Victory Day 2023

Since Bangladesh achieved victory on December 16, 1971, it has come through a long way.

The country that once depended on foreign aid to keep its economy going has now been celebrated as an economic success story.

Though currently the economy is going through a serious setback with the foreign reserves taking a nosedive, largely due to economic mismanagement and corruption, the country is no longer in the poor economic state of the seventies, eighties and nineties.

If corruption and looting of public money could have been successfully checked, Bangladesh’s economic position would have been a matter of envy for other countries in the region.

However, it is now of utmost importance that Bangladesh overcomes the ongoing inflation and makes the economic recovery soon to be officially recognized as a middle-income country by 2026 by the United Nations.

This would be no small feat for Bangladesh! Besides the economy, in the field of education and gender balance, Bangladesh has made a great stride.

In other social indices such as sanitation and preventing many infectious diseases, it has even surpassed India, not to mention Pakistan from which it achieved independence after a bloody struggle.

Bangladesh has also become a major cricketing nation in the world, though a great feat such as winning a cup in the international tournament is still away.

All this is good to think of. But unfortunately in politics, Bangladesh has failed. People here are still struggling for their voting rights.

People’s dreams of having a democratic country where they can elect their own government – the primary goal of our liberation struggle – have remained unattained.

Bangladesh faced periods of authoritarian governments with people’s democratic space and media freedom always remaining seriously constrained.

On a sad note, the polls schedule for the 12th national parliamentary election has been declared and the government is all prepared to hold this election without the participation of the major opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and other like-minded political parties.

The way the last two national elections were conducted also failed to deliver on people’s democratic aspirations. Moreover, Bangladesh often becomes a topic of discussion because of the country’s poor human rights records.

Those who are in the government as well as those who will be in the government in the future must remember that Bangladesh achieved independence wading through a sea of blood.

That is why they have to work for ensuring all the democratic rights of people including the voting right. This is their national duty.

If people are not free to choose their own government, the meaning and significance of Victory Day will never be complete.