A nation gets…
After critically analysing the speeches of our two Netris on May Day, your editorial of 4 May concluded “The nation surely deserved- and deserves- better”. You are absolutely right. The nation surely deserves better. But what the nation deserves and what the people deserve are two different things. The people have got exactly what they wanted.
Bangladesh has been ruled by members of two families for nearly 28 years (three innings each) interspersed with about eight years of military dictatorship and about 2.5 years of caretaker governments The performance of each political and military ruler is an open book, each time they have shaken the hands of the voters before the elections and their confidence after it. Promises made, have not been kept, pledges cast into the rubbish bin in an atmosphere of loot, each time worse than before, have pervaded the nation. Individuals have amassed wealth, while poverty has increased.
Is the Bangladeshi voter so very naïve as to think that this time it will be better?
In a nation of 15 million, is there no one else other than these two women to rule when it is known that they are surrounded by incompetent people, sycophants and convicted criminals? Morning shows the day 4 months on, the electric wires continue to flicker off and on, the waterways surrounding Dhaka are polluted beyond redemption. The people are gasping for breath and relief, while the energy of the government is occupied by frivolous priorities. The floors of the courts are creaking with the weight of umpteen writs filed by felons who want 'normalcy (i.e. the bad old days)' as soon as possible.
The last caretaker government had given the people of Bangladesh a golden opportunity to sweep the stables that our political environment has become, but we spurned this opportunity too, to say “NO” vociferously at the polls. Only some 382,000 “NO” votes were cast out of 8.5 crores. Can we take some solace from the fact that in Bangladesh, only 382,000 voters are politically savvy? So grieve not, complain not, you politically naïve and intellectually bankrupt Bangladeshi voters, you have got exactly what you deserve.
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