10 January 2014, 05:22 PM IST
Let's get one thing straight. The recent general election in Bangladesh was 100% legitimate. It was held in a timely fashion. The election was conducted within the stipulated three months before the end of the tenure of the previous government. The polls were also conducted under the aegis of the Election Commission of Bangladesh and sought to enlist the participation of all political stakeholders, including each and every segment of Bangladeshi society.
That the overall voter turnout was relatively low does not in any way take away from the legitimacy of the polls themselves. It needs to be borne in mind that despite the best efforts of the government of the day, opposition parties voluntarily chose to stay away from the polls. Neither were they forced to take this decision. On the contrary, on polling day opposition parties left no stone unturned to disrupt the election process, including setting polling booths on fire and intimidating and attacking voters, specifically from the minority Hindu community.
In such a scenario, the ruling Awami League dispensation cannot be blamed for the current political imbroglio in Bangladesh. In fact, it did everything according to the rule book. In terms of legality Bangladesh's 10th parliamentary polls were perfectly legitimate. Having established this let's examine the opposition's position. The BNP-led 18-party alliance opted to stay out of Parliament for the last five years, choosing instead to conduct its politics through hartals and street agitations. Instead of engaging in meaningful parliamentary debates, it saw it fit to browbeat the ruling government into giving it what it wants.
Which brings us to the caretaker government issue. True, the 1996, 2001 and 2008 general elections were all held under a poll-time caretaker government. It is also accurate that in 1996 it was the Awami League that had agitated for the introduction of the caretaker system to oversee polls. However, the last caretaker government – which was backed by the military – was far from kosher. It had unconstitutionally proclaimed emergency rules and delayed elections by almost two years.
It is in this context that the Bangladeshi Supreme Court's 2011 verdict on the caretaker government provision needs to be seen. The apex court ruled that the caretaker system – and the relevant 13th Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution – wasn't congruent with the democratic character of the Bangladeshi state, as it was tantamount to rule by a non-elected administration. In fact, the court had directed the government to make relevant amendments to the Constitution to reflect its judgment. True, it had also said that the next two parliamentary elections could be held under the caretaker system. But this was left to the discretion of the government, something that was clarified in the detailed order of the court.
It was following this that the Awami League government introduced the 15th Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution to abolish the caretaker government system. It is also relevant to note that the original petition against the caretaker system was filed in the Bangladeshi high court in 2000. Subsequently, the petition was brought before the Supreme Court in 2005. Hence, the argument that the present Awami regime had engineered the scrapping of the caretaker system in its last tenure is patently false.
Secondly, the 15th Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution abolishing the caretaker system was passed in Parliament with two-thirds majority. Having boycotted the last Parliament for the most part, BNP and the opposition alliance can hardly complain about the amendment now. In fact, they could have very well chosen to contest the general election on the plank that they would restore the caretaker system. Instead of testing their political popularity, they tried to force the government into reintroducing the caretaker system from outside.
The opposition argument that polls under the ruling dispensation couldn't be fair is also specious. In fact, the opposition had swept to victory in a series of consecutive local polls ahead of the general election. To deem those fair and not the general election is blatant hypocrisy. The truth is the opposition alliance was far from certain of sweeping the parliamentary polls. The war crimes trials have indicted or convicted the entire top leadership of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally of the BNP-led opposition alliance. Jamaat, in fact, has been disqualified as a political party, given its religious orientation and refusal to make the party constitution congruent with the Representation of People Order and the Bangladeshi Constitution. Ideologically, Jamaat doesn't even believe in the concept of a sovereign democratic Bangladeshi state.
The war crime trials have rekindled the spirit of Bangladesh's Liberation War. This has been manifest in the Shahbagh movement where lakhs of people led by Bangladesh's freedom fighters, intellectuals and the secular youth have taken to the streets to demand death for all war criminals and an end to the politics of Jamaat.
Add to this the fact that the Awami administration, notwithstanding several hiccups, has managed to provide good governance, steady economic growth and infrastructure development. Hence, the opposition did not feel confident to take part in the electoral process. Rather than risk losing at the polls, it figured it would be better to try and discredit the government and the parliamentary election. However, the fact that the polls went ahead means that the opposition strategy backfired. Not only will this force BNP to negotiate with the government – something it has now indicated it is ready to do – but also compel it to shun the path of violence and destruction.
The completion of the 10th parliamentary polls also symbolises a triumph of constitutionalism. For far too long, Bangladeshi politics has been determined by a culture of violence that must come to an end. For Bangladeshi democracy to strengthen and flourish, the rule of Constitution must be enforced without any exceptions. The 15th Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution has already made the basic tenets of the charter sacrosanct and closed off any possibility of amendments through extra-constitutional means. If BNP wants to amend constitutional provisions it must do it through Parliament.
Considering all these facts, it is clear that the West has no basis for its criticism of the 10th parliamentary polls in Bangladesh. It can at best urge BNP and its allies to participate in future elections. But it has no choice but to accept the new government, given its constitutional legitimacy and democratic authority. As for BNP and its allies, they must prepare for many more elections conducted under the aegis of the Election Commission. Otherwise, they risk losing their political relevance altogether.
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