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After Ershad's visit to India
DURING his visit to Dhaka last September, Prime Minister Dr. Singh invited both former PM Begum Khaleda Zia, opposition leader in the parliament, and former president H.M. Ershad, currently the chairman of the country's third largest political party — Jatiya Party — in the Parliament.
On AugustlO, Ershad visited India for almost a week while Begum Khaleda Zia reportedly is likely to visit next month.
On his return, Ershad spoke to the media. It is reported that during his discussion with India's prime minister, he was assured by Dr. Singh that Teesta river sharing agreement would be concluded soon. On Tipaimukh dam, he said India would not do anything to harm Bangladesh's interests. India wants Bangladesh to be an economically prosperous and politically stable democratic nation.
The very fact that he met, among others, with President Pranab Mukherjee and the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, demonstrates that Indian leaders consider Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh for almost nine years, an important player in the next parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.
The official spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said: "General Ershad's visit is part of our ongoing engagement with a democratic and multi-party polity in Bangladesh." This is a signal that Indian government does not deal with Awami League only.
The ruling AL-led grand coalition and the opposition BNP party are at loggerheads on the type of the government under which parliamentary elections due in 2014 will be held. BNP wants restoration of a non-party caretaker government while the ruling party opposes it. On the issue of non-party government, the Jatiya Party of Ershad supports the position of the ruling AL.
At the recent BBC interview Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke of constituting a "small interim government" with representatives of the opposition, which would govern during the parliamentary elections. But the BNP rejected it.
Some media in India cited some reasons for the timing of Ershad's visit to New Delhi. India's weekly tabloid Blitz writes (August 21) that sensing the difference between the
two major parties about forming the next government in Bangladesh policymakers in India have started looking for an alternative. They invited Ershad to New Delhi and held a series of talks with him to find a way of at least ensuring a government friendly to India after the next general election in Bangladesh.
The weekly states that some others feel that Ershad was invited to India for his views on the next general election if the coalition led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party refrained from joining the electoral run as the next election may not be held under a non-party government. India gave two options to Ershad, which include either forming the government if he can bag required seats or helping Bangladesh Awami League in forming the government.
Observers say that Ershad appears to have several plus factors in the country. First, his party's active participation in all parliamentary elections shows its commitment to democratic norms. That Ershad is personally popular with people is illustrated by the fact that he has been elected many times, not only from one constituency but also from multiple constituencies
Second, he gets support from a large segment of Islamists because it was he who introduced Friday as a weekly holiday and made Islam the state religion, although providing equal right to people of other faiths to practice their religions.
Third, as a former general and chief of army staff, the armed forces are not against him, and it is a long tradition in the armed forces to respect their senior retired officers.
Fourth, his administration was not politicised, as administrations have been since 1991.
Furthermore, during his rule, he had a working rela-
tionship with India and maintained excellent relations with the US, China and Arab states. It was during his time that Bangladesh became the President of the UN General Assembly in 1986 and it was he who first — in 1988 — sent Bangladeshi troops to the UN Peacekeeping Mission, currently an important component of foreign policy.
However, political analysts believe that because he carries the past baggage, many people are not comfortable about seeing him in power again. Furthermore, there is a public view that he does not stick to his opinion for long and changes it too quickly.
Last June, during the budget session, Ershad requested all lawmakers in the Parliament not to call him a dictator any more. "I get hurt when you call me a dictator. I am not a dictator any more. I am an elected lawmaker like you," Ershad claimed in the Parliament.
The statement was supported by former secretary general of Awami League and currently advisory council member of the party, Abdul Jalil, who said that the movement was against autocratic regime. "We agreed to his plea and from on we will not call him autocrat. He is now our co-passenger," the AL veteran opined.
Many people have argued that although presidential form of government was changed to parliamentary system in 1991, it has become "Prime Ministerial" government, and no more is the prime minister "first among equals" in the cabinet. This is because people identify the party with its chairperson, who campaigns vigorously during the election period and is the "vote-getter" for the party candidates.
In fact, in many countries, parliamentary democracies are gradually turning into presidential type of government, and two recent reports by influential bodies in UK have advanced the theory that the British premiership has recently become more dominant, even developing into a presidency.
British MP Tony Benn, in a lecture given in 1979, said: "The wide range of powers at present exercised by a British prime minister... are now so great as to encroach upon the legitimate rights of the electorate, undermine the essential role of Parliament, usurp some of the functions of collective cabinet decision-making, and neutralise much of the influence deriving from the internal democracy of the party."
The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.