Are we truly a democracy?
Your December 31 editorial congratulating the ruling party's re-elected leaders aptly expressed the disappointment that many of us feel at the utter lack of democratic norms within political parties. The Awami League is hardly unique in this regard since just about every political party of any significance is little more than an extension of personal dynasties. That the law of the land, as enshrined in the Representation of People's Ordinance, is so brazenly flouted by those who have taken oaths to uphold and execute those very laws, says plenty about the state of our 'democracy'. Journalists, civil society leaders, and intellectuals may not like to hear the truth, but facts speak for themselves once we come out of our emotional trappings: political parties in Bangladesh neither understand nor particularly care for the ideal of democracy as it is understood by the civilized world. Of the four major parties in the country, three are little more than personal dynasties: one believes in being the earthly vice-regent of the Almighty, two have been spawned in cantonments, and one has given us a one-party, four-newspaper state that Stalin would have envied. The fact that all these organisations scream themselves hoarse as martyrs for democracy when in the opposition. The irony is they become tyrants. Such shameless hypocrisy goes on before public glare. Personality cult and religious absolutism have no place in democracy, nor in a political party preaching democracy. So the question is if Bangladesh is truly a democracy?
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