A sign of hope in despair

The responsibilities lie squarely on the shoulders of both the ruling party(s) and the opposition. The precedence established, the opposition simply must shun the path of undue controversies as created by its demand or ultimatum for fall or removal of the government. As I say this I am not condoning in any way the extreme highhandedness of the ruling alliance in all its manifestations. But I would like to think that the two issues must be viewed and assessed separately. Demanding or working for removal of an elected government cannot be good for the institution of democracy. To my mind this if enacted will set off a bad precedence. How would then one is expected to deal with or brace up to any takeover or toppling of governments by army or other dictators in this country. If it is bad governance and failure to arrest rising incidences of violence and crimes the world including people in their own countries should ask for the "removal" of both Tony Blair and George Bush. No one in either of the countries has called for removal of either of them. On the other hand here the opposition must return to the Parliament and now is the best time to do so.

Having dwelt on the responsibilities of the Opposition we must also focus on the ruling party(s). Frankly the onus of strictly abiding by its responsibilities is more on its shoulders than that of the opposition. With authority comes responsibility and accountability, absence of which tends to lead to "excesses" and that is what has happened with the ruling party(s). Ruling party's continuous failure to read the "writings on the wall" including bashing and sidelining the media and the journalists is also creating problems for itself and working as deterrent to development of healthy democratic traditions.

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On the other hand there is this common perception amongst the majority of the people in this country that both the opposition and the ruling party live for themselves. Sad though this is the "truth" and the legacy attributed to both the major political parties of Bangladesh.

Therefore it is important for the opposition to understand that mere removal of the government will not ensure the final delivery. The electorate of the 2004 is quite different from that of the last time when Awami League was in the seat of government. To my mind, the key factor is to shun all forms of militancy in political activism. The other key factor is keeping the civil and other units of Administration free from any form of politicisation or interference by the elected head of the government or his/her party hierarchy. Of serious concern is also issue of hartals. Awami League should here and now reaffirm its commitment to abandoning the path of hartal once for all. It must be kept in mind that the same instrument could be used against it if and when it takes the rein of government. People of all shades and opinion are simply tired of the evils of the hartal culture.

There is yet one other matter I would like to bring to the notice of the Awami League. It is the continued insistence by the party leadership in public and private gatherings that Awami League alone brought about the independence of Bangladesh. Admittedly Awami League and Bangabandhu led the way but the fact remains that there were two other vital factors we cannot and must not ignore. By the time the nine-month struggle began, there were more people within the country who were directly or indirectly "fighting" their battle no less critical than that of the Awami followers from across the borders with neighbouring India. Therefore when no less than the party chief says " We the liberator of the country ...etc", I am afraid it is only the half-truth and not the whole truth. Besides rhetoric like this does not go down well amongst the general members of the public 33 years after.

On the other hand it tends to ignore the Indian factor. I know of my own knowledge that with all the good will and the leadership provided by the Awami League we could not have achieved our Independence in such a short period but for the active support of both the Indian Government and its armed forces. While making the statement I must also point out that there is absolutely no scope of undermining the overall intelligence and resilience provided by the people at large and the fight put forward by the Mukti Joddhas.

The going is good for Awami League. If it were to regain its old glories and at the same time wish to see itself in the seat of government, it must work seriously in bringing about some critical changes in its political activism in line with what has been said above. Should that not be forthcoming I am apprehensive of what future may hold for the parties and the country as a whole.