Initiate a political dialogue
It is becoming a fashion to blame the politicians for any failure in the affairs of governance, although the country is under the rule of the military-backed caretaker government for the last one year, and not any political party. The politicians and the political parties are showing full respect to the state of emergency rules and obeying the order of the government. The most powerful political spokesperson of the government, the law and information adviser, and the so called popular talk show hosts of TV channels very often express their opinion that there is no change in " mon- manoshikota" of the politicians which is the biggest hurdle for positive thinking in granting political freedom to the politicians and the people as well. I was so amazed to hear a TV talk show host asking a question to a politician guest: “You talk about every problem of the country, why didn't you protest the government decision to send the artefacts to a French exhibition?” The inherent message is: if you had protested, this could have prevented the situation that has arisen, as if the politicians are responsible for what happened to the stolen artefacts. The ball shall always be in the court of the politicians, and the government is not accountable and will not take any responsibility. This was well demonstrated by the statement issued by an Adviser to the press that the government had nothing to do with regard to rising prices of rice, and the people will have to accept this. We think time is ripe enough for the government to change their "mon-manoshikota" and take the responsibility of failures and not successes only. The resignation of Mr Ayub Quadri is a very rare example in our political and bureaucratic culture--accepting the responsibility and leaving gracefully with dignity and honour. I do not know how much responsible he was when the artefacts were stolen from the custody of the civil aviation authority, and none has considered resigning so far from that organisation. I think it is not at all clear to the politicians and the people of Bangladesh what the government means by "change in the mon-manoshikota of the politicians", and even what reforms they want in the political parties. Be explicit, and tell the bottom line of the government's political plan and agenda to the nation. The uncertain behaviour of the Election Commission and the blame game of the government need to change. The politicians should be taken into confidence to initiate a dialogue with them to fulfil the government's promise to hand over power to an elected government. Kindly avoid listening to the motivated academicians and political pundits. Be politician-friendly, and give them a chance to cooperate with the government to overcome the impending political and economic crisis in the country. Kindly do not impose any precondition in the name of honesty. You need their support to lay the path of honest politics- already emerging as a political slogan of the government. Kindly do not forget that the politicians mean people of the country. By the way, I am neither a politician nor a member of any political party. I'm just discharging my responsibility as an ordinary citizen to advise the government which I believe can contribute towards creating a positive atmosphere in the affairs of governance.
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