As one who has been a keen observer of unfolding events in the political and social scenario in the country since our independence, it is my considered opinion that one of the other major weaknesses of the ruling class happens to be the unbridled and often undue highhandedness in dealing with its opponents. I have been a witness to many of the political persecutions in the Awami Baksal days. It appears that many of the actions of the ruling class today resemble that era.

BNP has totally messed up its policies and interventions with the media. Frankly, it appears as though the people in charge of the media, have no clue whatsoever. Surely you cannot "beat and harass" them to induce them to say things in your favour. Besides, the ruling class must realise that one of the cardinal principles of the media is to be more critical of the government's workings, rather than merely project its view-point.

The emergence of Bangladesh was no accident. It may have been shrouded by many currents and crosscurrents of events, but the fact remains that one of the key reasons for our independence lay in not using religion as its foundation or base for its statehood. It is one thing to have faith in your religion, it is quite another to use and abuse it as an element in statecraft. History has it that rulers who have allowed persecutions on the grounds of religion have simply landed themselves into an irreversible state of affairs. Look at what has happened to Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is now cracking under the burden of religious extremists, while the elections in India and the subsequent downfall of the Vajpayee regime stand as proof of the victory of secularism over religious extremism. The continuous desecration of the places of worship of the Ahmadiyyas by religious zealots therefore should serve as "red alert" for the ruling BNP.

The only thing the ruling class seems to specialise in, today, is to hide and even defend its failures of unprecedented magnitude, particularly while dealing with the lives of the lesser known. Hundreds have perished in the rivers due to passenger launch capsize since the BNP took the reigns of the government, and all it has done is to issue condolence messages and send rescue teams and then abandon the search for dead bodies after a while. The ruling class also seems to specialise in finding reasons and scapegoats for all its failures. On the other hand, all sorts of fanfares on one pretext or the other continue unabated. The way many of the government's lawmakers move about in their business looks like they are on top of the world and everything is under complete control. Complacence and sheer arrogance are a perfect recipe for downfall.

There is a famous saying, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." The way the venerable Law Minister time and again explains to the media about the "progress so far made" in connection with the setting up of the Human Rights Commission or the BAC or the appointment of the Ombudsman it looks like he is bent upon to do exactly that -- fooling all of the people all of the time.

Never before in the history of this country perhaps has there been so much political string pulling and power play in the PMO's office like it is to day. It has allegedly come to the state of "a government within the government."

As one belonging to the so-called middle class section of our population, it is my impression that it has continually been an uphill task for the fixed income group of the country to keep both ends meet and now they have nearly reached the level of extinction. Conversely, just consider the fact that governments (particularly state governments) in India have been known to lose elections just because there was price increase of some essential items like cooking oil and onions. No matter what our venerable finance minister may say or not say, the fact remains that winning the "hearts and minds" of the people will be impossible without providing some real succour to the disadvantaged. On the other hand, the gap between the rich and the poor is also at its worst today. The sights and sounds of luxury vehicles on the streets of the capital city including their flashy show rooms are also reflective of the pro-rich economic policies of the BNP regime.

Last, but not least in importance, BNP is suffering from the psyche that "nothing matters" -- members of the public can be ignored at will. But members of the public today are far more conscious than they used to be two decades ago.