Politics of consensus, not of confrontation

Needless to say, if such a situation continues, democracy would die down in no time and whether we like it or not, the rest of the world would look at our affairs with extreme cynicism. It is already said that the bitter rivalries between the leading political parties and the highest corruption rates in the world threatens the democratic stability and impedes the economic growth of Bangladesh. Similar opinions were also passed by our development partners, but to no avail so far.

There is no denying the fact that corruption and criminal politics is nothing new in this part of the world. We could trace such evils back to Pakistani days, albeit not on the scale found today. The tragedy is that successive Bangladeshi governments remained rather unmoved and no sincere efforts were ever taken to address the vices. The situation became even worse during the largely corrupt and autocratic regime of General Ershad. However, neither BNP nor AL could improve the state of affairs either. Therefore, if our political parties are really sincere about doing good to the poor and helpless people of our country, there is no alternative to taking a united stand and to go for the politics of consensus, rather than that of confrontation.

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Obviously, the move of the AL to join the parliament is a welcome approach and it is the parliament through which the opposition can bring all the misdeeds of the ruling party to light and suggest remedial measures. But if the members of the parliament are elected through massive rigging and if the opposition members are not allowed to criticise the establishment, it can hardly perform as a state organ of democracy, let alone command any respect from the nation. Our leaders should remember that nothing is permanent except noble deeds. Therefore, instead of resorting to internecine hate-campaigns and confrontational politics, both the people at the helm of affairs and in the opposition may better learn from our neighbouring country as to how democracy works. It is always better to learn from others than to behave imprudently and thus disgrace the cause of democracy.

It is now obvious that even a caretaker government could not be competent enough to ensure a free and fair election unless there is a consensus among the political parties as to the appointment to the high offices of the president, head of the caretaker government, speaker, chief election commissioner/election commissioners, members of the anti-graft body, and such other constitutional positions. There should be a clear distinction between the party and the government, and democracy should be restored in party hierarchy of the ruling as well as the opposition political parties. The prime minister and the leader of the opposition should cease to be their respective party-heads, and other ministers too should not hold any party positions, for in a democracy the ministers are expected to represent the state, not the party. The elected parliament should be made supreme through necessary constitutional amendment, so that, like the free press, the members of the parliament could also express themselves without fear or favour, and can decide who or which party will govern the country and for how long.

One wonders as to whether the concept of independence of judiciary is ill-assorted to the make-up of our body politic. It is amazing to note that the successive "democratic governments" reportedly prayed for time at least on 19 occasions on this or that plea to implement the hon'ble Supreme Court's landmark judgment directing the independence of judiciary from the executive. There is no reason to believe that the process of praying for time would end up in any near future and until then no one can expect any semblance of democracy in this country.

May we not forget that democracy and good governance can never be expected to thrive in any form of economic discrimination, as it is bound to lead to sweeping social disorder and lawlessness. It is very unfortunate that the successive governments could not yet formulate any programme as to employment generation, minimum wage, or social security for wage earners. On the other hand, although the government says that the so-called micro-credit organisations are amassing huge wealth, capitalising on rural poverty, there is no direction as to how to fend that off. From one estimate it has been observed that over 60 per cent of our rural population are still below the poverty line.

Owing to structural inefficiency, the government was unable to use even one-third of the budget allocation of Tk 300 crore for rural uplift during the last fiscal year, and there is no possibility that the government would at all be able to utilise the current budgeted amount of Tk 600 crore for the benefit of the rural poor. It is reported that about 200,000 people are added to the corps of the unemployed every year and that about 20,000 women and children are trafficked over the border every month for engaging in immoral activities, and we find no concerted effort to meet these challenges either. Thus a vicious circle has been created to hold up not only economic development, but socio-political stability as well. The need of the hour is therefore to initiate honest and sincere efforts to address this situation, or else neither would it be possible to improve the law and order situation, nor would there be any option for economic growth.

Sincere efforts are necessary to contain the religious fanaticism and the unlawful activities of both the rightist and the leftist extremists. No sovereign country can allow any private forces within its own territory. If such ominous developments are not nipped in the bud, massive destabilisation may follow at any time. Here, may we not also forget that if we are inclined to welcome our neighbouring country for being secular and progressive, we ourselves can ill afford to do otherwise. In today's bread-and-butter world, religion-based politics has not only become obsolete but irrelevant too.

To sum up, it may positively be argued that still the BNP, with its vast majority in the parliament, has the inimitable opportunity to shape Bangladesh as a truly democratic country. Instead of resorting to unnecessary and unpopular constitutional amendments or ripping up the history of our liberation war, it could utilise its unique position in the parliament to transfigure the total system of our governance and reshape our destiny as a truly democratic nation, so that we could not only regain our lost image internationally, but also secure our position as an economic tiger of South Asia. However, from the existing state of affairs, one can only conclude that perhaps things will continue to go the wrong way for a long time!

Hafeejul Alam is a management specialist.