***It is now very clear to the people as regard to the group that will dictate the agenda of the government if the BNP alliance is voted to power. Recent two-day of hartal calls, defying the instruction of the BNP chief, shows the power of the partners within the alliance.***

IN every society politicians are not the most trusted people around. In a survey, conducted a few years ago, people were asked to name ten most trusted personalities in the United States. Amazingly, none of these ten contained the name of a politician. The result only reflects the degree of apprehension the citizens hold about the very people they elect to lead their nation and collective destiny. The utterances of the first line politicians in Bangladesh, especially, in the past few weeks did not prove themselves otherwise.

No sooner there was a tragic bomb explosion in the CPB meeting at Paltan Miadan, than the leader of the opposition squarely accused the ruling party for carrying out the blast. Did she ever think for a moment that an ordinary man might enquire as to why the ruling party will ever contemplate carrying out such a brutal act against their ideological ally? As if that was not enough of a selfinfliction, her public revelation in Rangpur that "AL has killed the policeman and kept inside the mosque", has surpassed every other distortions and would make it impossible for an ordinary man to believe in what even when she makes a truthful exposition in future.

The ruling party stalwarts were not in a mood to give the BNP chief any walkover in preaching the unbelievable. The Home and the Local Government ministers' effort to twist the story of shootings from one of their MP's procession only made them look preposterous to the people who already knew the truth through the objective reporting of the free media. The politicians of both the side of the aisle are, in fact, in a roller coaster ride. They are not in a position to explore if they are in the summit or in the slump. They are doing something when they should do nothing; and are not doing anything when they have a lot of things to do. The AL has a bigger share of responsibility, not only because it is the present ruling party, but also for the fact that it is presumed to stand for some highly acclaimed virtues without which a modern state cannot flourish.

AL is very fortunate for the obvious reality that each of our citizens who still associates himself/herself with the values of our great war of liberation is an AL sympathizer. In fact, it is easy to be branded as an AL sympathizer; one who believes in or utters the undistorted history of our liberation war becomes by default an AL patron. On the other hand, one has to be over creative to invent or digest the story that Sheikh Mujib had no part in the war of liberation and it was an unknown Major's sudden call from a radio station that sparked the mind of the

masses and impelled them to join the war of liberation. That is not an easy task for any mind of conscience to do and as such, it is quite difficult to be branded as a BNP empathizer. Liberation war is such a concept (like democracy), it apparently sounds irrational (since it was culminated with success) to speak against it. Many also make positive reference to it, notwithstanding that they might have, through their deeds, acted against it and still contradict vehemently with the principles that formed the pinnacles of the whole struggle.

Awami League, through many of its deeds in its whole tenure of rules, failed to live up to the expectation of the nation. The AL chief is no more a novice in the shoes of the Prime Minister. Analyses of a few incidents in the recent past would undoubtedly point to the fact that the nation expected a more prudent action from their PM. Following the split verdicts of the 'Bangabandhu Murder Trial', a group of her party activists took to the streets and ruthlessly

damaged cars and properties of the innocent citizens. What parts did those constituents have in the tragic incident or in the trial, for that matter, that they had to suffer in the hands of her supporters? Apparently no legal action was taken against the perpetrators. Aside from the legal aspect, party chief would have been well advised to redress her moral responsibility by offering a public apology to the victims for the misdeeds of the zealot supporters.

One of government ministers has a regular schedule to bring out anti-hartal procession in the city no matter what the issue is or who calls the hartal. Every minister has his constitutional obligations, for which he is accountable to the nation through his oath. Leading an antihartal procession, for instance, does not fall within the bounds of the ministerial responsibilities. From a recent such anti-hartal procession, the minister's cadre attacked the peaceful procession of the CPB, the party which was the AL's ally, especially during its rainy days. The minister was neither disciplined nor censured by the party high command. As if that was not enough, the said minister's son was recently implicated in a highly publicized case of homicide. In fact, this was not the first time that the minister's offspring became the subject of news headline. The PM had the avenue to set a precedence of good

governance if she would ask her state minister to resign or take leave of absence from the cabinet until the investigation is over. This was one of the few instances where the main opposition party has rightfully asked for the resignation of the minister.

It seems that the PM is more interested to be surrounded by the sycophants rather than the constructive critics who want to bring her to do the right when she is doing the wrong. Her reply to a questioner about the rumour of the Honourable President's resignation was not discreet by any account. In his interview with the TIME magazine editor (in New York, 1974), Bangabandhu was asked about his reaction to Dr. Henry Kissinger's contention that "Bangladesh is an international basket case". Bangabandhu smartly replied, "I am not aware of any such predication made by Dr. Kissinger". The PM could have given the similar answer to her questioner. The Daily Star wrote a timely editorial advising her not to undo one of her great deeds.

The PM took offense (instead of complementing the editor) in the advice and ridiculed the piece in the floor of the parliament.

One does not have to be a great political analyst to ascertain the damage the 'Iqbal episode' has inflicted on the image of the ruling party. The PM had and still has a lot of avenue to salvage the situation. No one of sense ever believed that the PM had any hand or knowledge of the incident. But her government has so far failed to bring the culprits to book. People will always question the sincerity of the government, not its ability to roundup the criminals, especially when their photographs were published in various newspapers.

People of good sense had a lot of apprehension about the intention of the ruling party in promulgating the so-called Public Safety Act (PSA). Instead of proving its detractors wrong, the ruling party and the law enforcing authorities have used it mainly to harass the opposition activists as initially apprehended by them. It has been abused in ways, as if there were no other laws to tackle the criminal activists before the introduction of the PSA. In many cases its abuse has been boomeranged on the image of the government at a very huge expense of its popularity. For instance, when the ruling party scored a big point due to the unruly behaviour of the

opposition lawyers at the nation's highest court, the whole advantage has been neutralized due to the initiation of a legal suit against the lawyers concerned under the PSA.

While it is not difficult to identify the misdeeds of the ruling party, it is expediently a hard task to single out any of the activities of the main opposition during their entire tenure that could give them any degree of ovation vis-a-vis the failures of the ruling party. The BNP MPs' absence from the parliament for an untenable reason of 'unfavourable environment' does not bode well with the people. They are holding on to their seats and the benefits from the national exchequer without doing the work that they are constitutionally obligated to carry out inside the parliament. Under their oath and the election mandate, they are supposed to represent the interest of their constituents inside the august body, which they are obviously evading. Any semblance of respect for democracy should have prodded them to resign from the parliament

(as their 'undemocratic' adversaries did in the fifth parliament) to make room for others who could have worked in the present 'environment' of the house. If they go for election again, would it be too much to demand a solemn declaration from them to their constituents that if the incumbent ruling party returns back to power, the opposition MPs will resign from their seats to make room for those who can work in the presently existing 'environment' of the parliament?

The BNP chief's recent pronouncement declaring Justice Shahbuddin Ahmed as the president of 120 million people, not only of the AL, has tacitly acknowledged one of the laudable feats of the AL government, especially, while her party, during its tenure, imposed a controversial person in the helm of the state. However, her assertion lacked its credibility when she failed to pay heed to his advice to go back to the parliament or even flunked in the decorum of listening to his address in the house.

It is unfortunate for the people that those who still esteem the virtues that formed the cornerstones of our liberation struggle, has no alternative but to wish good luck for the AL, in spite of its numerous misdeeds. The parties, which participated along with the AL in the battle of our existence, were far more progressive in their thoughts than

the AL. It is, indeed, hapless that all of them led to a natural extinction after the independence. The BNP, which evolved as a moderate alternative force while in power, has lamentably shattered that hope while in opposition. Since the party was formed from the echelon of power, it lacks the nerve to digest its presence out of power. It is dismal to observe that the party that ruled the country for the maximum period of time, once through a highly acclaimed election, had formed an alliance with fanatics, religious zealots and autocrats shouldering the rubbles of their crimes and misdeeds. These forces, given the opportunity, will roll back the wheels of progress and will, once and for all, extinguish our dream of making a modern and prosperous state.

In the last few weeks, the BNP has totally alienated itself from the line of moderation to the force of fanaticism. It has openly and directly sided with those who want to make Bangladesh a theocratic state. Moreover, the BNP chief's whole

agenda is influenced by her personal vendetta against the AL. This acrimony has propelled her to become desperate and prevented her from making any objective decisions.

Over the last four and a half years, the BNP has done whatever it takes to bring down the government, ignoring even the bitter experience from their adversaries that an elected government cannot be brought down by hartal and street demonstrations. After a period of lull, they have once again resorted to indiscriminate hartal to enhance the suffering of the very people whose support the party is in dire need of to win the next general election. The tenure of the present government is almost at its fag end. Moreover, the PM has publicly pledged more than once that she would pronounce the date of the election if the leader of the opposition goes back to the parliament and demands it from the floor of the house. If the leader of the opposition wants to reassert her faith in democracy and if she truly wants a peaceful transfer of power, she should grab the opportunity and challenge the PM to be true to her promise. Any other futile effort will take the BNP chief to the dale when she has the opportunity to ride on the crest in this round.

The BNP chief's refusal to accept the challenge of the PM will seri-

ously jeopardize her continued affirmation in the universal exercise of democracy. Since the beginning of the last year, the BNP chief was constantly proclaiming her determined conviction of capturing the 269 seats of the parliament, to be exact. If her prediction had any analytical basis, then she has nothing to fear about winning the next election, especially, when the election will be held under a caretaker administration. She does not have to resort to hartal to demand for something that is constitutionally mandated within a few months. However, her actions do not substantiate her apparent convictions. It is true that AL rules have a lot of shortcomings. However, the BNP chief has not visibly done anything that could bring the disgruntled masses to her fold. There is a gulf of difference between her accusations and the real truth. If the economic indicators have to be believed, the economy of the country has not done as badly as her party is preaching every day. The nation, for the first time, has achieved selfsufficiency in food and the image of the country in the international arena was never brighter. At last, Bangladesh is able to project herself as a modern developing democracy. Bangladesh is no less a sovereign state than of April, 1996, when her party relinquished power. In fact, it was the BNP chief, who constantly tries to portray herself as the only apostle of our sovereignty, kept mum in the face of a very derogatory remark made by an erratic Pakistani diplomat about our liberation war.

It is now very clear to the people as regard to the group that will dictate the agenda of the government if the BNP alliance is voted to power. Recent two-day of hartal calls, defying the instruction of the BNP chief, shows the power of the partners within the alliance. It is long known that the fascist and fanatic forces, which once committed genocide in collaboration with the occupation forces, in the name of our religion, have no trust on democracy. They are bent on keeping their guns on BNP's shoulder and control the triggers. The people of the country, in exercising their franchise, will be unlikely to put the future of the country in the direction of darkness and uncertainty. All these phenomena do not point to any positive indicators for the prospect of BNP in the next poll. If the BNP's redundant 'oust the government movement' is hypothesized by its adversary as a detour to bypassing the democratic mean to change the helm of the state, can the hypothesis be rejected outright?

Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is a Professor, School of Science and Technology and Manger, Sheridan Quality Institute, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.