Editorial
Jatiya Sangsad goes into session
BNP should have motivation to return to parliament
The Jatiya Sangsad went into its first session of this year yesterday. We as well as all citizens across the country would truly have been happy if the opposition BNP had chosen to end its boycott of the House and returned to it. Despite the fact that the lawmakers of the party were absent yesterday and have so far given no indication of when they mean to go back to the law-making body, it is still our expectation that they will, in the larger interest of their constituents and democracy, reconsider the boycott and resume their participation in the JS. Of course, it is taken for granted that the BNP lawmakers will make it a point to go to the House if only to preserve their membership of the body. Rather than being exposed as having been compelled by circumstances to return to the JS, the BNP should not only appear to be seen to be in the House but actually be seen there as a matter of conviction. We feel that it is its sacred responsibility to go beyond partisan considerations and indeed involve itself in the business of parliament -- through staying in the House.
The recent municipal elections which resulted in a drubbing for the ruling party and a clear triumph for the opposition should be a good enough reason for the BNP to return to parliament and engage the government in a meaningful debate on matters citizens would like to see deliberated on in the JS. In light of the recent polls, we can assume the party has behind it a fair amount of support for its cause as well. If, despite this, it does not manifest any motivation to be in the JS, its credibility will come into question. With the popularity of the ruling party in decline, as the recent polls show, the BNP has an opportunity to come up with alternatives and indeed to give a hint to the nation of how it means to pursue politics between now and the next general election.
We have consistently argued in these columns that despite the number of lawmakers it has at present, the BNP can effectively raise all the issues of public interest it has been speaking of outside the JS more effectively inside parliament. There is little question that at this point, there is a wide range of issues over which the party can tackle the ruling Awami League and thereby afford the electorate a chance to understand the present political perspectives better.
Democracy in Bangladesh is, as anyone will admit, yet in a fragile, nascent state. The fact that it has so far not taken the kind of roots it ought to have in the past twenty years has much to do with the boycott culture practised by the major political parties. Let there be a break with such an unhealthy tradition. By going back to the JS, the BNP will only be strengthening itself and the foundations of pluralist politics in Bangladesh. It is political mileage it should not forfeit.
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