Bangladesh Election Without Mandate
By NJ Thakuria
18 January, 2014
Countercurrents.org
With a predictable election outcome Sheikh Hasina has taken the oath
as the Bangladesh Prime Minister for the second consecutive time. But
the polls which was boycotted by the major opposition allies and
marred with violence killing over 200 people across the country could
receive only lukewarm appreciations from the international community.
The poverty-stricken populous country, conducted its 10th national
election on January 5, 2014 where 91 million electorates had little to
do as they found no candidates from the opposition parties in the
ballot papers. Hence the ruling Awami League (of Bangladesh) led by
Hasina and its allies could score a landslide victory with their
candidates winning in over 250 constituencies out of 300 seats.
Born in 1971 out of Pakistan through a bloody revolution, Bangladesh
has a single parliament called Jatiya Sangsad with 300 elected
members. Unlike its neighbour India, Bangladesh neither has any upper
house nor the State or provinces, implicating the Jatiya Sangsad as
the ultimate police making body for Bangladesh’s over 150 million
people.
But the last parliamentary election was merged with endless political
violence killing at least 200 people and causing extensive damages to
the public & private properties since October. Nearly 150 polling
stations were destroyed by the opposition party activists in
Chittagong, Lakshmipur, Rajshahi, Pirojpur, Sylhet, Jhenaidah, Natore,
Sirajganj, Brahmanbaria, Feni, Barisal, Rajshahi, Charaghat, Dinajpur,
Sitakunda, Daganbhuiyan etc.
Even the election date was not spared of general strike (popularly
known as Hartal in Bengali) and blockade across the country by the
opposition parties under the leadership of Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP). The opposition alliance has rejected the election outcome
and called for fresh polls as majority voters in the country had not
exercised their franchises reducing the turn out to less than 30%.
The Bangladesh chief election commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad also
admitted that the turn out was very low giving an opportunity to the
opposition leader Khaleda Zia to call the polls a ‘farcical election’.
Terming the new government under the leadership of Hasina as an
‘illegal’ entity, they maintained that Hasina should hand over power
to a neutral non-party government for holding the general election
again.
The issue of credibility for the Bangladesh election loomed large as
the polls did not involve the opposition parties. Moreover the UN, EU,
USA and Commonwealth did not send electoral observers for the polls,
though election observers from India and Bhutan were present during
the electoral exercise.
The recent political conflict in Bangladesh began when AL chief Hasina
(65), who is the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
(Bangladesh’s first President) insisted on running the national
election by an all-party caretaker government under her leadership.
The provision of a neutral & poll-time administration was already
abolished in 2010 by the Bangladesh parliament, where the AL used to
enjoy two-thirds majority, with the necessary amendments in the
constitution.
But BNP chief Khaleda (67), who is the widow of Ziaur Rahman (another
former President of Bangladesh) advocated for a non-party interim
administration to monitor the polls. A former Prime Minster Khaleda
continued asserting that until Hasina resigned as the head of the
government, the national election would never be free & fair.
Demanding the removal of Hasina from the office of Prime Minister, the
opposition parties called a series of general strikes, shutdowns and
blockades since October 2014. The last major program was the march to
Dhaka for democracy on December 29 to halt the election, which
witnessed firm response from the government. The authority virtually
put Khaleda under house arrest to prevent her joining in the rally.
No less than the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon tried to convince
both the arrogant ladies in political power to talk and resolve the
issue of neutral government to run the election, but it yielded
nothing. The UN chief also requested Hasina to postpone the election
until the opposition parties agree to join in the important electoral
process.
But Hasina did not agree and made it clear that the election would be
held in accordance with the Bangladesh constitution under the
supervision of Bangladesh election commission. Prior to the election,
Hasina addressed the nation through the television and claimed that
she tried her best to convince the opposition leaders to join in the
polls, but they only put a deaf ear to it.
The political feud between Hasina and Khaleda has tempted millions of
poor Bangladeshis to storm into the streets and quarrel relentlessly
without any constructive outcome. The political instability in the
country due to personal rivalry between the two high profile Begums is
widely known and discussed in various national and international
political forums.
The chaotic election also resulted in unabated attacks on minority
Hindu families in the country. Unofficial sources claimed that over
500 attacks on the minority communities were reported in Bangladesh
since the electoral process started. Hundreds of business stalls and
households, owned by the Hindu families were destroyed in the attacks
those took place in Jessore, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Satkhira, Thakurgaon,
Panchagarh, Bogra, Lalmonirhat, Rajshahi, Nilphamari, Kurigram,
Dinajpur, Chittagong etc.
Numerous women & children from the minority communities fled their
homes and many of them are still hiding in fear of further attacks.
Their homes destroyed, some sleep under the open sky in the cold air
of winter nights. Neither the state nor humanitarian organizations
have responded with adequate food and shelter for the victims.
Contrary to general understating that the minorities are being
attacked by the supporters of BNP and its fundamental ally
Jamaat-e-Islami only, many believe that attacks were instigated by
the ruling AL workers also. In fact, the incidences of targeting of
non-Muslims for political gains were engineered by both the AL and BNP
activists.
Subrata Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian
Unity Council argued that not only the opposition allies, the AL
supporters were also involved in many incidences of atrocities on
minorities.
“We have found that in many places the Awami Leaguers are involved in
the attacks on minority families. Moreover, if only the opposition
allies had committed the crimes, why the Hasina government prefers to
remain reluctant in taking actions against the perpetrators,”
questioned Advocate Chowdhury, who practices in Bangladesh Supreme
Court.
He also lamented that a blame culture within the political parties of
Bangladesh had grown that is denying the justice to the victims. It
has become a norm that no matter what, attackers will always be able
to escape the justice and no action would be taken against those
officers who failed to safeguard the minority.
India, which was the first country to congratulate Hasina for her
re-election as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, has already raised
the issue of growing attacks on minorities specially the Hindus in the
neighboring country. Hasina assured New Delhi that her government
would leave no stone unturned to protect the religious minorities.
Earlier Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had expressed grave concern at
the ongoing atrocities on Hindu families in the south Asian country.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley spoke about the widespread attacks on
Hindus in different parts of Bangladesh and expressed grave anxieties
in the upper house of Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
As condemnations poured on Dhaka for its failure to protect the
minorities in Bangladesh, Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) came
out with a strong statement terming the growing attacks on the
minorities as a shame on Bangladesh and also urged the Hasina
government and Bangladesh civil society groups to stop the communal
violence ‘now and forever’.
The Hong Kong based rights group however acknowledged that it was not
the first such series of attacks reported from the poverty stricken
country, but the latest instance in a litany of shameful attacks on
the dwindling Hindu population of Bangladesh, which has slipped down
from around 25% in 1971 to less than 10% today.
“Attacking minorities has become an election tradition in the
country,” asserted the AHRC statement adding that ‘whether real or
fake, rigged or boycotted, no election appears to be complete without
literal minority bashing’ in Bangladesh.
Nava Thakuria is a Guwahati based journalist
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