Muslim Brotherhood’s leader Mohammedun Badie has congratulated his countrymen on the adoption of a constitution and urged them to ‘begin building our country’s rebirth with free will — men, women, Muslims and Christians’. Sadly, this is exactly which is not going to happen. Yes, it’s a rebirth but of a divided and disunited Egypt. Constitution is the fundamental document which can keep a country united provided it has got backing of all the quarters of the society. Unfortunately, the draft constitution which was first hastily pushed through the Constituent Assembly without much debate in public domain and then through a controversial referendum, negates the congratulatory words by Badie.
Given results show the deep fissure in Egyptian society — turnout was only 32.9 percent of 52 million voters, out of which around 63 percent voted ‘yes’, means only 20 percent of registered voters have approved the document. Now the revolution which brought down a dictator faces negation of its own building blocks –empowerment of youth, women and religious minorities, and unconditional guarantee of human rights for all. As is said ‘revolution eats its own children’ — in Egypt revolution has started eating itself.
We see emergence of a new dictatorship using religion to perpetuate its stay and grip on power. It’s high time for Brotherhood and Salafists to reconsider the path to which they are the taking the country to. It’s a path to disillusionment to the extent when ordinary Egyptians would start asking why they struggled to overthrow a dictator.