Rayhan Ahmed Tapadar, London, UK -Writer, Researcher and Columnist : Resignation of the Bangladesh Prime Minister and the next challenge Bangladesh Prime Minister’s resignation and the next challenge Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned. He also left the country with his sister Sheikh Rohana. On Monday, August 5, 2024, various media outlets around the world made a statement with such information. BBC reported that Sheikh Hasina left the country in a military helicopter for safe haven. Sheikh Rehana is with him. Air Commodore Abbas flew the Bangladesh Air Force helicopter to Agartala, the capital of Tripura. He is a member of one hundred and one squadron. Referring to a source, it is said in the news, before that Prime Minister Hasina was given time by the Bangladesh army to resign. A source claimed that he was given 45 minutes. However, several other sources claim that the whole matter has been discussed with the army and Delhi. After that, Hasina resigned. Sheikh Hasina has resigned from the post of Prime Minister in the face of a round of demands for the government’s resignation in the anti-discrimination student movement. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina took oath as Prime Minister for the fourth consecutive time on January 11 this year. Before that, he served as the Prime Minister in 1996 through the election of the Seventh National Assembly. Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister after winning the Ninth National Parliament elections in 2008 under the caretaker government supported by the army. Then in 2014, the 10th parliamentary elections were one-sided, in which the opposition parties did not participate. There is also controversy over the 11th National Assembly elections in 2018. There were widespread allegations of ballots being sealed the night before this election. This election is known as night vote.
And in January of this year, he became the prime minister again through the 12th national parliament election. However, this election is also controversial. The main opposition parties did not participate in this either. Dummy contests are organized by making independent candidates of party leaders. The opposition termed this election as a dummy election. After six months, in the face of massive student and public protests, he resigned today and left the country by helicopter. But sad but true, the whole country saw the procession of death. Every killing is a defeat for humanity. We saw that happen. This dangerous path cannot be desired by anyone. Partition did not allow the country to stand on its own feet for a long time. Mutual understanding had disappeared. A frenzied display of energy is doing little. Ambivalence, provocation, force are not solutions. Murder, loss of nation, loss of state. Brutality twists people. The tendency to think of yourself as a winner in the short term is a loser in the long term. It appeared again. The people of the whole country are seeing that the present political arrangement is not working. The people are not represented through the exercise of suffrage. The government was overwhelmed by the crisis of illegitimacy. Due to the lack of accountability to the people, a one-party state system is created as a monopolistic political settlement based on the power of the state apparatus and a combination of development messages and rule models. Absence of separation of powers was seen as there was no check and balance between the three departments of the state, Parliament, Executive and Judiciary, constitutionally. All power was concentrated in one person. The state was not subject to the will of the people. Without the sovereignty of the people, it is difficult to guarantee civil rights. In the constitution, there is no opportunity to vote for anyone outside the party.
The fundamental question remains, for whom, why and how is the national budget determined? How will people’s money be monitored and accountable? This constitution is riddled with many questions. Where there was no social contract between the people and the state. Another big problem is that no political party in Bangladesh has ever been able to hand over power to another political party. Continuity of one-party rule is not political stability either. The fragile state of the citizen’s social contract with the state is alienating the government from the citizen. The current mass movement is not only among students; This mass awakening takes the form of social consent to get rid of the three diseases. Apamar Janata has always associated itself with the demand for justice. They are reluctant to live the conflict. The resolution of the conflict is in the new political settlement; In the new social contract i.e. in the new constitution. This demand is also rooted in the fundamental basis of the liberation war namely equality, human dignity and social justice. These events have repeatedly changed the nation and the state. For example, the Fifth Republic is underway in France. As the ‘Articles of Confederation’ in the case of the United States proved ineffective in meeting the needs of the young nation, the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 adopted a new constitution. It is the oldest written national constitution in force in the world. It should be noted that, although the Convention mandated to amend the Articles of Confederation initially, the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan and then the Connecticut Compromise and the Constitution were adopted. In framing the new constitution, the acceptable national government may adopt a convention or a constituent assembly or both, taking into account the context of Bangladesh.
There may be more arguments about the process. There are examples of acceptable national government system in different countries of the world including Bangladesh. In an emergency a state can legitimately act in ways that would normally be legal even if not constitutional. There is a precedent in the case of Bangladesh in 1991. Conventions are social rules, an unwritten understanding; It is observed universally. A new convention is agreed upon to resolve a specific procedural problem that has arisen. However, the country’s economy has a way out of the current challenges. There is no room for despair. But the current political settlement stands in the way of a solution. These challenges cannot be met without changing the political environment. The country’s institutions have fallen into the abyss of the status quo. The crux of tribalism is not able to find creative ways to solve it. The basic principles of a country’s development policy are derived from the public aspirations created through the struggle of the people of the country concerned. From that point of view, it can be said that the ambitious development policy is to understand and accept the kind of society that the people of a country want to live in. This social transformation is deeply rooted in economics, society and politics. Hence the conflict of Ajanm remains between these two opposing entities – desire and imposition. The economy is going through a period of transition. Deterioration of all indicators is its testimony. The real wage gap is widening with chronic inflation. Not only the families below the poverty line, but also the people with low and fixed incomes are suffering due to the price hike. Most people are plagued by discrimination. Employment, income and savings of the lower middle class and middle-middle class have been hit hard.
The youth in particular are being pushed into a precarious journey without transforming into manpower. The middle classes of society have been eroded. Similarly, businesses, especially small enterprises, have also been affected by price hikes. Even if the price of food products increases, the farmers do not get the benefit, but the middlemen get it. Farmers live on debt. There is a tension in cash from house to house. The debt burden of the government is also evident. It is difficult to pay dues due to low income. Low reserves and supply of foreign exchange and continuous decline in the value of the rupee against the dollar have created a deep depression in the economy. The economy is in ICU under the IMF bailout package. Now the international institutions are also silent about the development surprise; Rather, various credit forecasting institutions in the world are lowering the country’s credit rating. The ‘invisible hand’ of the market cannot function as the visible hand—power and authority—is centralized. Without the participation of the majority of the people in the political settlement, monopolies in the economy and factionalism in politics are created. Economic development is sustainable only where accountability and public participation are ensured. On the other hand, when cronyism controls everything, all indicators of economic development will be reversed. It happened in the case of Bangladesh. Apart from this, any claim to compromise between democracy and development by talking about a myth about some countries of South East and East Asia is theoretically unacceptable and there is no data and evidence to prove it. Rather there is public order. However, without structural reforms, the economy will not breathe.
A country can never withstand external pressures when patronage-based nepotism politics creates power asymmetries and is marred by the tendency to exploit the ruling elite to the exclusion of the majority of the people. From the experience of history, new creative ways of overcoming obstacles have emerged over the ages. Bangladesh has and will find solutions in its own way. When the rich and the policymakers are united, a clandestine market is created. This market imposes more coercion on consumers. Only a radical reform of the regulatory system can turn the market into an institution of trust. All are deprived of universal education, health care and national social security based on the full life-cycle. Universal and quality education and health system are fundamental pillars of the recovery programme. Full life-cycle based national social security including universal pension benefits, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, child care benefits, housing benefits, income support benefits and health benefits are essential for social protection. De-industrialization for job creation, diversification of exports, increasing productivity and competitiveness are medium-term strategies for restructuring. A shift away from the current consumption expenditure-centric GDP growth model towards employment-creating sustainable green growth focused on domestic and foreign investment is the desired target. The evolving global system is undergoing complexities. Geopolitics and geoeconomics intertwine the known and the unknown in the context of development discourse. This unknown hazard is also creating a confusing situation. It is important to adopt a transformative strategy in identifying the complications promptly. It must be remembered that Bangladesh’s present and future are in an inclusive system.