& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

NEWS ANALYSIS

Hilarious-torian on the block

Tarique proves he learns nothing from history

Shakhawat Liton
The constitutional provision for the election of a prime minister in the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy is crystal clear. The leader of the majority party in parliament is elected prime minister.
BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman, who has been living for more than five years now in the UK, the birthplace of the Westminster style of parliamentary democracy, is supposed to have gained some knowledge of how a prime minister is elected in countries following this system.
His latest remarks terming Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman an illegal prime minister in newly independent Bangladesh, however, have proved that he has learnt nothing. Otherwise, he could not make such a ridiculous claim within two weeks of his ludicrous invention that it was none but his father Gen Ziaur Rahman who was the first president of Bangladesh.
His comment on Bangabandhu's premiership is tantamount to a rejection of the historic facts regarding the formation of Bangladesh's first provisional government in April 1971 that waged the Liberation War. The remark has also undermined the people's mandate and authority of the then elected representatives and distorted the constitutional history of Bangladesh.
Representatives elected to the national and provincial assemblies between December 7, 1970 and January 17, 1971 formed the Constituent Assembly and constituted the Mujibnagar government by issuing the Proclamation of Independence in April 1971.
In the proclamation of independence, they also declared Bangladesh to be a sovereign People's Republic.
The elected representatives made the supreme leader Bangabandhu the president and authorised him to exercise all the executive and legislative powers of the Republic and do other things that may be necessary to bequeath to the people of Bangladesh an orderly and just government.
In exercise of the legislative power, President Sheikh Mujib on January 11, 1972 made and promulgated the Provisional Constitution Order 1972, introducing a Westminster model of parliamentary democracy in sovereign Bangladesh and also made provisions for a cabinet of ministers with the prime minister at its head.
The day after the promulgation of the provisional constitution order, he stepped down as president to become prime minister. The same day Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was sworn in as president. The new president's first official function was to appoint and administer the oath of office to Sheikh Mujib as prime minister and eleven other members of his cabinet.
Bangabandhu was the undisputed leader of the majority party, the Awami League, which won a landslide in the national and provincial assembly elections held between December 1970 and January 1971. Thus he was the legally empowered leader to assume the office of prime minister in the then newly introduced parliamentary form of government in independent Bangladesh.
But by the new legal interpretation given by Tarique, Bangabandhu had illegally and forcibly become the prime minister.
His mother Khaleda Zia, also BNP chairperson, has become the country's prime minister thrice by virtue of being the majority party leader in parliament, including the sixth parliament formed through the February 15, 1996 controversial election. He does not see anything wrong with this. He even did not see anything ridiculous in claiming that Ziaur Rahman was the first president of Bangladesh.
His invention of illegality in Bangabandhu's becoming the prime minister in independent Bangladesh is nothing but another planned attempt to trigger controversy.
Some BNP leaders may come up with explanations to defend Tarique's latest findings, as the leaders including Khaleda Zia did so earlier when he claimed that his father was the first president of Bangladesh.