Politics of power, politics of development

The Economist in its May 14 issue on Bangladesh made a point that couldn't be lost on any serious observer of politics in the country. The journal said that a type of rotating one party system has been in existence, which now may be retained without 'rotation'.

It is obviously referring to the alternating sequences in which BNP and Awami League held power with the winner taking it all and the vanquished drawing a blank. According to the influential weekly, even that binary political culture may be in for a change.

That you cannot get two bites at the cherry in the business of politics has been proven to the hilt in the long sequel to the January 5, 2014 general election. The BNP was hoisted, as it were, with its own petard; its boycott of the election translated into a lethal mockery of a movement that alienated the party, even from its own constituency.

It was only but natural that a one party centric election would have yielded a one party government with a semblance of academic, loyalist opposition as a necessary adjunct.

The expectation from a representative mid-term polls after what could pass as a technical and constitutional necessity was contingent on two factors. The first prerequisite was that the BNP agreed to holding such an election under the non-negotiable provision that the PM would be in charge. Far from it, the BNP's vengeance against the January 5 election spearheaded by unrelenting violence placed a perfect justification on the AL's platter to 'renege' on its fleeting promise of considering a snap poll.

This sets the scene, inexorably, for a general election in 2019 but none of the major parties are even preparing for that at this halfway stage, except perhaps, the Jatiya Party with some aplomb. There is no clowning about JP's enthusiasm in the project; the party making no secret of its agenda to take advantage of the mainstream political void!

In the meanwhile, however, something of paramount importance lurks in the shadows. Election as a pillar of democracy tends to evoke today mistrust and lack of interest from the electorate – thanks to the degenerate handling of the local government polls.

At any rate, there is a serious point to be made about the opposition bashing with all its ramifications. But when the BNP had been in power, particularly in its last term, it acted heavy-handedly against the then opposition Awami League. The party's acts were tantamount to finishing off the AL as evidenced in the August 21 grenade attack. Thus, it is history repeating itself and a de ja vu enacted.

The Economist article attributed Awami League's grip on power to two factors. First, the paradox of respectable GDP growth rate despite odds in politics; secondly, the none-too- credible legacy of BNP in power or in the opposition being instrumental in the rise of terrorism. On the contrary, Awami League, in spite of its occasional malevolent signals about Islamic predilections and countering terrorism headlong remains the best bet for fighting religious terrorism through its secular ethos.

The Economist has pointed out that 'Nizami besides his war crimes was also convicted of involvement as a cabinet minister in a huge arms supply scandal in 2004' geared to hand in weapons to insurgents in India's North East.

Awami League needs to beware of the tensions within. Reports suggest controversies rage over unwieldy behaviours of ministers-MPs. 'Excesses' are allegedly rife among post-2009 and 2014 entrants to the ruling party bandwagon. The BNP-Jamaat converts in the UP elections are said to be unbridled, according to a prominent Bangla daily.

There is a palpable debate in certain circles over 'less democracy and more development'. They refer to China, Singapore and Malaysia where one party system exists to consciously speed up development skirting the elaborate consultative processes in a democracy. It is the matter of evolution for a country to accept a system or reject it.

By legacy, we are used to and comfortable with a democratic system fostered through credible elections the value of which is an article of faith with our compatriots. We believe development is perfectly deliverable in a democracy with value addition of egalitarian distribution of wealth and opportunities.

A country liberated on democratic, secular, pluralistic ethos through the sweat and blood of millions and a party heir to the dreams and values of the Liberation War cannot settle for anything less.

The writer is a contributor of The Daily Star. Email: shahhusainimam@gmail.com