Current Affairs
Russian Roulette
One may compare the current regime's political strategy to Russian roulette, a potentially lethal game of chance in which the players place a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head and pulls the trigger.
Photo: Anurup Kanti Das
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 10 said, “I want peace and development for the people, not the prime ministership.” She was addressing a function marking the national conference of khatibs and imams at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
Many people likened her remarks to the emphatic pronouncement that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had made in his historic address on March 7, 1971: “I do not want prime ministership. I want to establish the rights of the people.” He had the heart to make such a claim. Through his actions, Mujib proved that he really wanted the rights of the people, instead of the prime ministership.
But it is different from her daughter Hasina's remark. People should not be blamed for questioning her sincerity. She is holding the office of the prime minister and she has declined to accept a non-party election time government because the installation of such makeshift administration will not allow her to stay in office during the next general election. Her staying in office during the general election has appeared to be the main obstacle to ensure a participatory election. In no way, the BNP-led opposition alliance will accept her as the chief of the election time government. But she is determined to continue as the premier.
Her ministers have resigned to pave the way for the formation of a so-called all-party election time cabinet. The premier has also introduced a new system beyond the constitutional provision over the resignation of a minister. On her directive, the cabinet secretary has announced that the prime minister would decide on the ministers' resignation. But the constitution says something different. The office of a minister other than the PM shall be vacant if he resigns from office by handing over resignation letter to the PM for submission to the president, according to article 58(1) (a) of the constitution. But nothing will be able to prevent Hasina from going ahead with her plan.
The result? The political situation will be even more volatile in the coming days. The opposition alliance has been mindlessly enforcing hartals since October 27 to realise their demand for a non-party election time government. They will enforce more hartals to mount pressure on the government. Nobody is sure how much pressure they will be able to exert on the government through agitation programmes. But the hartals have already wreaked havoc on the people's life and property.
It is now crystal clear that the government of Hasina will not budge from holding the general election by early January whether the BNP-led opposition alliance joins or not. Her ruling Awami League has been taking all out preparations for election. Her government has taken tougher stance on the opposition leaders to foil street agitation to keep smooth the way for holding the polls. Some senior leaders of the BNP were detained on some silly charges.
Let's think that the government succeeds in holding the general election sans the participation of the BNP-led opposition alliance. In that case, the BNP-led opposition alliance will try to continue their agitation programme from the very first day of the next government. It will be difficult for the new government to control ruling party men who have already tainted the image of the current government by their unruly and violent activities. So there is every possibility of something even worse taking place. Ruling party men countrywide may become more desperate after the one-sided election.
If this happens, the BNP-led opposition will not need to wage street agitation. The ordinary people will protest the wrongdoings of the ruling party men. Such apprehension is not mere speculation. Many ruling AL MPs now fear of such consequences. Talk to some MPs and leaders who are not blindly supporting the strategy of Hasina's government, they will tell you about the looming danger.
The ordinary people punish political parties very harshly through ballots. They did it in the past decades. Take the results of the previous elections. The BNP won the 1991 polls and formed the government. But it held a one-sided farcical election on February 15, 1996. But the government could not survive. The party faced defeat to the AL in June 12, 1996 polls. It however had managed to bag 116 seats. Some wrongdoings of the AL-led government and party men annoyed the ordinary people during its tenure in between 1996-2001. So, voters punished the AL in 2001 polls. It won only 62 seats, around half of the seats the BNP obtained in June 1996 election. The BNP faced public wrath in December 2008 polls for its wrongdoings when it was in power in between 2001-06. It got only 29 seats, half of the seats the AL won in 2001.
So, if a one-sided election is finally held in early January 2014, the AL-led new government will have to walk towards an unimaginable future which in no way will offer any comfort.
The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.
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