STUDENT-LED MOVEMENT 2024: DOES BANGLADESH STEP INTO UNCHARTED TERRITORY?

STUDENT-LED MOVEMENT 2024: DOES BANGLADESH STEP INTO UNCHARTED TERRITORY?

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COLLAPSE OF SHEIKH HASINA’S EMPIRE:

There has been a sea change in the political landscape of Bangladesh in the first week of August 2024. The outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's empire collapsed like a castle of cards by the massive uprising of the students and the general public throughout the country. The 5th of August 2024 was a historic moment. On this particular day, the students and the general public bravely broke the curfew and were determined to head towards Gonobhaban, outgoing Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina's official residence, to mount the final push to bring down her government. To avoid facing uncontrolled rage from the large protesting masses, Sheikh Hasina had no other option but to quickly flee the country by resigning as head of the government. Leaving her party people in a massive revengeful backlash, she left for India along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana and some other close relatives. India gladly offered her faithful friend a safe stay in its own country and for her interests.?

WHAT PROMPTED SHEIKH HASINA'S DOWNFALL?

The fall of Sheikh Hasina's government was almost certain. It was only a matter of time. Because politics, like other areas of life, are not devoid of morality. Managing the country by protecting the interests of the countrymen and protecting only the interests of one's party is not the same thing. Sheikh Hasina is the longest-serving PM in Bangladesh. She served as the PM of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001. And then, after a recess of eight years, she again came to power and acted as the PM of Bangladesh for consecutive four terms beginning from January 2009 to August 2024. She came to power in a massively rigged and controversial national election. According to the press and media, these four consecutive national elections were simply a mockery of democracy.?

The main competing party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and their supporters were brutally repressed by mobilising all organs of law-enforcing agencies. Their voices were ruthlessly suppressed without caring for normal democratic rules and conventions. In fact, she was morbidly obsessed with uprooting the main opposition party BNP and the main Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami from the national electoral system. In the process, Sheikh Hasina established a kind of one-party rule for the last 15 years in the garb of democracy.?She systematically destroyed all democratic institutions prevailing in the country. For example, the most acclaimed provision in the constitution about holding a free and fair election right after the end of the sitting government’s term, namely the non-party caretaker government system, was removed.?

The country's judicial system, which has always been considered the ultimate protector of fundamental human rights, was turned into a slavish partner of the executive organ of the government.

The legislative organ of the government had been turned into "Her Master's Voice" making it a rubber stamp parliament. She succeeded in installing a submissive and weak opposition party in the national parliament whose assigned task was always to play music for the sitting government for a coveted bonanza.

In addition, all the government institutions were nakedly politicised implying only the party people would be the right choices to run the government organisations, no matter if they lacked the required qualifications or competencies. This recruitment policy was applied in every single government office (be it civil or military), such as police and other law enforcement departments, military departments, educational institutions, health departments, local government, sports bodies, etc.?

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Economic governance was totally messed up. The country's banking sector, including the Central Bank, was destroyed, making it a den of plunderers. Capital market outfits were turned into a healthy milking cows for the party people, who amassed huge illegal wealth at the expense of ordinary investors. No effective steps were taken by the government to control the skyrocketing prices of goods and services (e.g., a 100% increase in prices of goods in most cases) resulting from the market manipulation done by the party people and the government officials; they are identified as the deadly cartels or syndicates.?

The nefarious acts by the Awami League government’s security personnel cannot be overlooked. Time and again, in broad daylight, they picked up opposition party activists and innocent common people. They put them behind bars or threw them into a torture house called Aina Ghar, or they were killed without any judicial proceedings. These extrajudicial killings were recurring events. All these utter wrongdoings took place with the full cognizance of outgoing PM Sheikh Hasina and in the name of democracy and the spirit of liberation.

The words of Lord Acton, the famous historian of the late nineteenth century of the United Kingdom, are worth mentioning here. He said, “Power tends to corrupt, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." This has been reflected in the rules of the Awami League for the last 15 years. All the powers of the state were virtually vested in the hands of one person, and that person was former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As a result, she continuously made wrong decisions in running the state, and there were no checks and balances in the decision-making process. Just look, because of her inefficiency and lack of rational approach, overnight the student anti-discrimination job quota reform movement became a movement to topple her government. Her decision to tag the larger student body as, Razakar ( identified as the collaborators with the Pakistani army during 1971) to suppress the student employment quota movement backfired on her.

The student movement, which could have been led to an amicable solution with a little political wisdom, was led to a terrible end by her reckless action of crushing the ongoing movement. As a result, bullets killed many students, many students were crippled, valuable resources of the country were destroyed, the image of the law enforcement forces was deliberately tarnished by setting them against the unarmed people, the army was mobilised to face the people, thereby making them controversial, Awami League activists and supporters all over the country were thrown into public fury, etc. Sheikh Hasina’s brutal rule can be compared to a dormant volcano. A dormant volcano is bound to erupt, eventually. Although a little late, finally in the first week of August 2024, this terrible political volcano erupted with full force and tore down the rule of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government.?

SOME POSITIVE WORKS OF AWAMI LEAGUE LEADERSHIP:

Right now, mentally, it is not possible to focus on some positive works of a fascist party like the Awami League and its chief operator, Sheikh Hasina. But some wise people say that everyone should get his due share, no matter whether he is an angel or a devil. Accepting this contention, I venture to point out some of the supportive work of the Awami League leadership.

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It cannot be overlooked that we got our hard-earned independence in 1971 under the political leadership of the Awami League. Under the courageous leadership of one person called Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then-president of the Awami League, we defeated the invading forces of Pakistan and snatched our independence. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was fondly called Bangabandhu by the people of Bangladesh from 1971 onwards His historic and memorable speech on 7th March 1971, will never be forgotten! His fiery speech on 7th March 1971 did inspire Bangladeshi people to face the brutal repression of the then-West Pakistan military forces sent from Islamabad. The people of Bangladesh jumped for the country's independence and went to the battlefield in large numbers. At last, after around nine months of bloody war and the sacrifice of three million people against the occupied forces, Bangladeshi people earned their coveted independence. We are grateful to Bangabandhu for his brilliant oratory skills that gave us a sense of direction at the critical juncture of our liberation struggle in 1971, leading us to embrace our distinct national identity in the global community.?

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Another important event about Bangabandhu deserves to be mentioned here. Right after our independence, many Indian army and security personnel were positioned in different parts of our country. The credit goes to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for creating the groundwork for the complete withdrawal of Indian forces from Bangladesh. Otherwise, the course of Bangladeshi history might have taken an ugly turn. The newborn state of Bangladesh might have been thrown into another liberation war.

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As a leader, Bangabondhu was very bold and forthright in his speech and actions. Throughout his life, he fought with the Pakistani administration to protect the genuine interests of the Bengali people of then-East Pakistan. So, his invaluable contribution to building our nation and national identity should not be forgotten.

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Every human being has a laudable and deplorable part of life; the reputable and the disreputable part of life. Sheikh Hasina is no exception to this basic fact of life. Can we see some of the positive aspects of her governance?

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Sheikh Hasina will be remembered for her straightforward dealings with the World Bank about funding for our Padma Bridge project. When the World Bank fabricated the Padma Bridge Scandal and brought corruption charges against two ministers, namely Syed Abul Hossain and Abul Hasan Chowdhury, she flatly refused to take any financial support from the World Bank. Instead, she decided to complete this massive project with our own support. She did it successfully. It has been a big slap in the face for the World Bank. Her bold step not only raised the dignity of our country in the global community but also improved our internal connectivity to a large extent, which still keeps contributing heavily to our economic growth.

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The next important positive work of Sheikh Hasina relates to the exchange of enclaves (Chitmahals) with India. The exchange of our lands in Indian territory and Indian lands in our territory was a very difficult and sensitive issue. She resolved this sensitive issue successfully in 2015 to the satisfaction of both countries.

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The third important area of her accomplishment has been the infrastructural development of roads and highways. Today the people of Bangladesh are commuting in the capital city and moving across the country with much relief and comfort. The introduction of metro rail service in Dhaka city and the building of a lot of highways and bridges have made it possible.

But the irony is that the Awami League’s positive works have been overshadowed by autocratic rule and poor political and economic governance. Bangladesh has already earned an unmixed commendation from the global community for fantastic economic reconstruction within the last half a century, but even after more than fifty years of our independence, political reconstruction is still an unfulfilled dream. The Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina got the grand opportunity to deliver to the nation a vibrant and stable democratic structure by bringing everyone together and by forgiving and forgetting the past. Unfortunately, they squandered that opportunity like a bunch of arrogant children to a family.

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VISION OF A NEW BANGLADESH:

Sheikh Hasina's 15-years of authoritarian rule have been brought down by the brave student-mass movement. The whole country will be grateful to them for bringing this fundamental change in our state governance. But this historic change has come at the cost of many innocent lives of students and the general public in the last 15 years, particularly in the month of July and the first week of August this year. Today's great student movement has inspired us all to dream of building a “New Bangladesh” and to take a deep resolution to realise this dream. “New Bangladesh” means that an autocratic government structure will never be allowed to return to our country using so-called democratic or non-democratic means. All the people in the government’s civil and military administration from top-to-bottom tier shall act as the servants of the Republic, not the servants of any political party. Politicised people disregarding the national interest should be immediately removed from their jobs, subject to proper investigation.

WHAT IS NEXT IN BANGLADESH ?

Sheikh Hasina is gone. Her 15 years of autocratic rule is over, and that has brought a big sigh of relief to the suffering countrymen. An interim government led by the distinguished professor and Nobel laureate Dr. Yunus has already taken over. Professor Yunus, the chief advisor, and his fellow advisors got a clear mandate from the general public and the students to run the government with the sole aim of fulfilling people's expectations. Everyone understands that the first and foremost task of the interim government headed by Dr Yunus should be to clean up all the mess accumulated during the past fifteen years of autocratic rule, such as:

# Speedily starting and completing required reforms in every tier of civil and military administration so that no political party or political entity in the future could revert to autocratic rule.

# Establishing a fully depoliticised administration whose job ethics must be based on accountability, transparency, and professionalism.

# Setting up a monitoring mechanism that will prevent any government and non-government staff from amassing illegal money and wealth by abusing assigned power.

# Immediately putting in place appropriate policies on the economic front to restore money markets, capital markets, and macroeconomic stability.

# Carrying out required changes in national electoral processes, including thorough overhauling of the election commission, amending or rewriting the constitution to ensure free and fair elections and a clean transfer of power.

# Bring into justice all the looters of bank funds, grabbers of the country's wealth by indulging in massive corruption, money launderers of billions of domestic and foreign currencies, and extrajudicial killing of the opposition party activists and common people.

# Making our national defence much stronger so that our patriotic army can respond to any external aggression with full force and our sitting government can also execute foreign policy independently." Symbolically, it means for us “Eat less, build more missiles”

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These are definitely not small tasks that can be completed within a short time.? These are quite serious tasks that would require a lengthy period. The interim government should have sufficient time to complete these unavoidable tasks.? Now, what is the definition of “sufficient time? It's a matter of understanding and agreement between the interim government and the political parties, particularly BNP. This is an issue that could bring the interim government and the political parties into a serious conflict. That is, a disagreement about the duration of the interim government could lead to serious unrest in the country.

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Any revolution has the potential to create a counterrevolution. It is claimed that Sheikh Hasina's government has been overthrown, but their outfits in both the civil and military administrations are still operating down to the last ladder. So, any counter-civil or military uprising with the support of foreign powers to bring down the interim government cannot be dismissed. Already several attempts made by vested quarters to destabilise the present government have been foiled by the timely intervention of the students and security personnel of the present government.?

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The downfall of Sheikh Hasina's government has been a big blow for India. To protect its national security and geopolitical interests, particularly to control any secessionist movement in the eastern provinces called the Seven Sisters, India would require a puppet government, and overland passage through Bangladesh. To secure this geopolitical advantage, Indian military adventurism against Bangladesh at a certain point in time cannot be ruled out. This is reinforced by the fact that the ongoing unrestrained negative media campaigns against Bangladesh and constant aggressive and explosive narratives of Indian shortsighted leaders might terribly influence the central government of India to commit some costly mistakes like carrying out a military intervention against Bangladesh. Perhaps in today's political backdrop in Bangladesh, this possibility cannot be dismissed , particularly when they get moral support from their prime guest, the unseated PM, Sheikh Hasina. God forbid if it does occur, the whole subcontinent will explode and plunge into a dangerous bloody clash and confrontation. This might lead to redrawing the map of conflicting countries. It is hoped that the Indian central government would play their cards with a lot of pragmatism and wisdom without getting influenced by the extremists.

The superpower rivalry between America and China in the South Asian region can have a destabilising effect on our independent governance by the interim government. These days, geopolitical and geoeconomic issues between the superpowers and regional powers are becoming very heated and aggressive. God knows how the superpower rivalry will unfold in the coming days and how it will affect our operation as an independent sovereign country.?

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Our students played a pioneering role in removing the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina and acting as a watchdog body in restoring order, discipline, and security to our country. The entire nation acknowledges their great contribution and sacrifice with deep gratitude. Our beloved Bangladesh has received a new lease of life after fifteen years of suffocating atmosphere.? Their broad unity has made it possible. If the vested quarter succeeds in destroying their unity, we might face uncontrollable problems.

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Professor Yunus is now a unifying factor for all of us. His acceptability as a competent administrator and social reformer in the international arena is beyond doubt. But,now he is 84. God forbid, if anything happens to Professor Yunus, the country will slip into an unmanageable crisis. We wish him good health and a long life.

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The journey of the interim government has just started, but the roads they have to tread are full of political and non-political booby traps being set by internal and external forces. In plain terms, a lot of challenging, unpleasant and unpredictable developments are waiting for the Yunus government in the coming days. Can they reach their destination, brushing aside all problematic and evil schemes of the vested groups, and fulfil the aspirations of the Bangladeshi people? Only if luck favours them. So, it is better to wish them good luck.

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