President Strikes a Chord
President Shahabuddin Ahmed's annual recital of national policy directions through his mandatory New Year's address to parliament Monday was not without a central message so characteristic of his touching the heart of problems. He has urged the politicians to break out of the narrow partisan confines and thickets of petty interests on the forceful plea that at this juncture it is the country, its economic development and people's welfare that must take precedence over the former set of degenerated passions.
Country comes first, then the political parties. And what does a country mean? It means institutions with people as their focal-point - the state of their physical and economic well-being and a set of opportunities for them to grow, prosper and reach out to the new world unfolding with another millennium knocking at the door.
If we choose to remain caught in the vortex of continuing political bickerings and tirades we shall be thrown by the wayside by a ruthlessly advancing world, the President reminded us in so many words. Although the actual quote from him is, "We have to survive competing with the stronger economies," the essential message of falling by the wayside cannot be lost on any one.
The President, therefore, strikes a responsive chord with us and voices the concern of our people most eloquently when he sees economic development and culture of democracy as intertwined phenomena. So, the politicians who have drifted far away from the time-honoured normative political culture do need to reform themselves first. In this context it is the nature of opposition politics pursued on a tit-for-tat basis readily traced to precedents set by the present ruling party when in the opposition that causes worry because it is the people who are suffering.
The business leaders in a renewed call made upon the major political parties have urged them to sit for an immediate dialogue to avert hartal and save the national economy already teetering on the edge of poor investment from utter ruination. It is time the politicians paid heed to the voice of the people echoed by the President and the chamber leaders.
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