SHEIKH Hasina has defined democracy and constitutional rule in this country in a way that nobody has done before. When ministers of the AL-led government handed over their resignation letters to the PM, most constitutional experts said that they had ceased to hold office the day they handed over their resignation letters to the PM. But Sheikh Hasina ruled that the ministers had merely expressed their desire to resign. They would be deemed to have resigned only when she accepted their resignation and put up their resignation letters to the president. That was that. The media and the people never knew when these ministers ceased to hold their office and stopped drawing their salaries and other state benefits.
Sheikh Hasina offered an all-party poll time government but ultimately settled for the ruling 4-party alliance outfit only when BNP and all other parties refused to take part in the election. She jettisoned JP from the ruling alliance government so that it could play the opposition role in the 10th Parliament. But when Ershad finally decided against JP taking part in the election, he was whisked away to a hospital in Dhaka and detained by state intelligence agencies.
His wife Raushan Ershad suddenly emerged as the de facto chief of JP. Political expediency triumphed over democratic norms and values. The drama of JP Ministers resigning from the poll time government, the PM's refusal to accept their resignation letters and the dispatching of those to the PM through courier service finally ended in victory for the government. JP took part in the January 5 election under the leadership of Raushan Ershad. The EC also disregarded the letter by Ershad against allotment of plough, the election symbol of JP, to any person not nominated by him.
The election, in which AL and its coalition partners won 153 seats uncontested through a bizarre preelection seat sharing deal among themselves and almost a clean sweep of remaining 147 seats, took a lot of flak at home and abroad. The voters in 153 constituencies (roughly about 55 million) did not have a chance to vote. BNP- led 18 opposition parties, members of civil society and people from all walks rejected this farcical election and urged the government to hold fresh election at the earliest. The ELI and the USA in particular have been sharply critical.
Though the 9th Parliament was active till January 24, the newly elected MPs hastily took oath and a 49-member cabinet was sworn in with all the pomp and regalia.
The country had two parliaments at the same time - the 9th and the 10th - and some 638 MPs, of whom 349 MPs belonged to the 9th Parliament and 290 MPs to the 10th. Suranjit Sen Gupta, known as a constitutional expert, said that with the new MPs having taken oath, the 9th )S had ceased to exist. But most constitutional experts have maintained that the 9th Parliament would be there until it completed its 5-year term on January 24, unless dissolved earlier by the president.
The new cabinet is now a 5-party alliance with JP playing the dual role of being in the opposition as well as in the government at the same time. Raushan Ershad will sit in the opposition bench in the new JS in her dubious role as the leader of the opposition, along with 28 MPs of JP, while three MPs of her party will sit in the treasury bench. Ershad, will be special envoy of the prime minister with rank and status of a minister. Tarikat Federation (1 MP) has reportedly joined the government alliance, which has left only BNF (1 MP) and a few independent MPs in the opposition bench. But eventually, many of them may also join the government and the government party, making the opposition totally irrelevant.
It appears that we now have set a new benchmark for parliamentary democracy, rule of law and constitutional rule in this country. Sheikh Hasina has been brimming with confidence that she could weather any political storm coming her way and stay in power for another term of five years. After all she has a dream to fulfill - the dream of making Bangladesh a middle income country by 2023 and a fully developed country by 2043. But the democracy loving people may lose their patience and take to the streets any time soon to put democracy and constitutional rule back on the rails. The international community, the US and EU in particular, who have stakes in Bangladesh are not well disposed to the way the AL government under Sheikh Hasina has made a mockery of democracy and constitutional rule in this country.
The writer Is a retired Brigadier-General and a columnist.