Liberating politics

Photo: STAR

The present political scenario appears to be showing some ominous signs. People in general consider the present condition as politics of intolerance, which may ultimately lead us to confrontational politics as it existed before 1/11. This is certainly not congenial for moving forward to democracy.
Our freedom fighters did not make such great sacrifices for the enjoyment of the benefits of a free country by some privileged groups or persons. They sacrificed their lives for setting up a democratic and secular country free from exploitation and injustice.
Due to the assassination of Bangabandhu and subsequent military takeover, the people became subjects and the dream of Shiekh Mujib was shattered. The anti-freedom groups revived and consolidated their position with assistance from the military dictators who never believed in encouraging people to work for establishment of democracy.
As compared to many developing countries Bangladesh has made remarkable progress during the last four decades despite political instability and frequent natural calamities. Revival of democratic government in 1990 gave us new hope for working for establishing democracy on firm footing.
It is unfortunate that our political leaders failed to work together to establish a true democratic country. Their failure resulted in emergence of a civil-military interim government in 2007. Our valiant people forced the said government to hand over power to the elected representatives.
Our opposition parties, particularly the BNP, appear to be determined to dislodge the government, which was formed hardly 23 months back with a thumping majority in the parliament. It is apparent that by using the eviction of Begum Zia BNP has not been able to extract any appreciable level of sympathy from the public. Her call for hartal as a protest against her eviction does not appear to be proper because it increased the suffering of common people.
We do not like dictatorial democracy. Nor do we invite military dictatorship. What we need is pure democracy in which there will be secularism, full religious freedom and protection of human rights. There has been enough damage to democracy, economy and human rights due to 1/11. This loss has to be recouped through tolerance of both the sides, government and opposition. If this is not done democratic politics will be endangered. We should be alert to avoid this danger.
In a parliamentary democracy the government and the opposition must participate actively. This is necessary for good governance. Strictly speaking, the BNP has failed to play its part well. In fact, its failure to fulfill its responsibility has created a sense of suspicion about its respect for democracy. Return to culture of hartal is its greatest mistake. The people of the country, it appears, no longer wants hartal. Why BNP has chosen is not clear. In fact announcement of hartal appears to have weakened its position.
In a parliamentary democracy the opposition party is known as "shadow government" and the leader of the opposition as "shadow prime minister." If the opposition becomes weak then democracy becomes weak. If the opposition disassociates itself from governance then there will be increase in corruption due to the absolute power of the government, which will result in disregard of accountability by the government. As such, there cannot be good governance. The need for a strong opposition is essential for our smooth journey to democracy.

A.B.M.S. Zahur is a former Joint Secretary.