Let the New Year, New Century and New Millennium Give New Sense to Bangladesh Politics
Just before the commencement of the new year, new century and the new millennium even the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines plane to the Taliban territory of Kandahar came to their senses and decided to leave the plane on a token release of three Kashmiri militants. Still more unexpected was India's decision to move out of its earlier vow not to give in and take a sensible decision to release three Kashimiri militants which some say amounted to giving in to terrorism; but that obviously happened for a greater cause - saving the innocent lives of 154 passengers and crew. No less surprising was "mature" handling of this delicate and indeed dangerous situation by Taliban regime that allegedly harbours a man like Osama bin-Laden - "dangerous terrorist" in the eyes of many. The hijacking situation has shown that given the time and opportunity - and with tolerance - even the so-called "rouge" states can also show political maturity and prove themselves to be a member of the global society.
Even before the clock struck midnight to bring the universe into the new millennium Boris Yeltsin announced his retirement from Russian presidency, which stunned not only the Russians but also the world community. He could have done still better if he had ordered, before retirement, the halt of the advance of the Russian troops into Chechnya and resolution of the political problem through open dialogue. Yeltsin was, however, hailed as "the Father of Russian democracy" by President Clinton though some say Yeltsin who serially dismissed his prime ministers - each one in nearly every 30 to 90 days - did not even understand the meaning of democracy. Any way, it's a matter of opinion but what is more important is that Yeltsin finally dismissed himself before the beginning of the new year, new century and the new millennium - something totally unexpected.
We in Bangladesh also expected something unexpected to happen - our two political leaders to come out with their "Millennium Vow" to shrugg off their personal revulsion to each other and announce their firm determination to save the country and the people by solving their personal as well as political problems through honest dialogue. Personal telephone calls by the Prime Minister to the Leader of Opposition deserved to be returned regardless of the outcome. Any way, it's not too late yet. The New Year, New Century and New Millennium have just arrived. Probably all of us and our politicians will live through the new year and probably none through the new century and certainly none through the millennium. At least our mortality should bring all of us to our senses. Let at least the new year be marked by some good deeds for the people.
Life is too short and political life is even shorter. Wasting even a day showing political haughtiness and intolerance is unpardonable and specially so when it relates people's life and their welfare and future. Politicians, irrespective of their party affiliations have absolutely no right to disrupt citizens' normal life and means of livelihood. Politicians are politicians because the people chose to make them so. The people being the ultimate authority may easily decide to dislodge them from such coveted positions. Therefore, whatever the politicians do they must realise that they will have to go back to the people.
Hartal? For whose benefit? The people are fed up with hartal which has been going on for years. It occurred during the earlier regime and also during this regime. Strike or hartal is a democratic right but for declaring strike or hartal certain rules and norms are followed - the consent of the people concerned (in case of industries the consent of the involved labour force) is necessary. And when one speaks of democratic right it refers to the right of the people and not of only political parties. If a political party decides to call hartal, and if this is the overall decision of the members of the party concerned, it is free to do so and merrily repeat it as many times as its members want but it should be valid for, and restricted to, only the party members concerned. Others must not be forced to join. There must not be burning of rickshaws and beating of rickshawpullers and day labours and denuding of women and men. Time has come to stop this if we want to prove to the world that we are civilized people.
Let the politicians ask their own conscience whether they are doing the right thing - handling the politics of Bangladesh in the right manner and for the benefit of the people who voted them to the Parliament? The people have voted them to the Parliament to do their job and not to boycott the Parliament for weeks and months (they even reportedly draw remuneration for the days they deliberately abstain). This happened before and has been happening again. The parliament does not belong to the ruling party only. Please stay in the Parliament, fight the issues out there.The people of Bangladesh are politically conscious and wise enough to note which party/parties are at faults. If necessary the opposition may go for peaceful street protests, demonstrations and protest meetings which must not be stopped or even obstructed by the ruling party. These may cumulatively be brought up to the people by the political parties concerned while going for the general elections and let the people decide. Trust the people and depend on their free decisions and allow the democracy to work. Now the "wind outside" is against democracy; everything is being manipulated to the advantage of certain political party/ parties. The muscle power and black money are determining everything. Unless the political culture is changed dramatically even elections under the Caretaker government may become meaningless.
It seems pointless at this stage to go for "one point" agenda and in the process destroy the economy of the country. It was done before but the previous government did not fall. The election wind has already started blowing; it does not seem to be far off. As it seems, general election may take place by the end of the year or very early next year - may be immediately before or after the next Ramadan as May-June does not seem to be the right time for any general election. The timing should be changed once and for all to avoid the monsoon. There has also been proposals for reduction of the duration of the next parliament - it could be four instead of five years as our political leaders soon get impatient to return to power.
The ruling party should also bear in mind that they will have to go back to the people as election cannot be delayed beyond certain date. Therefore, it's the responsibility of the ruling party to create congenial environment for the next election which the opposition parties have been insisting on. Chief Justice Latifur Rahman has rightly said the other day that " the wind outside is not very congenial to the growth and flourshing of democracy." All political parties concerned must note this valuable remark of the Chief Justice of the highest court of the land.
It's really unfortunate that the same two political leaders of the main political parties who got full respect and support of the people of Bangladesh and fought together only a few years ago to dislodge the dictator are now at each other and in the process risking the hard earned democracy itself. The members of the civil societies, the business community and indeed the people of Bangladesh have been appealing to them to rise above their personal problems and self or even party interests and clear up the "wind outside" so that the next general election can take place in a relatively calm atmosphere. This is important not only for the country and the people but also for the politicians themselves. The politicians can do politics only if the democracy survives.
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