The arrangement of foolproof election robbery is not an election system. We must first ensure an election system to be free of sitting party government. Unless the government treats our educated people as purchasable nothing, the government would not have dared to deny people’s right to vote in a free country in order that the government would be chosen by election thieves.
The sitting government will be in power before the election, during the election and three months after the election, if miraculously defeated. The parliament will not be dissolved. The plan is not for transfer of power.
The nation is facing a grave emergency of economic disaster and chaos of no protection of law and the answer cannot be to continue for a moment the status quo with the same failed incompetent government of no hope.
We have to break the gridlock of election stealing now so that we shall not have the same vicious election robbery to have the same bureaucratic anti-people government which destroyed every institution of good governance.
The government itself is not only in a mess it is also devoid of human touch and cannot see how fast it’s stagnation is proceeding. Helpful or not the police are very active on the side of the government.
The tax collecting people are under pressure to squeeze the people as much as they can for money. But all are not inhuman not to understand the hardship of the people. The people want their stolen money to be returned.
The foreign minister AK Abdul Momen typically insensitive like most of his colleagues claimed that the people of Bangladesh are living in heavenly bliss. May be out of frustration the foreign minister has turned to religion and wished us all dead to be in heaven.
When the US Ambassador Peter Haas says everybody should have equal role in the election my understanding is that it means the government must be out of power and face the election like the others on equal footing. That is also the pre-condition under the parliamentary system everywhere. But the next election is more than year away but to save the country the need for an honest and competent government is urgent.
Instead of empowering the people this government empowered the police to be unrestrained in suppressing the opposition. Following the way of communist kind of politicisation without politics, the politicised ones have been criminalised. Joining the government party has facilitated corruption and crime all over the country.
In the situation of dire economic meltdown the thoughtless decision of the government to raise the price of fuels all time high to Tk 40 at a jump with knock on effect of price hike in sectors affecting all aspects of the people’s daily life.
Some renowned experts say that the burdening the people with the ramification of such oppressively high fuel price could have been avoided if alternative ways were considered by the government. There is no free debate before a serious policy is introduced allowing others to express alternative ideas.
The people are busting out in anger for the financial miseries and disorderly governance. Had there been a government accountable to the people it would have considered how to provide tax or any other financial relief when the people are in serious financial distress. The position is otherwise. Every way must be exploited to collect money from the people. The cost of every government service has been raised sky high though not regularly available.
On top of all this, the busy bribe takers and organised extortionists have to be satisfied. The government is not anxious to ensure the people protection of law.
Early election is no answer for the urgently needed thorough overhauling of the corrupt government and politics of money making business. There has to be an end to the foolproof election dacoity with the help of the unconscionable and corrupt government officials including the police like in the previous two elections. The politics as money making venture has to be ended by ending the present system.
The Election Commission exists not as a system of free election but only to certify election results decided by the officials elsewhere. Other than a big show the Election Commission is irrelevant for free election. The Election Commission knows it even then it is tirelessly dishing out lies about its ability to hold free election. It can honestly say, to demonstrate its independence that the foundation free election is totally absent.
The government is not just a fight between the opposition and the government for grabbing power or sharing corruption. Free election is the people’s right to select their government. It is not a matter of bargaining between the government and the political parties.
The government has not come to power through a free election and will refuse to go in a free election. The government is also not aware that when the moment comes for change, change happens if not organised peacefully then through other means.
In the hope of saving themselves the government is knocking every foreign door begging for loans without knowing that foreign loans cannot save a government falling apart for inefficiency and corruption part by part. Besides, borrowing money from foreign sources is like mortgaging the country against such loans. How and from whom these loans are to be recovered is a complicated question. At this time of crisis we must have a competent government trusted nationally and internationally.
The government is a system and the change must mean making the democratic system assigned in the Constitution functional minus the tricky amendment for cheating elections wholesale.
The best option for the government is to resign and cooperate to establish an emergency government of competent, patriotically dedicated and brave. The task of building a functional government itself will be hard requiring united public support.
Whether in the position or opposition it is for all to join the people for their demand for change. My anxious consideration is that an emergency government of competent and honest people is unavoidable to have a meaningful system of government. Such a change may also be possible under the present Constitution as an act of necessity through bending but without altogether breaking the same.
The people must be saved from increasing miseries looming large. Some experts are predicting famine. The backs of the people are against the wall. It is time of the younger generation to take their future seriously. We do not want to see further bloodshed for the people to realise their dreams.
