Six months on, the state of the opposition

SIX months into the inauguration of the Awami League-led grand alliance government and our evaluation of its performance, we believe that we should take stock of how the parliamentary opposition has performed so far. We are constrained to say, as we have said on earlier occasions, that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has failed to demonstrate the sagacity the nation expected from it after its debacle at the December 2008 elections. Its defeat notwithstanding, it was able to win the support of no fewer than 38 per cent of the electorate. That should have been good enough cause for it to make its presence felt in the Jatiyo Sangsad, through speaking for its constituents. Unfortunately, the opposition has shown a degree of irresponsibility that can only raise questions about its ability to play in the near future a positive role in parliament.
The BNP has seen time whittling away through its stubborn insistence on getting front row seats in the House according to its wishes. It has ignored the fact that the speaker has so far allocated it more seats on the front benches than its present strength in the JS entitles it to. And with that position of the party has come its demand that the government drop all moves to have the leader of the opposition vacate her cantonment residence. In other words, an adamant stance on the seats issue has now combined with another that has no bearing on the working of parliament to make the BNP stay away from the legislative body. The fact that the opposition has consciously been looking away from the purely moral imperative of speaking for its constituents by raising extraneous issues has left the nation stupefied. For a party that has been in government more than once, such behaviour is mind-boggling and therefore untenable. The sanctity that underlines the whole idea of getting elected to parliament has thus been swiftly undermined by a decision to boycott that very parliament.
The simple fact today is that if the Awami League has left quite a few things to be desired, the BNP has left everything to be desired by its inability to rise to the occasion as a responsible opposition able to put the treasury bench on the defensive over the issues. Its boycott of such significant occasions as the budget session has given rise to the question of whether it is at all responsive to the needs of those who sent its representatives to the JS. It must not forget that the people, as the ultimate arbiters of political destiny, are not loth to judge politicians and parties harshly when the need arises.
All said and done, it is now time for the opposition to look inward, reinvent itself as it were and return to parliament to play the role the nation expects it to. Petulance in politics is unacceptable.