Our dysfunctional democracy

As some wise guy had said, "when one finds oneself in a hole of one's own making, it is a good time to examine the quality of workmanship." But who will examine "the quality of workmanship" of our leaders, both in position (i.e. government) and in opposition, who have created a "black hole" in our political arena where the people in general are gasping for breath?

Criminalisation of politics
Whether we like it or not, the World Bank (WB) rightly pin-pointed that "criminalisation of politics" is at the root of all socio-political maladies in Bangladesh. In fact, the disease has now spread all over the body-politic of the country. The WB report, inter alia, bluntly said that "political power is concentrated in two major parties (BNP+AL), led by rival families that have dominated Bangladesh's politics since independence," adding, "Parliament has been ineffective in its role as a check on the executive," while the opposition "prefers to mobilise public support in the streets and through hartals."

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Of course, "muscle power" has a big role in increasing "political violence." But will this open the eyes and ears of our leaders or will the nation continue to suffer as a hostage in the clash of personalities and so-called "dynasty rule"?

How democracy thrives
Our leadership should try to learn how democracy is being run in other countries including our neighbour, India, where two opposite forces, secularist National Congress and Hindu nationalist, BJP, are the two major parties that run the show. Recently, LK Advani, a front rank Hindu nationalist leader and an opposition leader in the Indian parliament, had set a unique example as an opposition leader which our leadership can learn from.

Commenting on the recent devastating bomb blasts on trains in Mumbai, killing some 200 persons and wounding 700, Advani said that it was "time for the government and the people to work together" to meet the situation. He, as opposition leader, had not called for countrywide hartals and street demonstrations for the ouster of the Manmohan government for its failure to ensure security of lives. Had it happened in our country, we would have been "enjoying" 36 to 72 hours continuous hartal and all sorts of vandalism, including the burning and destruction of properties and vehicles. Can we deny it?

Great Britain is another example where the government and the opposition work in a more civilised way than we do here. After the London bomb blasts, both on the trains and streets, how many hartals were called by the opposition, or countrywide demonstrations held? Does it not prove that Bangladesh has grown its own "brand" of democracy to suit our taste and mentality? Our democracy is a unique product, different in taste and colour from the traditional democracy practiced in civilised countries.

The difficulty with our leadership, belonging to the two dominant parties, is that their first preference will be to hit the streets to gather support of the people instead of sitting at the conference table to find an honourable way out from a national crisis. They will try to keep the political kettle boiling to fish in the troubled waters. Each party claims that patriotism is its monopoly, and they are the victorious party whose leaders won the independence of Bangladesh from the colonial rule of Pakistan. Whether others consider this claim to be a myth does not matter at all.

Cutting baby into two pieces?
But the only hope that can be a beacon of light for the nation as a whole is that of the growing consciousness of the people, particularly the voters, that would ultimately triumph over all the machinations of narrow-minded selfish leadership to gain power. It is a universal truth that a criminal will never confess that he has committed any crime. But invariably he will leave behind certain clues that will help others to trace and expose the criminals.

It all depends on whether the people can free themselves from the smoke-screen of political trickeries played by our leaders, by misguiding the innocent people to run with them, and posing as the only saviours of the country. To achieve their selfish ends to occupy the seat of power, they can go to any length. Perhaps they wouldn't stop short of cutting the country into two pieces, each part going to the two contending major parties, led by two families. Or is it far-fetched imagination!

This reminds me of the classic story of two women who came to the court of King Solomon for justice, each claiming motherhood of a baby. After hearing both sides, the king adopted a novel idea to find out who the real mother was. He ordered that the baby be cut into two pieces and the two women given their equal share. At this one of the women jumped with joy accepting the royal decision, while the other woman opposed the royal order to cut the baby into two pieces and pleaded that the baby should be given to the other woman, foregoing her claim as mother. This revealed the real picture of the two women. The king then ordered that the baby should be given to the woman who had opposed the cutting of the baby.

Anathema
This judgement of King Solomon still continues as a writing on the wall for all of us to read and learn, to find out who is real and who is fake in our national politics. Perhaps we have already reached a ridiculous stage in our so-called struggle for democracy. Sometimes, it seems that democracy has become an anathema for us, either because we are not fit for democracy, or democracy is unfit for a people who always prefer violent street agitations to gaining people's support and popularity.

This is certainly not the norm, nor the ideal, for which we sacrificed our lives and properties to gain independence from Pakistan army rule. One terrible mistake that our present-day leadership always commits is to mix the past method to gain independence and the present struggle to establish democratic rule. What was correct for the pre-independence movement against an occupying army cannot be followed in our post-independence society. It shows another anomaly and irregularity that we have created. Let not our feuding leadership go to the extremes to establish their authority at the cost of others. There would never be another King Solomon to blow the final whistle!

Young leadership
But the people, who generally line up behind either this party or that party, almost identifying themselves as part and parcel of what is now hanging over us as political dynasty rule, or family rule, will have to free themselves from this phenomenon to put things on the right track. It would not only save the nation from going to the dogs, but also help to regain its name and fame as an independent state. Let our old leadership also call it a day and say good-bye to politics as they have had enough of it and let the new young leadership (but certainly not by inheritance) come up with new modern ideas to run the country as part of the civilised world. Is that too much to expect? Only time will show.

AMM Shahabuddin is a retired UN official.