Victory Day and the formation of a political party

We had to wake up very early this Victory Day. This time, Bangladesh’s chief advisor Muhammad Yunus was accompanied to the Jatiya Smriti Shoudha (National Mausoleum) by the president of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta. He is a Nobel Laureate too. He was accorded a guard of honour. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the event. I couldn’t go so early, but turned up later to pay respects to our valiant freedoms fighters at the National Mausoleum.

This year Victory Day was after the fall of Hasina on 5 August. The vibe was different from other years. Awami League, which claims to have led the liberation war, and its collaborators were absent. I wondered whether the event would be has grandiose as before. Would the venue be teeming with crowds? But even though I arrived late at the Smriti Shoudha, all apprehensions vanished into thin air. We reached the spot at around 11:30 in the morning. Crowds still thronged the place.

It wasn't our fault that we arrived at the venue late. The road was jammed near the Smriti Shoudha. I hadn’t seen such a jam in the past years. I am not sure whether this was because of two consecutive events in the morning or for any other reason. I saw no traffic police around when the jam started. Half a mile behind I had seen members of the armed forces. But they weren’t traffic policing. We sat waiting and irate in the car for over half an hour. In the meantime, suddenly chief advisor Muhammad Yunus’ speech began.

Muhammad Yunus speaks well. He is not given to rhetoric or fancy speeches. But he knows how to make his point. He gets his message across. I was listening to his speech and thinking he has made his point clear. A fresh voter list has to be prepared. There had been no voting in three consecutive terms, so the existing voters’ list cannot be depended upon. It was take six to nine months to carry out the task. Logical words.

The biggest question was of reforms. There were many proposals in this regard. When it comes to opinions, our country is divided into more than a hundred parts. Nothing can be forcefully imposed here. I think that is the very thing that must be taken into consideration when it comes to reforms. There is need for a national consensus. The chief advisor has spoken about a commission for the purpose. He will lead this commission and he also spoke about a process. How long will it take for this process to be completed? To mobilise national consensus? Can anything specific be said in advance?

The government so far has formed 13 commissions for reforms. I think all 13 are essential. But does that mean the election will be held after the recommendations of these 13 commissions are made effective? Can that be? Reforms are actually a continual process. Reforms have been in process since the start of this world. There is no scope to stop this at any point.

Over the past 15 years, democracy and the electoral process have been completely destroyed. It will not be possible to hold an election of proper standard and credible to all without reforming this. There seems to be certain misconception about this among some people. They view reforms and elections as contradictory. That is why perhaps they say first all the reforms have to be carried out and only then the election held. Or they say only the election parliament or government will carry out all the reforms. As if no one else has the capability to carry out reforms.

In his address to the nation, Muhammad Yunus made it clear that through they have formed 13 commissions and the commissions are working, he feels that the reforms pertaining to the constitution and the election are the most important. Reforms on these two matters must be carried out on the basis of consensus. How long will it take to establish this consensus to carry out the reforms on this basis and then to hold the election on the basis of the reformed constitution? Given our divided politics and society, it is hard to tell. Yunus has given a roadmap. Can this be called a roadmap? Since there are no given days or dates, some may be unwilling to term it so, and they need not. Given the clarity and direction in his speech, I have no qualms about calling it a roadmap. I was quite satisfied with the speech delivered by the chief advisor to the nation.

Many of the students who played a leading role in the August uprising, were later seen to be delivering speeches. While the uprising was on, many did not know most of these students.

However, after the success of the uprising, people became to get an idea about them through their words and statements. It is not that this idea is very clear as yet. The statements they make at various times, the things that they do, through light on things to an extent, but there is still some darkness.

We are all aware that Muhammad Yunus took over as chief advisor of the Bangladesh government at their behest. Muhammad Yunus has included students in his advisory council. In that sense, the students are a part of the government. But at times they make excessively radical statements. And a lot of this goes against the government.

The coordinators, though, did not say anything about the chef advisor’s address to the nation on the occasion of Victory Day. But in the meantime it has been made clear that the students want reforms before the election. As the matter of ensuring trials in connection to the looting and massacre in connected to reforms, they may well want it so. They may feel this is the time most conducive to reforms. They have, meanwhile, expressed their intention of forming a political party.

Does that mean they are forming a political party while in power? The students or their representatives are in government. These questions are being asked from various quarters. These questions have become stronger particularly after the gathering in councilors on 19 December at the press club.

Readers, everyone knows that there is no way that these pourashava elections can be separated from the three consecutive national parliament elections. It is nothing but a farce to call them people’s representatives. At least 90 per cent of them were directly a part of the Awami misrule. Later the student coordinators and leaders of Jatiya Nagorik Committee who organised the event tried to come up with all sorts of explanations, but people are hardly swallowing this.

Everyone is aware that no one will believe that 90 per cent of these councilors are BNP-Jamaat persons. That is just cheap political statements. People have learnt all this through experience. And the August uprising that sharpened people’s awareness even further. The expectations from new politics have no place for hypocrisy or lies.

* Mahmudur Rahman Manna is president, Nagorik Oikya

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir