Masum Billah
The whole country has experienced a nightmare since November 26 just after the declaration of 10th parliamentary election. A series of blockades by the opposition alliance from November 26 and the response from the law enforcers and the ruling party cadres have claimed the lives of 120 people; many have been burned, crippled and maimed. Why this tragic situation? The ruling party says to uphold the Constitution and the opposition says to save democracy. Till 24 December the opposition enforced blockades of roads, rails and waterways for 22 days, criplling communication countrywide. Frequent clashes, arson blasts and killing took pace almost every day. At the cost of these untold miseries of the people both the opposition and the ruling party remain adamant on their stands.BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at her press conference on 24 December urged people from every corner of the country to march towards the capital on 29 December to force the government to postpone the January 5 farcical election. She asked opposition leaders and activists to form a resistance committee for each polling station to foil the ‘ farcical’ election and committees for ‘ preservation of democracy and sovereignty’ at district and upazila levels. “To give our movement greater momentum and take it to the next level, I call upon all of you, irrespective of your political beliefs and opinions, to march to Dhaka. This march is to say ‘ NO’ to farcical election. This historic march will be to express your support for credible elections under a neutral non-party election-time government. I call upon you to converge on Dhaka in this month of our victory waving our red and green national flag. Come by road, by bus, by rail routes and converge on the nation’s capital.”
These messages have made us more apprehensive of cloudy and rainy days as the government has called to resist it employing all of its ‘ bahinis’ and energy to uphold the Constitution. And the recharged leaders and activists of the opposition will also try to follow the party leader’s renewed direction to save democracy. On the formation of resistance committees, Khaleda Zia asked her alliance members to involve all sections of society, including minorities, and remain alert to ensure their safety and security. ” There will be zero tolerance for any form of communalism. She also called upon her supporters to maintain law and order and protect the lives and properties of all citizens through formation of neighborhood watch groups. We appreciate her concern for the minorities. We do hope her party people will respect her orders. We also appreciate her concern for people’s miseries.
The MPs who will be elected through this farcical election will not be considered as legitimate representatives of the people as they do not enjoy any popular mandate. “Now the(y) … are plotting to put the country’s patriotic armed forces against the people. Such a government would be undemocratic and unrepresentative. No servant of the Republic is obliged to follow the orders of such an illegitimate government. When the world has decided not to grant any legitimacy to it, when the majority of the people are not involved with this, I ask all those connected with the process to stay away from it also.” The government has enough scope to rethink the points. Khaleda said, “I appeal to professionals, members of the business community, civil society members, students, young people, farmers, , people of all faiths and beliefs, people of the hills and plains, everyone who wants democracy and peace, to come to Dhaka on that day.” “You have taken oath to uphold the Constitution. Do not violate your oath. Any attempt to deny the people their rights will be resisted and we will be forced to announce even stronger action programmes. My appeal to law enforcers ‘do not obstruct this peaceful gathering.’
She spelt out a four- point strategy to gear up the movement during the final stages. the four points include– strengthening of coordination among all those who are already involved in this movement and those who will join this movement, strengthening the politics of resolving all national issues through people’s participation, dialogue and referendum by giving up the politics of divisiveness, formation of polling centre-based local resistance committees and preservation of democracy and sovereignty. She appealed to members of the law enforcement agencies, “Preserve your sense of professionalism and protect your integrity. You are not adversaries of the people or opposition political parties.” These suggestions sound good indeed. But the law enforcers played the same role when BNP was in power.
Referring to Prime Minister’s speech about the discussion of 11th parliament instead of 10th, she said, “This is arrogance, instead of rational thinking. This is an expression of ill intent. I am urging her to move away from obstinacy. Democratic politics is the art of compromise. One does not become insignificant in seeking a compromise. In 1996, we accepted your demand in the light of national interest. Now you are in power. Accept the people’s demand and sit for dialogue. Postpone the schedule of one-sided election and let us try to reach an understanding by respecting public sentiments. There was no need to waste public money by holding a candidate-less, voter-less and meaningless election as this will not only stigmatises the incumbent government, but also destroys democracy.” All have food for thought in these remarks. We, the general people, understand that the major political parties have proven through their activities that they hardly bother about national and real public interest. They do the same thing when in opposition and speak the same thing when in the government. Both the sides have resorted to some political words and games keeping themselves away from economic development and emancipation. BNP tries to borrow public sentiment againstAL saying India is their headquarters and AL tries to tell the same story against BNP that they will make this country Pakistan. All these are absurd points. Neither India not Pakistan will invade Bangladesh. Even, the British have not regained or retaken their colonies, why should Pakistan or India. We are a free nation. When politicians fail to save our hard earned democracy, people never do the mistakes. Please you talk about public interest, talk about real nation building programmes, steps, ways and means. Don’t divide the nation for your petty ends.
Begum Khaleda Zia finally said in her speech that ‘The poll will not lead to a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It will instead be a government of the Awami League, by the Election Commission and for the AL.’ whatever political beliefs we may hold, we must ponder over these points. The nation belongs to all.
(Masum Billah is manager, BRAC Education Programme and vice-president: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association ( BELTA) Email: masumbillah65@gmail.com )
