Editorial
An MP and his weapon
What a display of arrogance !
If a picture that was carried in almost all the major dailies in the last two days, of a member of parliament from Gaffargaon, firing his pistol, reportedly in self defense, is not outrageous than what is.
The place where the incident occurred was the MP's constituency and the self defense he was assuming against was the people that had voted him to the parliament with a huge margin in the last election. The matter should evoke a serious introspection in our politicians because of the tone and tenor that politics is assuming in Bangladesh. If an MP has to protect himself from his people's wrath and that too by using dangerous weapon that kills, than there must be something intrinsically wrong with the system.
We wonder why and how a situation would come to such a stage when voters turn their anger on their representative. And why should it ever come to such a pass that the MP has to resort to firing in self defense. In any case, the picture does not show that he was trying to shoo away people but rather taking a pot shot at them.
It is also patently disingenuous of the MP to suggest that those who had turned against him were criminals. Reportedly, he was besieged by people in his constituency because of their discontentment with the site selection of a new Thana in the area and they had confronted him with their demand. Apparently, there is intra-party rivalry in the area and disgruntlement about the way things have been handled by the MP in the last three years. We understand that it was the MP who behaved in an imperious manner rather than like the 'servant' of the people they promise to be while seeking votes.
The MP's behaviour was most unwarranted, having taken up law in his own hands. The party must go into the reason why this happened and also into the various allegations of the voters against the MP.
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