The Independent
2nd January, 2013
M. Serajul Islam
Politicians
are often criticized for having short memories. However, they are not the only
one who suffers from this undesirable trait. People in public life in other
professions also have short memories. In fact, at least one section, the
“stars” of our Talk Shows (TS), is proving that their memory is shorter than that
of the politicians. In a recent roundtable in Dhaka, organized by a New York based Bangla weekly paper , one talk
show “star” said that “the two leaders (Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia) are
worse than the military strongman we frequently criticize.” He was referring to
former military dictator HM Ershad.
Those
who participated in this seminar are individuals who are seen every night on TV
Talk Shows criticizing the government. In such discussions, the BNP is also
often criticized for its role as an opposition and its earlier tenures in
government. Such criticisms are justified because there are a lot of things
happening with politics and governance that are frustrating the people for
which the ruling party is responsible. Likewise, when the BNP is criticized,
there are reasons for such criticism because the people want the party to play
a more pro-active role as an opposition.
Criticisms about the party while it was in government are also justified
because it failed then on many issues of governance.
These
criticisms are signs of democracy and healthy. Nevertheless, these TS
participants need to be careful for in many instances they are crossing their limits.
When the Prime Minister talked critically about the TSs recently, there was
widespread criticism about her remarks. Nevertheless there is good reason to
feel that she is justified in her reaction when one thinks of her criticisms
dispassionately because many who come on the shows criticize her government out
of a deep grudge against it. Their body language leaves viewers no opportunity
to draw any other conclusion. In one TS telecast recently, a well known
participant said that he and his fellow TS participants are playing the role of
the parliament! In the round table that
encouraged me to write this piece, these TS participants have crossed the limit
by their praise for HM Ershad! In
praising the former President, they forgot a few well known facts about the
former President.
Hussain
Muhammad Ershad was a military dictator. He usurped political power by overthrowing
the elected government. Those who placed HM Ershad ahead of the elected leaders
are the same people who take the public stage regularly to talk about our war
of liberation and the sacrifices of millions for the independence of
Bangladesh. While our war of liberation was the immediate consequence of genocide
of the Pakistani military; the movement for an independent Bangladesh that started
much earlier was for the establishment of a government they would be able to
elect freely and fairly. Lest we forget as our TS participants have, our demand
for Bangladesh started in right earnest when the Pakistani military declared
the election of November, 1970 null and void and banned the Awami League.
To speak well of President Ershad’s role in
government is thus the anti-thesis of the spirit of our war of liberation. One has to wonder what could be there in the
10 years that President Ershad ruled illegally to encourage the TS participants
to place his rule ahead of those whom the people elected freely and fairly. He
violated every norm of civil governance and laid the foundation of state
sponsored corruption from which the subsequent democratic governments have
suffered. He managed elections in 1986 and 1988 that were fraudulent by any
definition of the term. The moral degradation of his regime in which he gave
leadership was something that our TS participants should not have forgotten
because the people have not. They should not have forgotten the many
hypocritical acts of the former dictator like for instance his Jumma prayer at
Star Mosque where he said he had come to pray inspired by a dream he had the
previous night where his security had spent 3 weeks before that to make the
mosque secure for him; and his hand in writing poetry.
There
is no doubt that the democratic leaders have frustrated the people. The two
mainstream parties have made politics conflict ridden; where the people’s needs
and those of the nation have always come second to the need to keep them in
power by any means. Their fight for their selfish interests is the main reasons
why Bangladesh is still hovering around the threat of becoming a failed state.
It is indeed a sad reflection upon our history that after these two mainstream
parties had come together and had overthrown the dictatorship of President
Ershad, they did not come together on bipartisan politics for if they had, the
country would have become a middle income country before we said good bye to
the last century instead of looking into some distant future to realize this
great national expectation. The stance of the ruling party on the next
elections is portent with dangerous possibilities and unless resolved, could push
the country to great uncertainties and make the issue of becoming a middle
income country irrelevant.
Nevertheless,
these are the prices a nation must be prepared to pay for establishing
democracy because sustainable socio-economic and political development can only
be achieved through the democratic process. This is the unambiguous verdict of
history. The TS participants should therefore come to the shows with an
objective mind, keep issues apart, and help the people realize the faults of
their political leaders, so that they can make their choices. They should also
suggest remedies. They should not mislead the people by praising a discredited
military leader like HM Ershad by suggesting to the people that his rule was
better than those of the elected leaders and thus encouraging them for another
military intervention. Instead, they should alert them to the depth of moral
degradation to which the 10 years of President Ershad had taken Bangladesh. In
two years, General Moyeen U Ahmed had threatened to take Bangladesh down the
same way. Our military is a well organized force now that has earned great
international reputation as peace keepers. They should not be encouraged as
these TS participants are doing by putting ideas into their heads that the two
mainstream parties are bad for the country.
The
TS participants are also bringing back the discredited “minus two agenda” of
the Moyeen regime. In the round table, they also spoke disparagingly on “dynasty”
based politics suggesting that such nature of politics is one of the main
reasons why the country is at such a despairing state of affairs. They are also
calling for the emergence of a third political force to replace the existing
two-party system. In these actions, these individuals who represent nobody are
taking stand directly against the fundamental principles of democracy where it
is the people who make the choices and not someone individuals on their behalf.
The military, for instance, cannot be an
alternative to even the worst democratic government because the elected
government, despite all its faults, is legitimate government; the military,
with all its short term options, is illegitimate and unconstitutional. In
addition, it contradicts the very spirit of Bangladesh.
More
importantly, they are suggesting socio-political engineering that are way
beyond their abilities or responsibilities unless they have extremely inflated
ego or upholding some hidden agenda. If they feel that they have such great
ideas for the betterment of the country, they should pursue their self-imposed
greatness through the constitutional/democratic/legal means available which is
the political process. Let them get together and form a political party and
fight the “evils” that they see in the two mainstream parties. Otherwise, they
will help replace the existing system with all its faults with something far
worse as some of their colleagues did when they helped bring the Moyeen regime
to office that by the verdict of the business community that bore a major brunt
of his illegal hold on power has pushed Bangladesh 2 decades back in overall
development.
Some
of the participants of the TV Talk Shows have crossed their limits by placing General
HM Ershad over two political leaders that millions helped elect to the highest
political office of the country. They should spare themselves a moment and
touch base with reason by deflating their inflated egos.
The writer is a retired career
Ambassador and Secretary
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