Different political parties have come up with mixed reactions to the outline de facto opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has announced to reform the state as part of its ongoing movement to overthrow the government.
Opposition in parliament Jatiya Party (JaPa) declined to make any instantaneous remarks regarding BNP’s 27-point outline. It said they comment on the proposals only after going through it carefully.
Bangladesh Workers’ Party, an element of ruling Bangladesh Awami League-led 14-party alliance, thinks the outline is “words only”. Nagorik Oikya and Ganosamhati Andolon, however, are viewing the proposals of BNP positively while writer and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad thinks, though there is nothing new in the outline of BNP. He considers this as BNP’s thoughts and aspirations.
BNP on Monday proposed a 27-point outline that contains proposals to bring balance in the executive power of the president, prime minister and the cabinet.
Regarding this, JaPa secretary general Mujibul Haque on Monday night told Prothom Alo that he did not read the proposals. “I will go through them and comment on Tuesday.”
Bangladesh Workers’ Party president Rashed Khan Menon said he is yet to read all the proposals of the BNP. He told Prothom Alo, “In the name of reforming the state in the post-1975 period, Ziaur Rahman slashed secularism from the constitution and took steps for rehabilitation of religion-based parties. It will be dangerous if something like that is done again.”
Menon further said now BNP is talking about bringing balance in the powers of the president and prime minister but the party was most active to increase the executive power of the prime minister when he, as a member of a special committee on the 12th amendment of the constitution, proposed the same thing. They even did not accept the proposal, he added.
Menon thinks most of the proposals of BNP’s outline are “words only”. He also thinks it’s not about reforming the state, rather the BNP is thinking about changing the noncommunal character of Bangladesh by including the religion-based parties, including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, in the name of creating a “rainbow nation”.
Nagorik Oikya president Mahmudur Rahman Manna is viewing the BNP’s outline positively. Manna is one of the leaders of Ganatantra Mancha, a platform of seven parties and organisations that have reached in a consensus to wage an anti-government movement simultaneously. He told Prothom Alo, “It is the responsibility of the people to analyse and evaluate the outline.”
Speaking about the BNP’s outline, another leader of Ganatantra Mancha, Zonayed Saki, also the chief coordinator of Ganosamhati Andolon told Prothom Alo, “A change is required in both the government and system of governance to resolve the existing political crisis. When a big party like BNP comes up with proposals for democratic changes of the state, it becomes the centre of discussions. This is a positive thing for politics.”
However, writer and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad thinks there is nothing new in the proposals of BNP. He told Prothom Alo, “The most important thing is if there is no democratic practice within the party, it is not possible to implement those through composing laws. What did BNP do when they were in power?”
He further said, “Actually, no matter good things are said, nothing substantial can be achieved if the political parties continue as they are now. There were talks about reform during the caretaker government (in 2007-2008) too but BNP considered it the victim of that then.
“Actually thoughts become different when a party is in power than from the time when it’s out of power. So, there is nothing to be elated about this. Still I would hope, though it’s late, these are BNP has these realisations,” Mohiuddin Ahmad added.