Ground Realities
Why blame others if you lose the way?
Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein is unhappy with the way things have been going for the government he is part of. Not long ago, he told us in no uncertain terms that it was the responsibility of the people of Bangladesh to ensure that the government did not fail in doing its job. And now he thinks that a deep conspiracy is abroad in the land to undermine the government. The conspirators, he would like us to know, are the politicians against whom charges of corruption have been filed. Now that is quite a revealing nugget of information.
It is so because many of the politicians he speaks of are in prison. It is, therefore, not quite conceivable how men held securely in the confines of jail can wreck the policies of a government that has busily been going about expanding its mandate, with little thought to the consequences. And the politicians who have so far managed to stay free? The emergency has herded them into a state of silence, though it is quite true that the "reformists" among them have all been singing praises of the government for nearly everything it has been doing, or not doing.
And that leads us all to what is clearly a conundrum for the country. If the adviser truly believes that the politicians are keeping the government from doing its job, he and his colleagues must seriously get into the business of unearthing the nature of the conspiracy. It is not enough to smell a conspiracy but then come up with little to show for what the "conspirators" have actually been up to. But since society does not run on sweeping generalisations, and politics is poorly served through a search for scapegoats on the part of those from whom people had expected better, we would like to think that the law adviser was not being serious when he spoke of that conspiracy. And yet that would not be a healthy way of observing conditions, for when we hear responsible government functionaries speak of the issues, we tend to think their comments are being made after much thinking and rethinking has been expended on it.
That is where we run into a different problem altogether. And it is simply this, that the thinking and rethinking may really not be what it seems to be. Take that other comment of the adviser. He is unhappy that the nation's economists have not exactly come forth with the kind of advice and wisdom the government expected from them. And the upshot of it all? The government is not doing a good job because of the conspiring politicians and the indifferent economists. In a sudden leap of imagination, then, we have been enlightened on why the government is not being able to handle its job. The responsibility for all the lapses lies with others. Do not blame the government.
It is a rather strange attitude that has lately been shaping up as policy. We have spoken earlier of the finance adviser letting us in on the wonderful news that prices of essential commodities have been rising because the purchasing power of the people has gone up. That kind of remark leaves the poor and the middle classes reeling from a different kind of pain. We call that a body blow. Here you have millions of people wondering where their next meal will come from; the middle classes are in a clear state of fright about an inevitable surge in prices come Ramadan, and yet we are being educated by those who ought to have made life easier for us on how price rises in Bangladesh are quite in step with those in the rest of the world.
Let us face it. The government that runs the show in Bangladesh today ought to have done a better job. That it has not, of course, has reasons, none of which can be attributed to a lack of support from the people, or from different sectors of society. Go looking for the reasons and you will likely find them just beyond your courtyard. A prime reason happens to be the systematic mauling that the political classes have been subjected to, all because some very enthusiastic individuals happen to believe that politics has been behind all the mess we are in. Do you see how corruption and politics have thus been made synonymous? This failure to distinguish between corrupt politicians and political idealism has led the caretaker government up against a cul de sac. Why blame others if you lose the way?
Part of a government's job is never to lose the audience. Government ought to be, and always, a thriving, throbbing enterprise. When the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government took charge in January this year, there was that spark that told us in no ambiguous terms it was going to be a thriving and throbbing experience. It went after the corrupt with much-needed frenzy, and it spoke of holding elections that would be acceptable to the nation as a whole. And then something began to go wrong. At this point in time, it is quite possible that matters are beginning to go haywire.
You have a continuing ban on indoor politics. You do not really argue against such a condition, until you begin to spot the pretty crude manner in which young men on motorcycles, with the men and the motorcycles all affiliated to a new party formed despite the state of emergency, let you know that some are more equal than others. The Progressive Democratic Party happily goes around telling the country that it has arrived. Call that arriviste politics.
But the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party? They cannot do politics, for obvious reasons. Understood, but when you go a little further and tell them that they can distribute relief to flood victims only if they carry no party banners, you are making sure that a level playing field is not exactly what the country might expect. Of course, we will have elections by the end of next year. But will someone reassure us that when that moment of reckoning arrives, Bengalis will not be treated to a local version of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid), with a Shaukat Aziz epitomising the hollowness that is non-politics?
There is the objective reality we ought not to miss. Thousands of hawkers have led a precarious existence since they were driven off the pavements of the city. In these last many weeks, thousands upon thousands of jute mills workers have wearily trudged back home, in the heart-breaking knowledge that the mills that once employed them will operate no more. Citizens who have spent years collecting prize bonds, as a measure of economic security for themselves, are being told they must cough up a levy on them.
If that is dispiriting, there is worse that may yet be, for the government plans to go after private tuition and coaching centres. Yes, we will have quality education by all means. But does anyone in the administration know that the educated young men and women who tutor school children in their homes come from poor, lower middle class, families and need that teaching experience and the paltry amount of money coming with it to survive? And what justification can a government have to shut down institutions that impart teaching and do nothing that impinges on morality? Government creates jobs. It has no business taking them away.
Government, sir, is a serious matter. Competence and a comprehension of the bare truth are what you expect from it. If those are not forthcoming, you know once more what disillusionment is.
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