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Democracy in Bangladesh Can Overcome Challenges

Panna Lal Chowdhury - 5/17/2005

Bangladesh achieved its independence in 1971 through a liberation struggle. The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh started its journey with a democratically elected government. But the representative government was removed in 1975 through a military uprising. Military generals ruled the country till 1990, initially through martial law and later through the civilian governments. However, massive political movements by the people of the country successfully restored the democracy there effective from 1991. There have been multiparty parliamentary elections in 1991, 1996 & 2001. Governments were changed through each of these elections. Here, the Prime Minister and the cabinet are answerable to the parliament. It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh and Pakistan are the two neighboring country of the world's largest democracy India. But in Pakistan military uprising removed the democratic government number of times, while in Bangladesh peoples' movement has successfully removed such military rule. At some stage even the military rulers had to bow down and agree to the peoples' demands for democracy and representative government in Bangladesh.

The political situation in Bangladesh during last few years raised some doubts about the future of democracy there. In recent years there has been a spate of political violence. There were occasional attacks on cultural functions and cinema halls in various parts of the country. In August 2004 grenade attack on a huge rally of the main opposition party killed and injured many. Fortunately, the leader of the opposition escaped unhurt. Steps taken by the authorities to identify the culprits have not been successful so far. Amnesty International stated that, "The government has failed to investigate previous attacks with the rigor and determination they deserve."

In January 2005 former finance minister Kibria was assassinated through grenade attacks on him. Kibria was a non controversial, popular, honest and efficient leader. His long international professional career was brilliant and unique. He was an opposition member of the parliament. The country as a whole was shocked due to the frequent incidents of political violence. The assassination of Kibria got the attention of the Western donors of Bangladesh, who called an informal meeting to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation and rise of terrorist activities there.

However, Bangladeshi officials were not invited to attend such meetings. Reportedly, EU officials considered cutting Bangladesh's aid portion. Just before this meeting, the Bangladesh government took action against the terrorists, banning two Islamist groups and arresting several people.

Politics in Bangladesh frequently faced deadlock, with the main opposition party boycotting the Parliament. A series of opposition sponsored nationwide strikes has adversely affected the economy. Such nationwide strike (Hartal) is in practice by all the opposition parties in Bangladesh for many many years.

All the aforesaid developments raised the question --- is it possible for Bangladesh to achieve a peaceful and prosperous democracy? Is the political violence in Bangladesh weakening democracy there? Is the democracy in Bangladesh is fighting for its survival? It will not be possible to find the answers to these questions easily overnight. The political observers need to keep their eyes open to monitor the developments in this respect.

It is interesting to note that democratic platform in Bangladesh has achieved a very positive outcome this month. On 9 May, 2005 there was election for the city mayor position of Chittagong. Chittagong is the second largest city of the country. In any country mayoral election is not a major political event. But this time Chittagong mayoral election was a serious political contest between the four party ruling alliance and the combined opposition front. It looked almost like a national election. Because it is the last major political battle before the upcoming national election in 2007. During last two months most of the national leaders from the ruling and opposition groups including the ministers traveled the port city for this election campaign, which was never seen in the past. On the Election Day the British deputy High commissioner and a few election monitoring agency was present there to observe the election process at various locations of the city. It is the general opinion that the election was free and fair. Of course there was minor allegation and counter allegation from both the sides accusing each other in respect of violation of the election norms. The percentage of voting was around sixty percent in this election.

To the surprise of many, the opposition party candidate defeated the government party sponsored candidate by a large margin. Peoples' opinion ultimately dominated the election process. People in general and all the political parties welcomed the outcome of this election. Unlike in the past, the election administration system acted perfectly without any complain from either side. It is a rare instance since 1991 that the losing party accepted the election result without making any complain against the winning party or the election authorities. Bangladeshis have much to be proud of due to this success of their democratic process.

The mayoral election scenario of Chittagong and its outcome do not provide a full answer to all the questions surfaced in respect of the future of democracy in Bangladesh. But it shows that democratic forces in Bangladesh are quite strong. People's opinion ultimately dominated the election process here in the past also.

Challenges to democracy in Bangladesh may come from three directions ---- Power struggle between the ruling and opposition parties, political terrorism, and military coup, if any.

As already stated the boycott of parliament, countrywide strikes and lack of understanding between the ruling and opposition parties are damaging the democratic spirit and proper functioning of the democratic process in Bangladesh. Such a deadlock in the long run may create a failed state with a weak democratic set up. It is the responsibility of both the government and opposition parties to normalize this situation so that they can serve the country as per peoples' mandate.

There is a fear that political terrorism may threaten the future of democracy in Bangladesh. Since last few years there is spate of political violence which was not seen in the past. So far the authorities have not come up with enough success to nab the culprits. Such political violence, whether local or foreign sponsored, may create blood shed and many other problems but will not be able to destroy the entire democratic set up in the country. It is expected that in due course the government authorities will be able to nab the culprits and also take necessary steps to prevent such unfortunate incidents further.

With the bitter experience of military rulers here in the past, there is no possibility of any fresh military uprising in Bangladesh, defying its strong democratic forces. Further, such military rule in any country today can survive only with the support of big powers.

Democracy in Bangladesh is facing problems but these problems are not insurmountable. Here, one cannot ignore the strength of the democratic forces in this country. Its multiparty political environment includes nationalists, leftists, communists, islamists, rightists, centralists etc. etc. The elected ruling parties normally come from centre-leftists and nationalist groups. These political parties developed over a period of last three to four decades are functioning with their public support base. Further, elections during recent years show that female voters are participating in more and more numbers and the voters in general are becoming more and more conscious about their rights. Local and economic topics impacting their cost of living are the main issues for the voters now.

Apart from small tribal community in the hilly regions, population of the entire country constitutes a single ethnic group. Bangladesh religious communities are Muslims 89%, Hindus 10%, Buddhists, Christians & others 1%. All the religious and cultural festivals in this country are marked by harmony and exchange of goodwill. There is no ethnic or religious conflict to impede the process of democracy in Bangladesh. This is also a positive input for the democracy there.

Western observers may please note that the people of Bangladesh are moderate, largely cultural and less political. Traditional cultural base of Bangladeshi people are very strong and deep rooted. The literary and cultural works of Tagore, Nazrul, Lalon, Shukanta and many others are part of the daily life of the majority of the middle class people here. Any fundamentalist attempt to harm this glorious and secular cultural identity may create occasional problems there but in the long run such ugly attempts will not succeed.

US assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs, Christina Rocca visited Bangladesh on 13 & 14 May 2005. She discussed Bangladesh law and order situation, human rights, trade, economy and various other issues with the authorities here. When asked about the future of democracy in Bangladesh she said, "I wish a good future but I have no crystal ball".

Looking at the political environment of South Asia one may think that there is no perfect democratic set up here other than India. But this is not true. Today Bangladesh is the second important democratic country in South Asia next to India. The democratic setup in Sri Lanka is around five decades old. But the whole set up there is trouble torn now due to Tamil tiger rebellion faced by the country. With the palace coup in Nepal in February this year the government and parliament was dissolved there and its multiparty democracy faced a set back. Maldives and Bhutan are traditionally small peaceful countries, where it may take a few more years for the democratic institutions to take a proper shape. So against this background in the region, there is hardly any scope to ignore the democratic potentiality of Bangladesh. It is strongly believed that democracy in Bangladesh is capable to overcome the challenges faced by it.