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BITTER TRUTH

Political instability will wreak havoc

Md. Asadullah Khan
WITH 5 persons killed in police firing on the demonstrating BNP-led alliance marchers in Chandpur, Laxmipur and Rajshahi and almost 400 persons, including law enforcers, injured in clashes in different districts on Jan 29 and Jan 30, the political fever in the country has heated up again. It seems that ominous crises are going to plunge the country into chaos and uncertainty.
Apprehension, despondency and despair hang over the country as the people ponder over the difficulties and hardship in the days to come because of the crippled state of business and transportation and the non-functioning industrial sector.
Contrary to peoples' expectation, the parliamentary election in 2008 has hardly healed the festering malaise and politics of aggrandisement. BNP and its allies are once again braced for another bruising power struggle. It is now evident that the polls result has further widened confidence gap between the government and the opposition.
The elation when Al-led alliance came to power has already given way to somberness. If the conflicting issues are not resolved quickly, democracy may be at risk in a country where politics often appears to be too tempting for many. The call by BNP and its allies, asking the ruling AL-mohajote to step down, will continue to draw disenchanted groups passing their days in extreme hardship and misery.
Before this protest degenerates into a vicious game of further damage of property and killing, good sense must prevail. The people's protest and resentment over fuel price hike and stock market scam has put another dent on the already battered reputation of the administration.
Because it is ignoring the people's feelings, this administration stands out as the country's most unyielding democratic regime. In a democratic environment, political leaders running the state must have the backbone to convey brutal facts like inflation, deficit etc. unflinchingly to the nation. They must not refuse to admit that policy reforms and most of the pledges made to the people are gathering dust because of governance failure. For instance, the previous communications minister should have diagnosed the ills plaguing the road sector. As the chief executive, he should have set the house in order by articulating some policy reforms before he embarked on grandiose plans. Policy reform must seek to eliminate the scope for rent collection and extortion by all agencies, including BCL cadres and implementing officials.
During the last three years, the people in the driving seat have squandered a unique opportunity of salvaging the politics and economy of the country. The people were ready, even eager, to hear some of the hard truths that intimate a yearning for change. But for such a change to take roots, leadership with boldness and persistence is needed. And the best way a populist government can do it is to treat people’s mandate as a tool for governing rather than as an asset to be hoarded.
The two major parties have been feuding for more than two years. How much they have gained, people do not know. But the people know for certain that the country has lost a lot and will lose a lot more unless there is reconciliation. With all hopes and trust that the country has invested in the present ruling Al party, it can scarcely afford to prove unequal to the task
Those in the administration must know better that the country is heading towards an inexorable decline. It may deal a further blow to the multi-party democracy, extinguishing the halo and glimmer of hope. The ruling party should not just consider it an opportunity but an awesome obligation to make people believe that they are masters of their destiny and none has snatched their right to participate in national reconstruction programmes with zeal and fervour. We now needs leaders armed more with will than anything else to stimulate the economy that is sinking before delivering such heady promises like poverty elimination, education for all and job creation.
With the national election still two years away, there is hardly any point for the BNP-led alliance to wage a war on the CTG issue now. BNP is implicitly making an effort to stall the war crimes trial to gain the support of the Jamaat e Islami. Sensible citizens can't comprehend how some BNP stalwarts who took part in the liberation war can now ask for stalling the war crimes trial on the pretext of transparency.
Both the ruling party and the opposition must realise that the country is passing through crises of ominous proportions. With prices of essentials rising almost every day and incomes remaining the same, investment climate shrinking, import exceeding export, foreign remittance falling, forex reserve plummeting, bank borrowing increasing and taka value against dollar eroding sharply, not only the poor but also the middle and lower middle class people are in dire straits. The sudden power price hike and rise in the price of petroleum products has pushed them to the brink. Added to this is the continued fall in the share prices for the last 14 months, which has pushed not only 33 lakh small investors but also more than 10 million people dependent on them to the edge.
The force of events, mostly disastrous, taking shape at a break-neck speed has led the government to make up policy by the hour, day and week Obtuse as each side has been in the lingering dispute, both sides are aware that the continuation of the conflict would be tantamount to total economic destruction.
With programmes of road marches, protest rallies, demonstrations and even hartals enforced once again, the people are holding their breath and may have to bear the brunt again. So they are always pleading for a "dialogue" to restart among the leaders, either in the parliament or outside, in the midst of an increasingly serious economic slowdown. Let not the innocent and vulnerable players become victims in a clash of the Titans. Unless the people can live in peace with two square meals a day, how will the politicians govern?
At the moment, the ruling party and the opposition are caught in a crisis of unusual dimension with the possibility of either revitalising them or hastening their doom. To regenerate the nation's confidence, the administration has to act most cautiously, and the actions must be backed by rational considerations, welfare of the masses, and a look to the future. With 60% of the population living below the poverty line and almost 20 million totally jobless, people are prompted to say what the chaos in the aftermath of the liberation war could not destroy, democracy did.
The stakes are too high to leave the contentious issues unresolved. No one in the country would be immune to the pain in the event of an all-out conflict. Worse, aggravated by self-aggrandisement and personal interest, and hardening extremist lines, party feuding could wreak havoc far beyond party interests. And with recession gripping the donor countries, generosity comes hard, especially when donors fear that the country's political and economic chaos would swallow limitless funds. With consequences so dire, the burden that the present ruling party must carry is too heavy for it. If it should falter again, the consequences will only reverberate.
The writer is the Columnist of The Dally Star. E-mail: aukhandk@gmail.com