Isn’t this an ethical defeat or a political trick?
Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Politics, political debates and elections are very common in Bangladesh. Every conscious person takes interest and has to take part in discussion wherever or whenever he/she get chances and now it has become a common trait in Bangladesh. Out of the general media, politics as a matter of discussion is very popular in social media. Many people have opened their own You Tube channels in Bangladesh and in abroad also. Some of them are nationally acquainted person and some are not. But round the clock many talk-shows are being telecast nowadays. People also watch these talk-shows. A good number of television audiences have already shifted to those channels rather than the regular TV channels. This situation is also the cause of declining tendency of TRP of different channels.
We know national election will be held on December 23 or January 24. It is about one year time. Political parties have sufficient time to organize them for general elections. But the ruling party and the real opposition are now head to head in all issues. For their programs the common people might be terrorized in the coming days. It is evident that mutual no confidence between party in power and opposition on the street is the common trait of Bangladesh politics. The main political issue that comes to the forefront is the procedure of holding general election. Ruling party wants general election under the prevailing system incorporated in the constitution but opposition wants general election has to be held under neutral caretaker government.
To make public opinions in favor caretaker government and against recent price hike of essentials the opposition on the street is holding big public meetings in the divisional cities in Bangladesh. In these meetings huge gatherings formed and that is boosting the morale of the opposition. On the other hand the attitude and body language of some top leaders of the ruling party indicate that somehow they are tensed for the huge arrangements of BNP. It is also astonishing that the workers of BNP bypassed all the obstacles and joined the meetings. Before joining the public meetings workers of BNP and the general people faced the transport strikes but with all this inconveniences they had to join the meetings and they have to join the subsequent meetings to be held in Rajshahi and in Dhaka. It is assumed that the following meetings will also be full of public gathering. The leaders of the opposition on the streets seem to be satisfied of the presence of general people in the meetings.
BNP the de facto opposition declared that they would hold public meetings in all the divisional headquarters protesting price hike of essentials. By this time most of the public meetings were held and BNP seems to have been satisfied of huge rush in their public meetings. The huge gathering also attracted general people across the country. The body languages and speeches of some senior leaders of ruling party show clearly that the huge presence of general people in BNP’s meetings create sensation among the top leaders of ruling party. In each of the meetings of BNP faced serious obstacles as the transport owners and labors called on strikes prior to the BNP’s meetings. But this trick could not stop people joining the meetings.
Since taken over in 2009 the ruling party made remarkable achievements in economic sector. And already it is visible now. They have built Padma Bridge, Karnafuli tunnel, big power plants, Atomic power plant, metro rail, highways and many other structures. But it does not ensure the development of the standard of life of common people. The price hike of essentials has gone to such a stage that is simply intolerable to the common people. Every day we see the OMS lines are getting bigger and bigger and persons who are in the queues seem to be from lower middle class. The common people have not sufficient money in hand to by the essentials and moreover money has been concentrated mainly to a group of people in our country. And they have emerged as very influential day by day to make government policies which may not be conforming to the interest of the common people.
So mutual no confidence and lack of trust between the two main political parties are the common traits of our political culture. We do not know what will happen and what will be the situation of politics before next general election. The different amendments of our constitution could not articulate the interest of the different pressure groups active in our country. Once a political party has majority in the parliament, they start thinking that they have got license to do anything in the country. But this is a wrong notion. After fifty years of independence the major political parties in our country could not come to a consensus on major political issues. This is very much undesirable. At the same time the tricky initiatives from the ruling corner to foil or undermine the oppositions can only enhance the mistrust between them. Such initiatives from the ruling corner should be stopped to create a good environment for the overall interest of the country. It might be termed as ethical defeat of the government or ruling party’s side. Otherwise creating hindrance with tricky action to foil the assembly of the opposition will only enhance uncertainty in our politics.
(The writer is former civil servant).
