EDITORIAL COMMENT: The Caretaker Government must create a level playing ground for national elections

What was supposed to be a watershed in the development of democratic and bipartisan politics in Bangladesh is now petering towards re-establishment of one-party rule that we saw in the first 3 years of our independence and then during Ershad’s dictatorship. It is thus no surprise that in the type of partisan politics that is now being established, the partners will be the Awami League and General Ershad.

Our politics has never been perfect. In fact, it is because of such imperfection that this military-backed Government clamped emergency and expressed their determination to reform politics and politicians. The BNP’s demands for contesting the election may not have been entirely justified in the eyes of this Government; but then we have seen the Awami League make such demands in the past that have been viewed with consideration. Their demand for cancellation of election after BNP handed power to the Caretaker Government and the civil disturbances that followed ushered in the emergency. In fact, the AL has publicly stated their role in this context. The AL Chief, before leaving for US after emergency was clamped, said before the media that it would enact all ordinances of the Caretaker Government to law if they came to power.

The Caretaker Government has disappointed a lot of people by its failure to take the BNP on board. This fact alone makes its two years stay in office questionable for its failure to make the playing field level for the two mainstream parties to participate in the elections. It does not need common sense to suggest that if a party that won the last two of the three democratic elections in the country, the last one overwhelmingly, does not take part in the next election, then the outcome will not be credible and instead democracy will be dealt a deadly blow and it will push the country to uncertainty and will make the miseries that the people have faced under the Caretaker Government futile and for a lost cause.

The BNP’s decision not to go to the elections should have been deliberated with more care. It wasted too much time worrying about the time factor and was caught on the wrong foot when the date of the elections was announced. It will now have to show maturity to explain to the nation its reasons for not going to the election so that it can make a positive contribution to the country instead of going to the street and agitating over it which will only imperil the country. They should feel confident that a government formed in the manner it is going to be will not give it the moral sanction to govern and an election held without it will not be one that will last.

A word must be said about the foreign diplomats; particularly those representing the developed ones who make it their business to interfere in our politics, taking the plea that they are doing it for our good and for democracy. How would they explain that the 18^th December election will be held with the party the represents half of the people of Bangladesh out of it? The perception in the public mind that it is these meddling diplomats who have been responsible for the emergency will now need no more evidence to be established.

Those who love Bangladesh and want it to prosper, including the AL, have the responsibility to see that a credible election is held in the country that would require the participation of all the parties, particularly the AL and the BNP. All is not lost and the Caretaker Government must make efforts still to bring the BNP to the election.