of mere 16, Tulip joined the Labour Party.  Her father had a stroke, which left him disabled and even incompetent to talk for next five years. She has mentioned the National Health Service and the care her disabled father received through this service as the raison d’etre of her joining the Labour party.  She identified former Labour minister Barbara Castle as her political icon and has branded her mother and maternal aunt as “two very strong feminists.’ 

 In the 2010 local government elections, Tulip emerged as the first female Bangladeshi councilor for Camden Council, where she acted as Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities till May 2014.  

At the 2015 general election, Tulip was first elected to the British Parliament as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn with 44.4% of the vote and a majority of 1,138. At the snap 2017 general election, she was re-elected as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn with an augmented vote share of 59% and an enhanced majority of 15,560. She was re-elected at the 2019 election. Owing to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Tulip’s constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn was annulled, and replaced with Hampstead and Highgate. At the 2024 general election, she was elected to Parliament as MP for Hampstead and Highgate with 48.3% of the vote and a majority of 14,970.  

I, however, mention only a handful of feathers in Tulip’s crown as a young politician and Parliamentarian in the U.K. Parliament and don’t go for enlisting all her glories and successes as a young activist to raise voices for Syrian refugees (she wrote a letter jointly with two other MPs to David Cameron, the then PM of UK to solve the Syrian refugee crisis) , against the Israeli attacks in Gaza or Saudi Arab attacks in Yemen, for child care, equal pay and disability inclusion or addressing imbalance in the employment of people from ethnic minorities to ameliorate the diversity of its workforce in 2017. Her maiden speech in Parliament was considered one of the top seven from 2015’s intake of MPs by the BBC.  In October 2016, she was recruited as Shadow Education Minister in the Labour Party’s frontbench in Parliament. 

Married to Christian Percy (2013), this incredibly resilient young lady participated in a critical Brexit-related vote in the Commons in a wheelchair just two days before the birth of her son in 2019. Her first child is a daughter (2016). Never denying her Muslim identity, Tulip claims herself to be ‘more cultural than religious’ which is the echo of every enlightened heart of this generation. Used to attending even the events in synagogues, she wrote to the Home Office of US for children’s passports to be amended to carry both their parents’ names to evade confusion at airports and borders (August 2017). She was stopped with her daughter at UK Border control when returning from a family holiday unless her husband joined them, as she did not carry the same surname in her passport as her child. 

Final Words: Myth of Siavash the Persian Prince’s fire-ordeal and the Kurdish Tulips  

Siavash or Siyabash is the mythical prince of Shahhnameh, Ferdowsi’s great endeavor to preserve the legends of his fire-worshipper ancestors, the soul of Iran. Siyabash, just like the heroine of Ramayan ‘Sita’ or ‘Siya’ of another major sect of the Indo-Aryans/Indo-Iranians, had to face a fire-ordeal to prove his innocence to his father when his young stepmother Sudabeh tried to seduce this handsome prince and failing, she brought the charge of ‘attempt to rape’ against him to the Persian King Kay Kavus.  The innocent Siyabash, just like Siya or Sita (Sita is called ‘Siya’ in North India), jumped into the fire before all the courtiers and came out intact in his white robe on a horse back. Still the coward father of Siyabash did not dare to punish his wife Sudabeh for her powerful father (king of a neighboring land) and so the innocent Siyabash had to leave his native land again. Taking refuge in Turan, he married the Turanian princess Farangis but here too the Turanians did not like a man from Iran and finally he was killed by them without any wrong doing on his part.  

But still in Iran people believe the blood-red flowers of Fritillaria imperialis family (a particular type of Kurdish Tulips) to be blossomed from the Khune Asyavushan (the blood of Siyavash) and that the flowers bow their heads and weep for the innocent martyred Siyavash during the late March or spring time in Iran.  

Myths of ‘Siya/Sita’ or ‘Siyavash’ are metaphorical in the sense of countless fire-ordeals the innocent people have to go through their lives and even some of them can never be finally happy or ‘victorious.’ But it’s their sheer resilience and relentless fight that radiate like the petals of a Tulip!

Shweta Irina