Editorial
BNP's 35th anniversary
Introspection is in order
WHILE we felicitate the BNP on its 35th founding anniversary, we feel that a serious self-critique by the policymakers in the party is called for urgently. While the party is hoping to be returned to power in the next general election, we wonder whether it has addressed and rectified the mistakes that caused its defeat in the last election.
The BNP should also ask itself whether it has been able to play the part of the opposition effectively, whether it has been able to represent properly in the parliament the 33 percent of the electorate that voted for the BNP, whether continuous abstention from the House has served their or the voters' or the cause of democracy at all?
If the purpose of politics is to better the lot of the people, then there is need for BNP to take a stock of what they have done to ensure, as the opposition, that the basic aspirations of the people are fulfilled.
And if the purpose of politics is to strengthen democracy, we feel that the BNP should take a strong and hard look at its own credentials, which is woefully lacking in so far as intra-party democracy is concerned. No democratic party can call itself so if there has not been grassroots level election within the party for as long as one can recall. It should also ask itself what it has done to create leaders that will take up the rein of the party in future. Leaders must be groomed and not thrust upon from the top.
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