11-17 March, 2011
Dhaka Courier
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Hard reality is that since the very day of our march as a sovereign, independent state of Bangladesh, talks and debates, writings and roaring, projections and demonstrations in various forms, natures, spaces, dimensions and peculiarities on question of the immediate necessity of building national consensus on the burning issues of national interests--internal and external—with a range of short term, mid term and long term duration, have been on in a full swing on almost all fronts, political and non-political. These have been substantiated further with a kind of touch, smell, flavor and color of the politics, interests and dynamics of regional and international domains and power-welders as well. Unavoidable existence, continuance and interference of donors appeared as a Leviathan in the context of Bangladesh’s being a member of the developing countries.
One of the basic characteristics of the attempts, policies, programs, agenda and strategies, short term, mid term and long term, of the parties in power from 1971 to this day of 2011 is that each of them tried, and still try, hard and soul to brand its regime’s stand as the best symbol of national unity, interests and dignity aimed at the overall multi-dimensional development, which Bangladesh has ever had before!!. No doubt, beating drums in the same style and mode with more and more choosy, magnetic words and manifestations under so-called dynamic, historic and charismatic leaderships shall, perhaps, continue more even in the days ahead of. Alas! It’s a Hobson’s choice, ill-digestion for the one hundred and seventy millions people of Bangladesh of who more than sixty percent is below the poverty level. Because of increasing number of negative feedbacks in developments and economies in particular, finance minister has become more powerful, say, all encompassing in the administration even overshadowing the voice of foreign minister in bi-lateral, regional and international forums.
Nature has made the people of Bangladesh more sensitive, re-active and season-tempered. It is one of the rarest lands in the planet that has been beset with six seasons in a year; what people think in one season, cannot at all continue with that up to the next one and such trends rotate by turn around the year yielding dividends, negative or positive, accordingly. Their immediate blast on and influence over the people in general may rightly be conceptualized with Three Ps [PPP] that implies:
a. Majority of the population of Bangladesh are below the poverty level for which they are called poor;
b. As the majority of the people are poor, they cannot but also be prone to be poetic in their demands and claims. Emotions dominantly prevail over reasons, logic and arguments; Hyper-criticisms to other/others [in fact, speaking ill of other/others] being blind to the self, to the fellow/fellows, to the group/groups or to the platform he/they belong is a part of life here. What is good or what is bad is judged on a balance of pro and anti. Such poetic nature has further been nursed and boiled because of the country’s location within 23 to 27 degree latitude of the temperate zone of the earth;
c. As they are poor and poetic, in most of the cases, rarely they have any option but to be political in doing and saying anything on a question of existence, survival and continuance as a human being in today's Bangladesh.
Political parties, leaders, policy-makers, decision-makers etc. in various fields are, more or less, not further from this very reality of the dictates of Bangladesh. The matter of national consensus accommodating various shades of opinions has never been a sincere, honest and pragmatic agenda for those political parties who matter really and substantially in the politics and government of Bangladesh. With this right in direction, let us have a look at the state of consensus in Bangladesh since independence.
First of all, without going into the deep of the issues and problems, inherited and new, during the era of pre-1975 led by Bangabandhu, father of the nation, it can reasonably be assumed that for a number of reasons, positive and negative, building of national consensus on major burning issues during this time remained unsettled in the history of Bangladesh.
Secondly, the post-1975 era is also illuminated with a variety of initiatives, policies, program and strategies followed by the successive governments and regimes, political and martial law, witnessing the birth of new political parties like BNP under the leadership of general turned politician Ziaur Rahman with a cap of 19-point program and JP under the leadership of general turned politician H.M. Ershad with a slogan of 18-point program in particular. Neither Zia nor Ershad succeeded in achieving the target of consensus on major issues while running their governments.
Thirdly, Later came in the picture Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, wife of Ziaur Raman. The period from 1991 till the date has been earmarked as the period of journey to parliamentary democracy because of its predominant feature of non-military rule paving democratic avenue for the rise and run of party-run government with a clarion call ‘I will cast my vote freely whomever I like’. During this era another development is the growth of alliance politics aimed at going to power without any broad-based consensus on major burning national issues and it began with the alliance government led by Khaleda Zia in 1991. It was followed by Hasina’s ‘government by alliance’ that got entangled within the domain of the leading party’s manifesto and program at the negation of the rest of the small parties to the so-called alliance. BNP, being the major opposition in the fifth Parliament, rejected the concept branding it a new mask of BAKSAL. It was, in fact, a type of unilateral approach and initiative of the then ruling AL headed by Sheikh Hasina. The same practice was repeated in 2001 during the rule of BNP led alliance government.
Fourthly, Isolated initiatives [here guarded attention must be paid to initiatives of the first Non-Party Care-Taker Government of Bangladesh in 1990-1991 headed by Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed on the basis of the seven points consensus formula of almost all the political parties and others in various folds and dimensions aimed mainly at the overthrow of Ershad Government and later ensure smooth running and functioning of parliamentary democracy upon the same objectives; But, as ill luck would have it, subsequent parties/alliances in power did hardly care it excepting passing unanimously the historic Eleventh and Twelfth Amendments to the Constitution of Bangladesh in the fifth Parliament] were made more acutely during the time of much-talked-about army-backed Fakruddin’s lNon-Party, Neutral Care-Taker Government that ran the country from 2007-2009.But all the major initiatives misted in the moist with the assumption of political government headed by Sheikh Hasina through elections to the ninth Parliament It is more interesting to note that this very government is also a government by alliance widely known as government by grand alliance. More interesting is that this government is clearly devoid of the sayings and notes of its partners. Ershad, Menon, Inu and others in the fold are openly critical of the overall activities and performances of the government; Ershad even threatened to quiet the government if the alliance government likes to continue with AL agenda alone, setting aside the common goals of the grand alliance. Here the main problem is Hasia’s reluctance towards a consensus formula of the parties to the grand alliance.
Truly speaking, our political leaders hardly give thoughts on reaching at a consensus formula on major burning issues, national, regional and global. It has become a tradition, convention for them to live with double-standard policy all the time. When a party or alliance goes to power, it speaks in a voice just opposing its immediate past stand as a party/alliance in the opposition politics but, ironically enough, immediately after a fall or departure from power, it then again as a political party/alliance in the opposition hardly hesitate to start more vigorously beating the drums of opposition politics to criticize, undermine the newly voted party/alliance in power negating its immediate past stand as a party/alliance-in-power.
This very rise and fall of seat of power and seat of opposition in politics is a recognized tune of free and fair electoral play, which in our perspective has given birth to a reality that a kind of consensus on major burning issues from the point of view of seat of power and from the point of view of seat of opposition has meanwhile been formulated behind the curtain by our political leaders. These are not the products of their pre-determined vision and mission, rather a variety of sequence and consequence of opportunistic, convenient approaches to the issues to hold and ensure the regime’s security through the process of accommodation, systemization and synchronization in line with regional and global landscapes.
Here the great truth is that, perhaps, a sort of phobia haunts the very minds of the opposition political parties because of their impregnation with an impression that once consensus taking good stocks of all is established and recognized, the party/alliance -in-power must leave no stone unturned to focus and uphold this as a Himalayan political victory, to use it as a weapon in the next electoral race. Because once such consensus is achieved, the immediate beneficiary shall be the party/alliance in power since with this in force the very basis of negative politics, a missile on the hands of the oppositions, shall come down to the lowest ebb with an introduction of a new era of unity and development.
Equally is the mindset of the leaders of the party/alliance in power who rarely feel to take the opposition into confidence in running the government. Their phobia is that once a consensus call is made, opposition parties shall come forward with tons of recommendations, realistic or not, with a view only to embarrassing the government, not to making a consensus at all. Therefore, they feel it better to move and continue with the electoral manifesto as a dependable mandate from the people. Here comes the dominance of the opposing stand of yes or no, oft-quoted saying of the politics of Bangladesh.
And keeping this reality in true perspectives, A Three-phase formula to National Consensus may in the following manner be conceived, conceptualized and theorized;
Phase one:
Matters to be taken into account at the first phase are;
* Formation of a Committee on National Consensus formula composed mainly of representatives of ruling and opposition parties in Parliament headed preferably by the Speaker of Parliament. There may a number of sub-committees, technical or otherwise, if necessary.
* Due focus on the policies, approaches, strategies adopted, pursued and followed by the past governments/alliances to face issues, problems, challenges and dilemmas before them;
Due focus on the contemporary national, bilateral, regional and international overall landscapes in the context of Bangladesh’s interests;
* Due focus on the overall policies and program by the then major oppositions in particular aimed at the well-being and development of Bangladesh; and
* Due focus on the overall limitations, constraints, administrative or otherwise, on budget-making and implementations.This phase is rightly also be called Consensus behind the curtain. stage
Phase two:
Matters to be taken into account at the second phase are:
* Due focus on findings and recommendations from the committee(s);
* Due focus on the policies, approaches, programs, strategies being pursued, followed by the existing party/alliance in power and the oppositions/alliance, in particular the major opposition, to face issues, problems, challenges and dilemmas before them;
* Due focus on the recommendations and proposals from political parties in particular from the major opposition/alliance, separately or jointly;
* Due focus on the proposals and recommendations from the party/alliance in power, separately or jointly;
* Due focus on the proposals and recommendations from civil societies, think-tanks, professional groups and associations. This phase may also be termed as Proposals, recommendations and analysis stage.
Phase three:
Matters to be taken into account at the third phase are:
* Discussions, debates following the recommendations and moving for a final daft;
* Approval of the final draft in presence of the leaders of the political parties including Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.
Formal endorsement over, the documents shall be named as "National Consensus on National, Bilateral, Regional, and International Issues and Interests." Finally, the party-in-power/coalition-in-power shall introduce and pass it consensually in parliament to be aired simultaneously over radio and television, public and private, television. This may be named Conclusion stage.
Well, after reaching such consensus, the party-in-power/coalition-in-power now ensures all the possible and practical atmosphere so that the opposition political parties/alliances, both inside and outside parliament, may come forward and help put the accepted consensus into practice.
This logical approach of three phase consensus formula behind the curtain may not be welcomed by all. But that's not the point here. The fundamental thought is that once a national consensus is reached on the burning issues, the political landscape in Bangladesh shall have a new dimension and dynamics of relations between the ruling and opposition parties and with this, our politicians as well as people can at least sigh a sigh of relief.
It seems fascinating to note that to establish consensus on any issue or a series of issues such three phase formula may be of a great use in other sectors as well. For instance, following this way, achieving a consensus on bilateral relations with India, Pakistan, China, United States of America, etc. shall be easier than ever before. Consensus on individual national issues likes education, health, land reform, fiscal policy, etc. shall also be more practicable and feasible on its total counts.
Finally it is to be noted with a great caution and understanding that it is just an attempt, firstly, to understand and identify the approaches, policies and strategies of the past the governments/alliances under leaderships of different political parties/coalitions in response to the challenges, issues and problems they were faced with and secondly, to initiate a thought in the minds of the political leaders, both ruling and opposition, with a sincere firm and pragmatic conviction that consensus is a reality, not a mere polemics or rhetoric or myth. But nothing shall take place unless and until the two major political parties AL and BNP stand firm---coming out of the ongoing diametrically opposed frame of yes or no politics---- on building national consensus in reality.
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