Government will have to exit like Ershad
– Kader Siddiqui
The people react to some of the things the Prime Minister says. She doesn't have to be an expert of everything. If one person is such a expert on all matters, this can only lead to disaster. This government will have to beat an exit in the same manner as the Ershad government in the nineties… It was in this Dhaka that Bangabandhu was made Father of the Nation. If this Dhaka is divided, that would amount to dissecting Bangabandhu... India doesn't want such extreme overtures of friendship… Kader Siddiqui speaks in a candid interview with PROBE
What would you say about the present predicament of the country?
We are gradually losing our conscience. Whichever government comes to power, all they imagine to see is success. And the opposition can only see failure. This is all due to the narrowness of our conscience. There is so much difference between an autocracy and a democracy and the people discern this well from the actions of the government. The conversations heard at the tea stalls and on the streets are enough to reveal how the government is running the country, and how the people are faring. No matter how much the Honorable Prime Minister says that the country is well, I will emphatically state that all is not well with the country and the people. The people are fearful of the future. The government can give them no relief, cannot offer them peace. This is the government's failure. A democracy in word, but autocracy in deed can never bode well for the nation.
Is this the result of the having an absolute majority of the ruling party in parliament?
If there is no obstacle in the way, there is no incentive, no inspiration to forge ahead. I doubt if there is such a lackluster, hapless, mendicant parliament anywhere else in the world. Unless there is a formidable opposition in parliament, the government mettle can not be proven. Many say that there is no need for an opposition in the House; the ruling party is doing the job itself. It is the ruling party people who make such comments. I would say this is shameful. When the Treasury Bench takes on the role of the opposition, there is something seriously wrong.
Will the present crisis in parliament lead to further crisis?
Sometimes trouble is simply invited. There really was no need for such radical changes in the Constitution. The changes have not helped those who brought about the changes, nor have they helped those for whom the changes were supposedly made, that is the people. This has caused more harm than help. The mess made of the Constitution is nothing but cheating the people and Allah does not tolerate cheaters.
Will those who have locked the Constitution remain in power till qayamat (the Day of Judgement)? They are fools. They are in a stupor like the Chinese of the past who were constantly doped with opium. It is the right of the people to discuss the Constitution, debate about it. Yet they say if we discuss the Constitution, this will amount to sedition. Whoever has done this is certainly not a friend of the government.
No matter what the Honourable Prime Minister might say, it is simply not possible for one person to look after everything of the state. If one person is such an expert about everything, this can only lead to disaster. One person can't be an expert on so many issues. The Prime Minister's panel is supposed to comprise experts on various issues. The Prime Minister has to be an expert to understand which piece of advice from these specialists to accept and which to reject.
Those who say that this Constitution can never be changed, are totally undemocratic. Again, those who say this Constitution should be relegated to the dustbin, are not correct either.
Will the 'caretaker government' become an issue in our future politics?
This will lead to clashes. No parent willfully kills their child, but this government has virtually done that by removing the caretaker clause from the parliament. We will not contest in the election under a political government. The government is so deeply entrenched in corruption, has lost people's trust to such an extent, that the people will not accept an election under the party government.
The person who worked hard to introduce the caretaker government system, is the one now who has killed it. This will not bode well for the nation. The people in Bangladesh will not accept an election under a party government. Even if it is a fair election, they will reject it.
How can this crisis be solved?
It can be solved if the ruling party and the opposition join hands in coming up with an acceptable election system. An election forced upon the people will be rejected. One must keep in mind that the people of Bangladesh make sure that they get what they want. We wanted independence and we got it. We wanted a caretaker government system, we got it. The people want that system back again now; they demand it. If the government respects the demands of the people, they must accept this. If not, they must step down. You will remember, during the 1990 movement, Ershad had no alternative but to leave power. This government will face the same fate.
A few months ago two leaders of the ruling party met with you. Are you still in contact with the ruling party?
Yes, I am in contact with them. There is also possibility of the ruling party being in contact with the opposition. It is beneficial if these relations are easy.
After the attack on Col. Oli Ahmed in Chittagong, does it look like the government party wants good relations with the opposition?
This is despicable. If one abuses someone and then is obliged to sit with him in the meeting, the abuser himself is belittled. It is the responsibility of the state to safeguard its citizens' dignity. It is most undemocratic to behave in such a manner with a former minister and Member of Parliament. If you don't like what he says, you can protest. You can demonstrate in front of him. You can let him know that you didn't like his statement. But such blatant intolerance is reprehensible.
During Pakistan times, we would obstruct the way of Muslim League leaders, wave black flags. They would be able to make their way to wherever they were going. We never threw stones. We never damaged vehicles. They knew that we would go up to a certain point and that was enough to get the message through.
The government is nearing three years in power. Do you think it has achieved what it should have within this time?
It is unfortunate for this government that the people are not bothered with its achievements. For some reason, the people dislike this government. I feel the government had raised the people's expectations too high. It failed to go anywhere near those expectations and so the people are disappointed. And the government fails to discern these feelings of the people. On the contrary, they imagine that they are very popular and that the state cannot survive without them.
What will be the consequence of the poor state of the country's economy?
It is not difficult to see that the consequence will be terrible. You need to eat, you need food, not rhetoric. A few days ago the Prime Minister remarked, "As for those who do not see the government's achievements, the developments, those who simply sit in air-conditioned rooms and spew out criticism, I shall cut off their electricity." If a village child made such a remark, or even a housewife, that would be understandable. But a Prime Minister cannot speak like this on television.
If she was not Bangabandhu's daughter, the reaction to her statement would have been violent. Which law says she can cut off electricity of those who speak against her and keep the power line of those in her favour?
Before the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Bangladesh, we were given all sorts of hope, but finally even the Teesta water problem wasn't resolved. And now they are going ahead with the Tipaimukh dam. Is this the government's failure or the failure of the people? Or is it that one-sided friendships do not work out?
The people of a state are never the ones who fail. It is the people who retrieve the state from abject failure. The people are the wealth of the state. At times it seems we have the best of relations with India, but that is not the actually case.
Ground reality is that we have relations with India and we will continue to have relations with them. They are our neighbours. Even if they become the strongest power in the world, they cannot lift us up and send us to Africa. They will never have the power to do so. At the same time, we cannot expect them to go out of their way to do things for us. It is a political miscalculation if we expect them to do so.
There are certain boundaries to friendship. Both sides must proceed on the same footing. But we are going out of the way to display how much we crave their friendship. Don't they appreciate that?
I visited India recently and I had the feeling they did not appreciate such overtures. They want good relations with the people. They do not want our people to misunderstand them.
They are going ahead with the Tipaimukh Barrage without informing the people of Bangladesh. How does this imply they want good relations?
A delegation from here went to inspect Tipaimukh, but they couldn't even alight from the helicopter. Why didn't they wait for two more days, or go by road, see the site for themselves and give their informed opinion to the people. Or they could have gone again 10 days later. They did not have any sense of urgency.
No matter how large a country India may be, it cannot misbehave with its neighbours.
So where is the problem? Is this a failure of the government?
Undoubtedly. We are in a mess. Manmohan's visit could have been an historical event had the people not been given so much expectations, had their hopes not be raised so high.
The government needn't have made so much noise about Teesta. The entire visit of Manmohan was coordinated by the advisor Gowhar Rizvi. The concerned ministry did nothing. Gowhar Rizvi is nothing of the state, not even an advisor of the government. He is Advisor to the Prime Minister. Our Foreign Minister can speak sweetly, it sounds good to the ears. But she has been an absolute failure in running the Foreign Ministry. She doesn't even know what a buffer state is. She has made so many tours abroad, but this has brought us no benefit whatsoever.
When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon came to Bangladesh, the Foreign Minister should have received him at the airport. Instead, he was received by the Foreign Secretary. He was our guest and the Foreign Minister left him to go on a tour. This was an embarrassment for the country. The guest was there, but the host was absent – our culture doesn't allow this.
The term of this Election Commission ends in February. Do you think we will then get an Election Commission acceptable to all?
Our government thinks they will remain in power indefinitely. Our governments come to power for five years. If they prove to be failures. There is no guarantee that they will remain in power. It is unfortunate that every time a government comes to power here, they imagine that they will remain at the helm for the next 20 to 25 years. This government is no different. However, the people doubt if this government will even be able to remain five years in power.
The people must have confidence in the Election Commission. They have to have confidence in the political parties. The performance of the present Election Commission is not very good. They at times act as if they are the masters and the political parties are their students. In the morning they say the army will be deployed during the election; in the evening they say it won't be deployed. People are not happy with such behaviour. So I think that before a new Commission is formed, the opinion of the major political parties and the people must be taken into cognizance so that it is acceptable to all. It will be a problem if the government simply installs an Election Commission of its own liking.
BNP has been opposed to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) from the very beginning. What is the stand of your party in this regard?
When the matter of the EVM was raised, the Prime Minister repeatedly said that the voting would be done electronically. Naturally this raised suspicions. My question is, why is the present Election Commission so enthusiastic about EVM? Does this mean that whether or not the machines are used in the future, someone is benefiting from these machines being purchased now? Such doubts are not unnatural. The EVM is flawed and these flaws must first be corrected. My party is not in favour of the EVM system during the elections. We will voice our objection.
Do you support the government's move to divide Dhaka into two?
Dividing Dhaka into two, to my mind, is tantamount to diving Bangladesh into two. It was in this Dhaka that Bangabandhu was made Father of the Nation. It was from here that he became recognized globally as the leader of the people. If Dhaka is divided, that would amount to dissecting Bangabandhu.
http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=7597
Kader Siddiqui speaks
http://dailynayadiganta.com/details/14227
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