THE late lamented statesman and Tanzania's founding President Julius K Nyerere In one of his celebrated political memorabilia referred to what he called dolly democracy' meaning that democracy is not a child's talk or blabbering, neither is It a doll-like plaything. Democracy Is something much more serious, much more concrete and tangible In nature. Talking about what in essence constitutes democratic leadership Nyerere said. "Leadership .... Is very much about lyaler, food. Jobs, shelter, education and community. It Is about organising (I h e) communities and rallying the people to the kind of action which will increase the supply of these goods and services for the people-all of the people. The people are no fools." Die great Tanzanian leader said that to be meaningful democracy must concentrate on vital and urgent economic Issues alongside grappling with the political ones. Otherwise, democracy becomes hollow signifying nothing and consequently, the people . In their turn, become disenchanted with it.

During the course of Its thirty years of Independent existence Bangladesh missed two great opport unit les of emerging as a viable democratic stale.Die first one was Immediately after Bangladesh came into being when people's rising expectat Ions could have been best utilised for building the country's economic moorings on a sound footing. Instead, the leadership failed to gauge the realities existing at that time and deviated from the course mapped out by the spirit of the War of

Liberation. Die result was the Inevitable slipping away of the country Into the abyss of retrogression. Die second opportunity came after the ouster of autocracy through protracted mass struggle. Once again the people thought that this time Bangladesh would be able to make it and stand firm on the road to real people's democracy, progress and prosperity. But unfortunately that was not to be . When after ten years they take a stock of what the country has really achieved the people get frustrated. To their utter dismay they find that only the brand has changed, but the bottle and Its content remained die same .Die wood has once • again been missed for (he trees because of the myopic vision of the leadership, which successively came to power. Die country is, as if, in a blind alley and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Die leadership on both side of the divide. Instead of behaving in a responsible and rational way and working in close concert for the welfare of the masses demonstrating their real concern for them as in a democracy, arc now engaged in mud-slinging and character assassination, unending bickerings and feuds. If the ruling party has failed, so has also the opposition. They are exactly resembling the two sides of the same coin. Leaving aside the core issues confronting the nation, both sides appear to be

busy with non-Issues; Instead of looking to the future, they fee) complacent In digging Die past. To them the country is. as if. a commodity. Otherwise, how could they accuse each other of what they term as hatching the conspiracy of selling the country. Dils shows that both die ruling party and the opposition are pursuing moribund politics and have gone bankrupt and Isolated

tries and their parliamentary standing committees . quarrels between SSF and civil administration on the Issue of Prime Minister's security find protocol duties, unprecedented debate In the press over the extension of the term of the incumbent Chief of Staff of the army and other related defence matters, dissatisfaction among different cadres so on and so forth, such as award of

from the people. Inner-party rifts , fissures and contradictions are now galore in both the camps. Consequently, they have become crlses-ridden with its glaring fallout on the body-politics of the country.

Crisis in the government is. in fact, everywhere. Die Executive branch is having rift with the higher Judiciary. Hie judiciary is in conflict with the legislature , the Election Commission has become further controversial with the making of public the feud between the Chief Election Commissioner and the three Election Commissioners, lack of co-ordination between the mlnls-

the contract of school text books to a loan defaulter having no expertise and experience in the field and his utter failure in the timely delivery bedevilling the future of millions of pupils in the country. The government Is also in conflict with various donor agencies like the World Bank and the IMF. The World Bank has reportedly declined to consider Bangladesh's requirement of next fiscal year's assistance before the coming parliamentary elections and the IMF has flatly rejected Die request for loans on easy terms for ball out from the continuing abnormally low forex reserve. The amount of Direct Foreign invest-

ment(DFI) has nose-dived despite the much trumpeted economic diplomacy . This was mainly due to unending bureaucratic tentacles and the accompanying hassles as well as for the high cost of Investment due to rampant and unbriddled corruption. Die situation has been further aggravated by the extreme deterioration In law and order situation due to low morale and Inertia among the lawenforcers mainly as a result of highhandedness and dictate of the ruling party leaders and activists, and opposition's long boycott of parliament turning It Into a largely one-party affair. The people, by and large, have therefore every reason to be disillusioned.

This was also so when the present opposition BNP was In power. During the present Awami League regime this has simply burgeoned, spread branches and has taken deeper roots. This Is bound to happen when the political parties try to bypass people's Interest and hoodwink them raising the hullabaloo of nonissues and the outdated bogey of sell-out of the country which are symptomatic of dolly democracy. The great poet and sage of the ELast Rabindra Nath Tagore said It is indeed a sin to loose lai th In the people, and this sin the major political parties have committed. Julius Nyerere has rightly said people arc no fools'. Diey are well

aware of the real motive of the party in power and the contender of power. Die motive is to cling to power or to crawl to power by hook or by crook. Nothing else matters to them more. Let the law and order situation further deteriorate. let there be romping of goons, killers, muggers, rapists and extortionists, let the unholy alliance of politicos and bureaucrats continue to rob the people and let the process of pauperisation of Bangladesh coincide with the process of globalisation. All these ills and their possible solutions do not figure with any degree of prominence in the agenda of the major political parties. The law of nature, however, says nothing should be taken for granted. Change or constant metamorphosis is the law nature . If the major political parties think that such a sorry pass through which Bangladesh is now passing will continue in perpetuity then they will be grossly mistaken.

Clianges were there in the past and changes will be there in future too. But the upheavals of the changes may not be to the liking of the major political parties .This Is bound to happen in dolly democracies where people are not trusted and taken into confidence. Hemingway has aptly said man( people) can never be defeated, and Chairman Mao Zedong has experimented that people try and fall. they again try and again fall till they finally succeed. The people of Bangladesh will also be eventually victorious. They will replace dolly democracy with real peoples democracy where the people are trusted and where their interest will remain uppermost

***This was also so when the present opposition BNP was in power. During the present Awami League regime this has simply burgeoned, spread branches and has taken deeper roots. This is bound to happen when the political parties try to bypass people's interest and hoodwink them raising the hullabaloo of non-issues and the outdated bogey of sell-out of the country which are symptomatic of dolly democracy.***