Living in the Twilight Zone

BANGLADESH lives in the Twilight Zone, which means it's in an unclear or confusing situation. It has a government but the people aren't convinced the governance is in their best interest. It has a democracy in the same manner cosmetic jewelry substitute gold and diamond. It has an economy which is basically an opportunity for elites to plunder the country. It has a society where collective interests are individually exploited. It's a People's Republic where people are last in line in their own homeland.
Three million people died and two hundred thousand women were violated so that we could have our own nation state. Every time politicians talk about patriotism, they forget their words ring hollow when people aren't at home in their own motherland.
It can be argued in so many ways, but the truth is that people are worried. Ask them not about which of the two main political parties is better than the other. Ask them not about which of the two patriarchs of these two political parties had declared independence. Ask what they think about the future of their country. Ask what they think about the absurd election where half the parliament members got elected without an election and the other half got elected by the brute minority.
Ever since January 5 the country has been drifting. Last six months have alienated people farther from their dream than any other time in recent history. Power had been grabbed in the past as well. Military dictators have come and gone, flouting the constitution and holding people at gunpoint. But this time people are most miffed because the betrayal comes from those whom they had trusted most.
A large part of it's a sense of betrayal because it has been done in their name. The military rulers grabbed power through coups and everybody knew the political power for them grew out of the barrel of a gun. Even if they tried to change afterwards, people may have liked them or not but they never forgot those rulers had snatched power.
This time it has been done with a sleight of scurrilous hand. God knows, people aren't convinced of how power has returned to the same hand. Every voter who hasn't voted knows that truth. And it's not about who has come to power this time but how they did it. People don't feel involved in the mandate being used in their name.
If we are to compare this government to a carnival, the organisers alone are enjoying its fanfare failing to attract visitors. The unpleasant truth about the whole thing is that people probably don't have a great deal of interest in who runs their country. They know they're no more relevant for democracy than campaign is for product quality.
In their frenzy for power, politicians are destroying the very foundation of why people ought to be the source of all power. In the ultimate analysis our martyrs didn't sacrifice their lives to change their rulers only. They had also died because they wanted to change the way they were ruled. They wanted to be the master of their own destiny.
From time to time, that aspiration of the people has been disrupted by usurpers. People have been sidelined from politics, their will subverted first by the whims of their military leaders and now by their civilian leaders, all of whom are their own countrymen. If the ruling politicians are drawing sustenance from unilateral political disarmament of their opponents and are actually convinced that they could pick who should sit in the opposition bench, they should know it distorts democracy so much as match fixing ruins a game.
Our politicians are now having exchanges over midterm elections. The ruling party wants to go the whole nine yards of this term. The opposition vows to topple the government anytime soon. Bothe sides have been trifling with the most critical juncture of Bangladesh's history that threatens to unravel its politics.
In fact, it should be the only issue keeping the politicians busy if they could understand its full implications. Marinated in despair for too long, this country has the possibility of going towards anarchy. It's not for nothing that democracy has been the chosen form of government across the world. No other form allows people to choose their rulers.
That choice was compromised on January 5 and our leaders should quickly make amends. When people are denied voice in their country and government, it leads to dissatisfaction and bitterness. Nothing will get fixed unless the fix is fixed first. Politicians should restore democracy, without which nothing will be the same again.
 

The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star.
Email: badrul151@yahoo.com