A chance for good leadership doesn’t come often
Another year draws to a close and the countdown for the New Year begins. It’s just a couple of days away. The sun will rise on the New Year in some Pacific island and celebrations will begin the world over as midnight strikes. The media will analyse the past year with all its successes, failures, ups and downs.
The weekly Bichitra used to do a cover story on the year’s most talked-about personality. That’s a regular tradition with the western media. We do the same here, in a limited way. So this year, what’s the most talked-about topic? There will certainly be different choices, and socio-political considerations will shape decisions.
There will naturally be differences as to how the year 2017 went by in the life of the Bangali people. The issues which will invariably arise will include inflation, democracy, development, the 16th amendment to the constitution and Padma bridge. Then there’s the bank heist, Moudud’s house being snatched away and the BASIC Bank scam. There is no dearth of fodder.
Different people have different interests. To environmentalists, Rampal and Rooppur are big issues. Human rights activists will rank enforced disappearances and killings at the top of the list. Parents of schoolchildren will remain anxious at the leak of exam papers for classes as low as one and two.
Politics, of course, will feature prominently for all. Bangalis are political animals. They may not have rice in their bellies or money in their pockets, but politics is a must. However, there is a subtle difference in recent times. There is a strong degree of caution when discussing politics in the local teashop or while travelling on buses and trains. The anxiety and apprehension is palpable. Article 57 poses as a Damocles’ sword above their heads.
Bengalis are born dreamers. We dreamt of being a separate Muslim nation, imagining a life of peace and happiness. We ushered in the state of Pakistan, with the resounding slogan of ‘larke lenge Pakistan!’ But the rude awakening didn’t take long to arrive. We realised we had simply jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
In the fifties and sixties we dreamt of a democratic state, free of all discrimination. We fought, we struggled and in 1971 we got a new country, Bangladesh, through a liberation war. But we tripped up at the very outset. Democracy was obstructed and discrimination continued to increase. The dream remained elusive.
After an interval of a few years, we arrived at a struggle for democracy. There was a time we wanted many things. We wanted socialism along with democracy. We’ve more or less done away with socialism now. It’s restricted to the speeches and writings of the middle-class leftists. The foundation of the classical socialism for which we would cry ourselves hoarse, is now in smithereens. Even capitalism has changed. Those who do not believe in rites and religion, often march off to the mosque with their prayer mats when Eid comes around, or it’s time for Friday’s jumma prayers. It’s a matter of social ritual. Spewing out socialistic rhetoric has been reduced to such a ritual now. Democracy is now our main mantra.
Then again, democracy is different things to different people. It’s like the blind describing an elephant. To some, democracy is queuing up to cast a vote every five years. To them, being able to vote for the candidate of their choice is all what democracy is about. For the candidate, it’s all about being able to campaign freely, to be able to declare he is the best and all the rest are the worst. It’s a full-fledged war out there during the elections. Tons and tons of leaflets and posters litter the entire country. Megaphones and microphones blare out in full volume, robbing all of a good night’s sleep. The election season looms large before us.
Things went topsy-turvy in 1975 and we were under overt and covert military rule for quite some time. We struggled for democracy. From 1990 and 1996 till now we continue to chant, there is no democracy, we want democracy.
The problem in this country is, once the election are over, the people’s representatives remain out of reach. The parliament is sovereign. The general idea that has grown in the public mind is that the people’s representatives can do as they please. We studied in school about the unlimited power of Britain’s House of Commons. We are a lot like that now.
However, there are many things about British democracy which we have not adopted. For example, in that country when a party loses in the election, the head of the defeated party takes all responsibility and promptly resigns. This requires no force or demand. The new leadership takes over and sets to the task of refurbishing the party. In our country, the defeated party’s leader will certainly not resign. They don’t even accept defeat! They bring about all sorts of allegations of subtle rigging, outright rigging, and rigging in all shapes and sizes.
The topic of democracy has featured prominently in all discussions and in the media throughout 2017. Development has also been discussed widely. There has been the debate over development and democracy. It has been implied that democracy and development cannot go hand in hand, so if democracy is sacrificed for the sake of development, there really is nothing wrong about that.
The party in power claims to have brought about unprecedented development in the country. If this development is to be sustained, political continuity is a must. And so they need to stay in power for another one or two terms, at least. If not, all the development efforts will go in vain. The opposition, on the other hand, claims that the ruling party has strangled democracy to death and has been looting and robbing in the name of development. So they must be toppled and only then will good days arrive.
The two sides are well-equipped with weapons against each other. Political parties are like street vendors, loudly promoting their respective qualities. They own the cure-all elixir which their opponent does not. We are weary of all this and see no respite ahead.
We need democracy, good governance and development. We can’t have one and not the others. The political leadership has to face the challenge of taking up all three and marching ahead.
It is as if we are waiting for Godot. The bottom line is, after being fooled time and again, we have no illusions left. A chance for good leadership does not come often.
* Anu Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and researcher. He can be reached at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. This column, originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla print edition, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir.