In a decision that has surprised us, the
police have allowed the ruling Awami League to hold a rally in downtown Dhaka, temporarily lifting an eight-day ban on such
activities. The police's new stance, quite sagacious towards the ruling party, stands
diametrically opposite to its handling of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist
Party and its leader. Khaleda Zia has been virtually imprisoned for the last
nine days in the name of protecting her from unknown and undisclosed threats. To
make matters even more grievous, lorries filled with sand have been kept at the
entrance to her house to prevent her from participating in any open political
activities.
It is true that the police's bias, unashamed
that it is, towards the ruling party has undoubtedly reached its peak in the
last few years. This is especially so when we see the law enforcers use live
bullets against unarmed opposition activists, who have taken to the streets to
realise a demand, which, according to some opinion polls run by this paper, an
overwhelming number of ordinary Bangladeshis support.
While we cannot but condemn setting fire to
private and public properties or vandalising them in the name of street
agitation, in the same breath we deplore the police's partisan attitude towards
the ruling party. There is no denying that the AL has every right to hold a rally in the
capital, a privilege that it should share with other political parties. For any
such group, holding rallies is one of basic ways to reach people and make its
voice heard, but bestowing one political party with that and obstructing the
other's path with sand-filled trucks undoubtedly smacks of undemocratic
behaviour.
There is no denying that the police have
blocked the entrance to Khaleda's house following some government order, and
the same is true about the ban on rallies in the capital that was slapped
immediately before Khaleda's 'arrest'. The AL should keep it in mind that in any
democratic society, the party in power has to work as the vanguard for freedom
of speech and expression; it has to make sure that it is amply criticised, and
its actions scrutinised. It is even more necessary in a dysfunctional democracy
like ours, where, as history suggests, the absence of a dissenting voice always
paves the way for tyranny.
In the last few weeks, the ruling party MPs
have been talking about the possible arrest of Khaleda Zia on alleged charges
that range from 'patronising terrorists' to 'stealing the money of orphans'. Given
that she's been kept under virtual house-arrest, sand-filled truck and all, all
the AL
leadership needs is a warrant to make the matter more official. The implication
of Khaleda's 'real' arrest is going to be huge.
Not that we believe, after her arrest, the BNP stalwarts will risk their
lives and will throng the streets of the capital in their millions. If they do,
it will be a different ballgame altogether.
But the balance of probability runs
dangerously high against the BNP. After Khaleda's 'arrest', the BNP-led
agitation, thanks to a leadership crisis, might fizzle out. The erosion of
people's trust in the BNP to become a force to be reckoned with will surely
create a vacuum, which Bangladesh's politics might want to fill with elements
that many of us might feel uncomfortable to deal with. The weaker the BNP gets
the more right wing its supporters might become. And that does not bode well
for the country.
Be that as it may, the country is in the
hands of a set of intolerant power-hungry politicians who do not even bat an
eyelid while trying to find ways to deny the opposition's right to speak or, in
the case of the BNP, to vandalise public property, the very ordinary people
they so vociferously claim to represent.
Presently Bangladesh stands at a crucial
crossroads in its history. Every decision that is taken now will make an impact
on the country's immediate future and will shape the nature of its polity. But
our politicians, it seems, are not aware of it at all.
First published in The Daily Star, Bangladesh on
January 14, 2015