By suppressing the spirit of the liberation war, Bangladesh has now become a country of elusive democracy. Democracy in this country is stuck only in the speeches of political leaders. The major political parties are now busy fighting to stay in power and stay in power. ‘People’ is nothing but the rosary of both. In fact, everyone is eager to put a jack on people’s heads and break the koa. The people in power are tearing the chests of the countrymen every day to stay in power and stay in power.
Either way, Awami League is largely blind in the race to retain power. BNP leaders are not willing to follow the systematic path of coming to power through agitation and struggle. They don’t have that much patience. The expatriate leader dreams of sitting comfortably on the throne of the country by the grace of God. Since it does not have the courage to do systematic politics against the strong opponent Awami League, therefore Siratul Mustaqeem is striking at the court of foreign powers. The power aspirants are trying to gain salvation by creating anarchy by trampling the normal way of life of the people in the old way.
The way BNP is running day and night in the diplomatic arena and according to media reports, is spreading money to hire lobbyists to favor foreigners, it seems that if any of these leaders have the spirit of liberation war left, it has been buried. However, the BNP leaders who follow the Pakistani way do not have the courage to hold the spirit of the liberation war. People’s current economic crisis, ongoing education programs, are imposing blockade after blockade like arbitrariness, bringing the lives of small and large professionals to a standstill. If someone raises questions, they will say that these are democratic rights! Common people will want to put people in power like Azrael in their interests?
Awami League leaders are apparently not falling at the feet of foreign masters to stay in power, but they are failing to uphold the spirit of the liberation war to cling to power. Such slippage of the party leading the liberation war is not desirable. Why can’t the Awami League be independent in today’s pre-election period? The country is walking on the path of unparalleled development. Citizens are enjoying the fruits of infrastructural development. However, the Awami League must have seen, according to pre-election, that their public support has decreased a lot. But the question is why?
This fact cannot be denied, people cannot be satisfied just by showing development. Padma Setu, Metrorail, Elevated Expressway, Bangabandhu Tunnel are big achievements. Most people outside of city life don’t think about the far-reaching implications of this. As a result, the hardships or joys of ordinary people’s lives have a major impact on the popular support of the ruling party. In this digital age even the common people of the village cannot be saved by keeping them occupied with speech. If you listen carefully, you will hear that working people or less educated common people are now good political analysts. Standing in the difficult market of everyday products, they are only watching the failure of the government. Has the Awami League government managed to walk the path of good governance even after being in power for almost fifteen years? People who are in trouble are watching from close quarters the evil influence of Awami League leaders and workers with the help of strict party system is only increasing their misery. On the one hand, it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain a family, on the other hand, many of the party leaders are bloated with finances. The list of debtors is only increasing. Even the law cannot touch them because they are party leader-supporters. Money is being smuggled out of the hands of the government. Rumors of money laundering by relatives of government regulators are also growing. Common people are taking these into consideration as the cause of their suffering. On the other hand, educated-conscious people are seeing themselves deprived in various fields due to partyization. Many of the liberation war conscious people, who supported Awami League for so long, are becoming mentally inactive before the elections. It may not be possible for them to support BNP for ideological reasons; But being inactive is not less loss for Awami League. But unfortunately, people do not think that Awami League leaders have made any effort to heal these wounds. Rather, the wording of the leaders’ speech has repeatedly come out as authoritarian.
Being in the government, it was the responsibility of Awami League to overcome all the deadlocks and come to the election with everyone. If there is trust in the people, there should be no fear of free elections; But the Awami League has been able to show the courage to walk on the path? Why are the leaders of Awami League unable to do that despite the eye-catching development in the country, have they tried to find the truth?
BNP is ‘fighting’ with the mentality of democracy? The welfare of the people is the first condition of democracy. Are they walking the desired path for public welfare? Is it possible to force the government to establish a democratic system by walking the path of systematic movement involving the people? So why desperate to get salvation by creating anarchy! Many times they have walked the path of violence to reach salvation. But it didn’t work. Rather, people have been isolated. Why should the people pay compensation for who will be their king-vizier? After the three-day blockade, another 48-hour blockade was called. I went to the market on November 2. Everything is overpriced. The logic is the same—there is no supply of goods due to the blockade, hence the rise in prices. What strange politics of this country! One side must cling to the throne anyway, the other side must seize the throne! No one hesitates to crush people like ants to achieve this goal. These are the direction of our democracy! Political goons are setting cars on fire as usual to enforce the blockade. The owner does not dare to take out the car. The workers are seeing the darkness in the battle for life. Professionals are risking their lives out on the road. Since there was no strike-blockade for a long time, the educational institutions were running in great rhythm. Students-teachers-parents are again in uncertainty. They are the democrats! How hypocritical can be our politics! BNP leader Rizvi Sahib thanked the people for ‘spontaneously’ carrying out the blockade when the hostage-taking blockade ended. If so, please accept a challenge. Call a blockade or strike to assure that nobody will picket, throw bombs-cocktails-rocks at cars. will not fire Then we want to see how spontaneously the blockade is observed. We know that you do not have the slightest ability or courage to take up this challenge. How long will the people endure the programs given to achieve their political interests by disrupting the normal life of the people? This is how political parties lose public support. The power-loving politicians of our country insult democracy in the name of democracy, so we do not want this type of trade in democracy to continue. Dictatorship in the name of democracy is actually oppressing people.
Unfortunately for us, the post-independence tyranny of power politics has not allowed potential patriots to rise up in this country. Due to the defeat of morality, people from the young to the old throughout the country are behaving inhumanely in order to implement the political program. If the party remains in power or if the party comes to power, they may not get a penny. And the struggle of ideals? If you think about it, who has the ideal of public welfare in practice except on the stage of speech? We hope that through all the vandalism, patriotic politicians will bring back real democracy.
Dr. AKM Shahnawaz : Professor, Jahangirnagar University
