Bangladesh's New Beginning

By Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee         03 January, 2008     Muslim India
Countercurrents.org

The present electoral victory of Sheikh Hasina Wajed, ushering in another period of democracy in Bangladesh after a gap of seven years brings back hopes and aspirations for the young nation.

Bangladesh in the last thirty seven years after establishing itself as an independent nation has already experienced multiple political assassinations, military takeovers and political instability that has been characterised by constant change of leaderships in the national political arena. Sheikh Hasina’s coming back to power, though brings back democracy to the nation after a long interlude, but fails to bring confidence about the nature of stability that the present Awami League government will establish along with a fourteen party Mohajot or Grand Alliance where the principal coalition partners are the Jatiya Party under General Ershad, Workers Party under Rashed Khan Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal under Hasanul Haq Inu along with other minor parties. The number of voters opting for not casting their votes to any specific political party while exercising their political rights, an option of casting ‘NO vote’, which was introduced for the first time by the Bangladesh election commission, shows the political apathy of a significant portion of the masses towards both the Awami League as well as the BNP and their respective leaderships and coalition partners.

The Indian government from the very beginning has been overtly optimistic about Hasina’s comeback to power after 2001, because her period of governance has seen lessening of tensions between the two South Asian neighbours, especially in 1996, when under her Prime Ministership the controversial water-sharing treaty was ratified between the two nations. She is also considered to be a secular leader in comparison to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, due to the latter’s closeness with the Islamic radical political parties. The Indian media has considered the present victory of Sheikh Hasina as a ‘major landmark in democratic politics in South Asia’. The Indian foreign ministry has also positively commented on the percentage of voter’s turnout in the ninth parliamentary elections, where the Bangladesh election commission has recorded a turnout of more than eighty five percent voters, which has been the highest in Bangladesh’s electoral history and has been more than ten percent than the nation’s previous election records. Some are even considering these elections at par with that of the elections in 1973 which was swept by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League. Over 500 foreign observers and around 2 lakh local monitors watched the election process considering these elections to be more or less free of malpractises that usually remains synonymous with the Bangladeshi political scenario till date, though the BNP has complained about gross irregularities in the different polling centres of several constituencies across the country.

The corruption charges that was grafted against Sheikh Hasina by the incumbent caretaker government, her shocking election results in 2001 where her party was only able to win 62 seats out of the 300 seats of the National Assembly of the unicameral legislature after remaining in power from 1996 and the rise of the pro-Islamist extremist factions during her regime, are scars that still remain gory in Awami League’s political history. Still, the dreams of Awami League was woven out of the sacrifices of Sheikh Mujibur’s assassination and the manner in which Sheikh Hasina survived the entire attempt of wiping out the entire family lineage by the then successful attempt of Bangladeshi military coup d’état. The masses easily identifies and sympathises with Hasina on this perspective and along with the other options that was available chose the Awami League under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, who won 258 out of the 300 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad. The BNP and the four pary alliance in comparison was able to secure only 31 seats of the parliament.

Most political analysts of Bangladesh regard both sides to be equally corrupt, but Hasina’s vibrant comeback and the defeat of BNP can be due to the misrule of Zia during 1991 till 1996 and from 2001 till 2006. The past political history has seen the changing role of the opposition, where after any such political defeats they have taken the step of blocking normal day to day activities, work stoppages and violent demonstrations forcing governments to take up extreme suppressive measures vitiating the democratic environment of the state.

The present outcome of the elections brings significant responsibilities on the shoulders of the Mohajot, who has been given the time of ten days for forming the government. Bringing immediate political, economic and social stability in the lives of the commoners remains primary for the government, curbing religious extremists and communalisation of the society, taking stock of the energy crisis that the nation faces and taking positive steps without sacrificing their own national interest, curbing corruption, the rate of unemployment and improving the standard of health and education in the rural areas and many more actions that has to be decided on by the forthcoming government. The manner in which Awami League and its coalition partners have been voted to power, it is easy to deduce the amount of expectations that the voters will be having on the government, which could easily turn violent if such changes are not brought forth by the government expeditiously, either bringing in more political instability or can even find the non-elected governmental elements playing a decisive role in forging Bangldesh’s political future.
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Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee is a Lecturer in Department of Political Science, Siliguri College, Darjeeling, West Bengal