Sad day for democracy

BNP'S stance of 'Death of Democracy' was, to start with, a rhetorical hyperbole. But by its own action, the government proved BNP correct. The way the government suppressed the BNP from holding a rally, and the way it kept Khaleda Zia confined to her office for the last 48-plus hours smack, if not death of democracy, but definitely a step towards it.

Now Khaleda Zia has called for open-ended countrywide blockade and we cannot fully blame her for it. So the government has pushed her to it.

We would like to ask what harm there would be to let BNP hold a rally. The question here is if Awami League wants to celebrate the first anniversary of safeguarding democracy, why cannot BNP and its allies hold a programme that demonstrates a dissenting view, which is within its democratic right to do?

We are aghast at the intimidating language coming out of the government. Not only has it been impolitic, rather it is downright hypocritical. If we go by some of the statements made of late, they put out a blatant threat to the opposition that the BNP would not be allowed to come on to the street. How can we justify the authorisation of Section 144 when Awami League and its various organisations congregated all over the city and the BNP was denied even normal movement? Are we then to understand that the ruling party has the sole monopoly on democracy and can bend it at will while the January 5 election on the strength of which it came to power was morally indefensible. It is an amazing way to celebrate upholding of democracy. If the idea was to contain the opposition parties from indulging in political violence, it has had the exact opposite reaction.