The Bangladeshi icon of fascism fled the country at noon of 5 August, marked by the student-mass upsurge. Certain relief from the tensions has not yet returned to society as yet, neither has the confidence in political life come back.
Otherwise, how would the entire country be jolted by the threats issued via ‘leaked’ telephone conversations of fascist ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina apparently speaking from New Delhi? Why would the administration panic or people get tense?
Perhaps time has arrived to evaluate how far the country’s people secured freedom from tribal rule of the Awami League regime, and then found access to equitable opportunities and whether they are receiving required services from the public servants.
If we try to objectively discuss what the administration of Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has been able to do in the past 100 days since its assumption of office on 8 August, a section of people may tend to say, ‘In that case, there was higher level of discipline in society during the rule of Sheikh Hasina’.
A truthful statement indeed! Only in an opposite sense, however: what happened in about 15 and a half years, was not any discipline, rather an order of misrule (read slavery). Had the masses had a minimum level of confidence in such a system, that would not have been devastated by the resistance forces of students and commoners in July-August.
Even then, the incumbents have no scope to ignore the fact that some people might forget Sheikh Hasina’s ‘accomplishments’ while others would not. We wonder why the state institutions are not loudly publicising the reports of hundreds of scams and human stories on martyrs, the injured people and their families who suffered during her reign, so that they are not missing from the collective memory of the nation.
Of course the ghost of misrule would continue to haunt the present and future elected government, unless the giant responsible for killing and corruption, is put into the magic jar and kept it on the seabed.
The performances of the two governments that were in power before and after the revolution might be compared if you don’t mind objective criticism.
Anti-people and anti-state activities, plundering of national resources and siphoning off money, murder and enforced disappearance, tyranny, ruining democratic and state institutions, vote rigging, and destroying the path of political consensus and peaceful social co-existence – Can’t we recall when all these happened in Bangladesh?
Any conscious citizen can analyse these issues based on the indexes of public perception and understanding, objective information and data and justice and equity.
Yes, Hasina is now a think of the past. And Professor Muhammad Yunus came to the scene with assurance of bringing back public confidence and optimism lost in her misgovernance.
Her fascist rule of cruelty came to an end thanks to accumulated grievances of the people and bloodshed that turned into the force of revolution. The Yunus administration was blessed with the advantage of primary relief the people found for the departure of Hasina. That relief was not any credit of the new government.
Now, the Team Yunus has both the opportunity and the challenge to lead the process of making transition to building a fair, functional democratic political system after destruction of a polluted system.
Clerically speaking, the government has taken some initiatives including formation of a number of commissions, making a flock of fresh appointees and beginning the process of bringing fascist Hasina and her collaborators to book.
Still, it doesn’t seem that the government comprising an advisory council formed through the July-August revolution that took place at the height of the people’s struggle for democracy of more than a decade, has been able to consolidate power. The tensions in the bureaucracy and unrest in different sectors are its manifestations.
Confusions and hesitation in taking decisions, presence of corruption in service delivery and not taking any step to recover the ill-gotten properties earned during the Awami League rule – all these prove flaws in current governance.
It’s also hard to be confident of the law and order situation; similarly, no progress has been noticed in business environment, progress that could have encouraged the entrepreneurs from home and abroad to make positive investment decisions by this time.
Appointment of Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus as the Chief Adviser has been a charm for the world thanks to his global image. But we have not heard of any professional or academic discussions on Bangladesh’s foreign policy matters after the fall of Hasina.
Since Hasina had backing from the alien forces in favour of her tyrannical rule and since foreign policy was in her pocket, there was an inner urge within the nation to reset Bangladesh’s foreign affairs policy after the political changeover.
The people of course inclusive of students who laid down their lives to remove the tyrant of one and a half decades from power, with a lot of hopes, are yet to see any dialogue, other than disconnect between them and the government leadership. Neither do we witness any initiative to repair the social fabrics broken during the Hasina period.
In order to stop the rise of any fascist in future, it is necessary to forge a political consensus right now. Also to ensure sustainability of the reform initiatives of the Yunus government, what we essentially need are commitment of the political forces to reforms and their ownership of all such stakeholders in society.
It is the conviction of many that there is definite communications gap or a sense of uncertainty in public sphere – a state that disappoints people.
We don’t expect the Yunus government, his advisers and important persons in the interim administration would just carry out the day-to-day duties of the ministries and divisions; they are expected to play the pioneering role in transition to democracy in a country free from the curse of fascism.
If the angry losers of the Hasina regime now try to term Professor Yunus as autocrat or extra-constitutional ruler, he and the people of the country have nothing to worry and wonder, given the records of the deposed ruler. But if the Yunus government has to seek a quick exit route from the office in the face of ‘no-confidence’ in the political arena, that won’t be a very good example for the nation.
Whether we should be enlightened with the culture of reforms in the coming days or we shall remain unsophisticated – let us and our youth not fall into such an unfortunate dilemma. It is not expected that fascism would again take its root in society.
In today’s context, it is relevant for the Yunus government and the team members to reevaluate their performance and rethink about their strategies and plans.
On the way to making the country’s future democratic political dispensation, if this government takes some bold steps securing informed and confirmed consent of the political stakeholders, the people would not lose their confidence.
* Khawaza Main Uddin is a journalist.