Editorial
Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia at the rallies
They could have done better than they did
IN a way, the rallies organised by the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the city on Friday and Saturday were looked forward to with quite a few, if not many, expectations by the nation. After all, it was for the first time since the general elections of December last year that the two parties and especially their two leaders were making a public appearance with what was expected to be major policy announcements. In the event, it came down to more of what the country had been getting from them in the eighteen years since the return of parliamentary democracy in 1991. It is unfortunate that through their pronouncements on 1 and 2 May, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia both belied the hopes of the nation.
The tone of the rallies was of course set by the prime minister on May Day. To her credit, she spoke in appreciable terms of her government's plans regarding promoting workers' rights and benefits. The better part of her address at Paltan Maidan, though, was clearly and regrettably focused on castigating the opposition on issues related to the past. That the BNP-Jamaat government was involved in corruption and clear misgovernance is a theme the Awami League successfully played out in the run-up to the elections. But why it must continue to be the focus of the new government four months into its five-year term in office is a question that is yet to be answered to satisfaction. In this context, the politics of change that Sheikh Hasina and her party have been emphasising has so far remained a slogan only.
Where Begum Zia is concerned, her remarks at the BNP rally have been disappointing to say the least. As is her wont, she has once again been in denial mode and is yet to take the allegations of corruption by her government seriously. That is what was made clear in her speech at Paltan. Sadly for the country, the former prime minister demonstrated a high degree of irresponsibility when she accused the government of conspiring to bring foreign troops into the country. For her to demand, in only the fourth month of what should be a five-year term, that the government quit is once more a sign of the confrontational politics she and her party are bent on espousing. It is a sign that Begum Zia and her party have not come to terms with the verdict of the electorate at the general elections.
Overall, we are deeply troubled at the way the two political leaders have conducted themselves. Where the searing experience of the past two years should have been a lesson for all politicians and their followers, the reality is that nothing seems to have changed. The old tone of mutual acrimony, the time worn language of mistrust and abuse and the traditional disregard for facts underlined the public rallies of Friday and Saturday.
The nation surely deserved -- and deserves -- better.
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