Love for people
Monjurul Quadir Sylhet International College, Sylhet
With almost one year and six months to go before the next parliamentary election, our political parties, ruling and opposition, are busy activating their supporters and adherents, reforming their regional committees and criticising each other to win support of common folks etc. Opposition parties held discussion among them to form a coalition against the ruling government and the ruling alliance is attempting to expand its size by making a rift in opposition alliance before the election. Both sides know that the general people are the key factor to make a difference between ruling and opposition alliances. But people do not have confidence in the ruling alliance; nor do they credit the opposition. For some months, the prime minister has been visiting different parts of the country preaching the gospel of good governance, development, law and order, accountability and appealing to people to re-elect her alliance. In contrast, the opposition leader, who is also going on organisational tours, is detailing the opacity, cronyism, nepotism, vandalism and corruption of the government. She has also been explaining how the caretaker government during the last tenure had helped rig vote in favour of the present government. Political analysts believe that the political milieu would be warmer before the next election. The opposition alliance is doing their level best to force the government to reform the caretaker government system and the Election Commission with the aim of making the upcoming election free and fair. Bigwigs of the alliance have already formed a subcommittee to make suggestions on how to ensure transparency and accountability in the election, and they have decided to put forward the reform proposal before the nation to create public opinion in favour of the reform proposal. They are demanding reforms to the caretaker system and the Election Commission on the pretext that during the last parliamentary election both the caretakers and the Election Commission had failed to maintain their neutrality, rather they helped the present government in an unfair way. We, the general people, also want to cast our votes without any fear. Only that is how the whole process can be made transparent. Politicians go to power and use it to capture public wealth, and to create anarchy all over the country. Does the fortune of mass people change with the change of government? The answer is "no". Where does the love for people go when our opposition parties hold power? The fact is that our political parties love people only when they are in the opposition. Our opposition alliance, when they were in power, did not keep their promises of separating the judiciary from the executive and of setting up the anti-corruption commission and human rights commission. They wouldn't have to fight for getting all the things right and transparent, had they discharged their responsibilities sensibly. What did they not do to put public into a catch-22 situation? They harboured cadres like Joynal Hazari, Shamim Osman, Ashiq Abdullah, and Dipu and turned a deaf air to the public outcry. To my thinking, the ruling party since taking over the responsibility has been doing the same thing, but they ought to bear in mind that nothing but only people can let them extend their tenure in office. So everybody should comprehend the importance of people. We are where we were thirty years ago-- thanks to our lack of political commitment. Our civil society members and intellectuals should play an important role in bringing back discipline to the political arena.
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