The student leaders who led the July coup want the abolition of the fascist system through constitutional reforms. However, the interim government is talking about holding elections by advancing reforms in various fields. Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus recently gave an idea that the elections could be held in the first half of next year. However, there are disagreements between the government, the major parties including BNP and the coup participants regarding when and how the national assembly elections and local government elections should be held.
BNP has announced a 31-point reform program and says that this reform should be done mainly through the National Parliament. And even if some steps of reform are taken earlier on the basis of political consensus, they will be valid subject to the approval of the Parliament. For this reason, the party is demanding to hold the parliamentary elections earlier. The team is also planning to enter the field if necessary with such demands.
Although BNP has demanded national elections, the issue of Union Parishad elections has been brought forward by the government recently. And the anti-discrimination student movement and some like-minded organizations are demanding that the student council elections be held earlier in educational institutions across the country. The BNP is looking at the whole issue with suspicion of a Facebook post of the anti-discrimination student movement along with the demand for Union Parishad and Student Sangsad elections.
Regarding the election of Union Parishad, the last level of local government at the field level, Muhammad Fawzul Kabir Khan, Advisor on Electricity, Energy and Mineral Resources, gave a Facebook post last Thursday, adding three other influential advisors to the government.
He said in that post, which included two questions, “The Chief Adviser talked about the local government (union council) elections, holding the desire of the July student uprising.” Where is the opportunity for political parties to object to candidates without party symbols in these elections? Apart from independent and strong local governments, is there any other way out of one-party rule?'
The other three advisers who have been added to the Facebook post are Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Md. of the Ministry of Information. Nahid Islam and Asif Nazrul of the Ministry of Law.
Earlier, the chief adviser told European Investment Bank Vice President Nicola Baer last Wednesday that the government is preparing for the national elections and the local government elections at the same time. The government wants to ensure that the local government system is strengthened.
The leadership of BNP feels that the strategy of delaying the National Assembly elections has been taken to extend the term of the interim government and use various government institutions and facilities through the National Citizen Committee, a platform created from the anti-discrimination student movement, to set up new political parties across the country. To take time to implement this plan, the issues of union council election and student council election have been brought forward.
This idea among many of the BNP leaders was rooted in a post on the anti-discrimination student movement's Facebook page a day after the party's chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia went abroad. In this post made on January 8, it is said, 'Dui Apamukt' is the first Bangladesh. Although the Facebook post was later removed, it came to the attention of many senior BNP leaders that day.
BNP believes that the comment was made by including Awami League president Sheikh Hasina in the context of Khaleda Zia's going abroad. Hasina 'resigned' as Prime Minister in the face of the student uprising and left for Delhi on August 5. And Khaleda Zia left Dhaka for London by air ambulance on January 7 for better treatment.
BNP leaders feel that this post has clarified the plight of some influential circles of the government and many leaders of various organizations that have recently become influential. These circles want to create a political environment that they can control by keeping Khaleda Zia out of the country and delaying the national election by delaying it.
Some leaders of the party say that although the context and reasons are different, the heads of the two main political parties, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, are now out of the country. The anti-discrimination student movement's Facebook post in such a situation is similar to Kushilabad's 'minus two' formula of the army-backed government of 2007-08. At that time, it was made public that the two leaders should be kept out of politics, but actually it was to clear the way for Sheikh Hasina to come to power by sending Khaleda Zia abroad (minus one). Khaleda could not be sent abroad even after strong pressure through an influential agency of the government.
When asked about the anti-discrimination student movement's Facebook post, Umama Fatema, the spokesperson of the organization, told the newspaper yesterday, 'We are not against any party. After seeing this article on the anti-discrimination student movement page, we spoke to those in the media cell. They have been given strict instructions, it is not our intention to denigrate any political party.'
What can be the strategy of BNP on various issues including elections and reforms, is being discussed continuously in the various meetings of the National Standing Committee, the highest policy-making forum of the party.
When attention was drawn to the advisor's statement regarding local government elections, BNP Standing Committee member Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain said, 'We opposed it. Still, if (local government elections) are done, the consequences will be seen by the people of the country. The people of the country will decide.'
Pointing out that holding local elections before the national elections is a risk, he said, 'It (local government elections) does not make sense because the interim government does not have the mandate of the people. It will be worse if the elected government comes and cancels the election because it was not proper. Such incidents have happened in the past as well. So why should we take such a risk for no reason?'
BNP wants the National Assembly election earlier, he said clearly, saying that the government has promised the people that they will return the right to vote. To restore the right to vote, the people must first be restored the power to vote in national elections. The People's Government will do the following.
Several influential members of the BNP's Standing Committee said that the BNP will soon enter the field to demand the holding of parliamentary elections before the minimum reforms required to ensure the right to vote. For this, the party is being activated everywhere including union, upazila, district, division and capital. Various programs will be held in a peaceful manner in the beginning. If necessary, strict programs can be given later, they said.
A central leader of the BNP said that the anti-discrimination student movement and the National Citizen Committee are trying to set up an organizational structure across the country. Efforts are being made to attract leaders of various political, social and cultural organizations including BNP at the local level.
Another leader said that some government departments are behind the formation of new political parties. The BNP High Command has already issued instructions to monitor these activities at the central and local levels.
However, Saleh Uddin Sifat, co-spokesperson of the National Citizen Committee, told Ajker newspaper that the desire of the coup is to break all the old political arrangements and implement new political arrangements. Institutionalizing democracy. A new constitution is being drafted for that purpose. Constituent Assembly elections will be required to ensure the formulation or reform of the new constitution. Mentioning that the civic committee is not asking the interim government to frame the constitution, he said, 'The members of the Constituent Assembly elected through the Constituent Assembly elections will frame the constitution. After that, the Constituent Assembly will be transformed into a legislature.'
Sifat said, the first step of transition from the fascist state system is to deliver the services of the local institutions to the doorsteps of the people. Local elections are required for that.
On the other hand, Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the most influential supporters of the current government, is unwilling to take the adviser's statement about the local government election program seriously. The party's secretary general Mia Golam Parwar told Ajker newspaper that the government wants to hold local government elections before the national elections. If such a statement comes, the Jamaat will decide what to do.
Mia Golam Parwar also said that many people are talking about this, which is only 'idea'. Jamaat does not want to talk about any 'ideas'.
Awami League has been one of the biggest parties in local politics for 53 years before the liberation war of 1971. When attention was drawn to the various discussions within and outside the government regarding the election, an organizational secretary of the party said yesterday, 'We have to be allowed to sit first. The team should be allowed to come to one place. Let such a situation arise. Then we will think about the election.'
Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel, one of the organizing secretaries of the party, said yesterday, 'They (the government) should think in which direction they will run. No need to worry about elections.'
