Good Sign in BNP
A refreshing wind of change is blowing inside the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It looks like being the product of having put the finger on popular pulse at the nick of time. In a connective development of immense significance, BNP's district unit chiefs voiced support at the National Executive Committee meeting to the views expressed by legislators at the BNP parliamentary party meeting for ending their boycott of the Jatiya Sangsad.
That a subject-matter of such enormous political consequence was taken up for discussion and freely mooted by all concerned at the two especially convened national level meetings of the party does a world of good to the BNP's image of somewhat frozen rigidity. This is a sign of intra-or inner party democracy that the BNP hierarchy has opted for marking a departure from the obsessive clinging to a coterie-dominated decision-making process. Obtaining majority view relating to an issue before taking a party stance on it or seeking it on a stance already taken are both indicative of political maturity. Only that eliciting it a priori proves more pragmatic than doing it post-facto. Better late than never though; because the BNP high command is still in a position now to reassess the situation in the light of what has transpired from the National Executive Committee and the parliamentary party meetings and avert the danger of arbitrary decision-making on a matter of vital national importance.
We welcome what has happened both in terms of the opinions aired at the meetings as well as the party high command's initial respect for a basic norm of intra-party democracy because these reflect our own views on such matters.
Our only hope is this trend does not stray into meaninglessness by being a casualty of a tradition whereby a one-liner is issued in the midst of a controversy that it has been entirely left for the party chief to decide upon. To avert such an anti-climax Begum Zia herself should express her solidarity with the overwhelming sentiment expressed by in BNP the majority and decide a course of action accordingly.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments