The truth about POLITICAL CRISIS IN BANGLADESH - the anatomy inside out
Prof. Bijon B. Sarma, Architecture Discipline, Khulna University
Aug. 18, 2007

The foiling of the conspiracy of the BNP-Khaleda government by the dedicated workers of Awami league in December 2006 and the subsequent takeover and new ventures by the caretaker government has initiated the possibility of better and brighter future for Bangladesh. The immediate need of the time is to find out a mechanism, which may establish the program taken by the caretaker government on a strong and permanent base. In this article the author has endeavored to find out such mechanism.

In six parts the article discusses the following:(a) Background issues in brief (Part One), (b) Analysis and synthesis of background issues to find out the major reasons (Part Two), (c) Analyzing the reasons to find out the framework of solutions (Part Three) and (d) Specific proposals (Part Four, Five and Six).

INTRODUCTION: Whatever disease-infested, corrupt, terror-reigned, accident-prone and hazard-full country Bangladesh might be, for a Bangladeshi citizen (and believing in Bangalee culture) this one is by far the best country of the world. For them it is the heaven to live, love and die. True that thousands of Bangladeshi flock to alien countries every year in search of jobs and for better living. But still, with their affluence abroad, most of them suffer from nostalgia, which takes place because of their extreme love for this land. Had there any guarantee of job and moderate living, most, if not all, of the non-resident Bangladeshi’s won’t think of living elsewhere. It is most unfortunate that such a dream country is often subjected to ‘worthless rulers’ whose only target is to enrich themselves and their relatives at the pains and tears of the common people, who are the real owners of this land. Democracy is by far the best political administration for mankind. Unfortunately the same did not work well in Bangladesh. The period ‘February, 2007 to date’ of Bangladesh may be termed as the exceptional period because, because for the first time in the history of this land, the people have been able to know how nasty some of their political leaders and corrupt bureaucrats are. The problem is, the present regime is, by all means, interim in nature and will be replaced shortly by another one. Naturally the hardest task before the nation at this moment is to find out a democratic system, that might be able to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the people and shall in no way allow the nasty politicians to start their evil activities. In order to present the proposal we need a brief discussion of the background issues. After this we shall endeavor to chalk out a probable mechanism.

BACKGROUND ISSUES (1971- date): HISTORY: LIBERATION WAR (March-December, 1970): Quite accidentally Bangladesh got independence on December 16, 1971, that was later declared to have retrospective effect from March 26th, 1971. We used the term “accidentally” because there was no calculated approach and intelligently chalked out plan, program, precaution or arrangement for it. It could have resulted in total destruction. In fact luck or some rare coincidences brought the impossible success. A number of activities by Awami League all on a sudden plunged the common people amidst warfare. Barehanded they discovered themselves before the armed forces of Pakistan and their local collaborators (rajakars). While this was the internal scene, externally, the two powerful countries, USA and China appeared as their greatest enemy. As soon as the warfare started three types of people witnessed their immediate peril. They were (01) The Hindus, whom the Pakistanis and rajakars considered as their worst enemy, (02) The political workers who initiated the agitation and (03) The Military personnel who could survive by fleeing. Seeing no other alternative these people fled to India. All on a sudden India discovered over ten million asylum-seekers on her territory. India realized she could never get rid of this burden unless and until amicable situation could be created in East Pakistan. Because of her closeness with this country and hatred for USA, USSR extended hands of assistance. The Bengalese with their habitual proficiency in literature and performing arts, however could take the story of their pains and tears to distant lands, where the common people including the citizens of USA felt deep concern. Inside the country thousands of men were killed not because they fought or committed any offence, but because of their political rulers waged war without issuing any warning sign. In the independent country history was written with the praise for those whose unplanned activities brought deaths and pains for millions. Bangalees are extremely lucky that in spite of such unplanned activities by the political leaders they got liberation. This logically impossible incident happened because of the mass-migration that created headache for India. The hatred of USSR for the habitual anti-people activities of USA also played crucial role.

THE RULERS: (01) BANGABANDHU SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN (1972-1975): During this short period, Awami League under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had to manage a war-trodden country with numerous problems and at the same time, face incessant hostilities from the enemy-countries of liberation (Pakistan, USA and China). Naturally, the country did not achieve notable progress. In 1975, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed. (02) ZIAUR RAHMAN (1975-1982): After Bangabandhu’s death, Ziaur Rahman, an army personnel rose to power. All on a sudden the enemy-countries of liberation turned good friends. Zia first appeared with martial law. He declared that he would make “Politics difficult for the politicians”. He really made that. He manipulated and polluted the democratic system of election. He devised the mechanism in which his party could come out elected for all time to come under the disguise of countrywide democratic election. Following Ayub Khan’s policy, he introduced an armed students fraction to supplement his militant political workers. In order to fight with such an opponent, other political parties (principally Awami League) had to employ militant people and form fortified students party. Zia did not feel any shortage of money, because it was within his reach. Other political parties, however, had to devise their own ways of collecting money. Zia foiled the democratic system of election by using militant workers in the field and through manipulation in the counting system. He was the pioneer of polluting democracy in this country. He was murdered in 1982. (03) ERSHAD (1982-1990): Ershad, another man from armed forces rose to power after Zia’s death. His regime was nothing but repetition of the earlier regime. (04) KHALEDA ZIA (1991-1996): Ershad was ousted due to agitation staged by the combined political parties (principally Awami League and BNP). As a consequence, election was held under caretaker government. BNP, the favorite party of the enemies of liberation came to power and Khaleda Zia became the prime minister. By this time the political parties learnt the general teaching from the two generals, Zia and Ershad. The teaching was “it was possible to capture power not by fulfilling the people’s wish, but by manipulating the voting process and satisfying some foreign powers”. During this time USA, as usual continued its policy of supporting the anti-people governments all over the world and Bangladesh was no exception. (05) SHEIKH HASINA (1996-2001): In 1996, election was held immediately after Khaleda was ousted due to people’s movement. In such a situation no foreign power found it ‘practical’ to reinstate this party. As a consequence, Awami League headed by Hasina came to power. She endeavored to maintain good relation with the powerful countries. But when she disagreed to maintain the same at the cost of the country’s interest (for example, gas export) her future was determined. (06) KHALEDA ZIA (2001-2006): In 2001, Khaleda won the election by the blessings of foreign power and atrocities of the militants of her party. During this regime she did the worst a politician can ever do to a country. She polluted each and every sphere of administration, legislation, education etc. At the end of 2006, her evil plans were foiled due to vigorous fights staged by the workers and supporters of Awami League. Even if this party never comes to power in future, Awami League will always be remembered and credited for “putting ash to Khaleda’s dish of delicacy” (Bengali proverb) and at the same time, to pave the path to bright light that we now see under the caretaker government. The caretaker government would not have got the scope to clean the polluted society unless the workers of Awami league staged that type of war against Khaleda’s militants. Those who read of “Satyagraha” staged by Mahatma Gandhi against the British government might agree that Awami League’s war against Khaleda in 2006 was in no way less vigorous and gracious than Satyagraha. If the present government becomes successful in ensuring a “superior Bangladesh” the people would always remember with gratitude the great sacrifice of Awami League.

KHALEDA’S FALL AND AWAMI LEAGUE’S NEMESIS: Awami League is the lone party having good concern for Bangladesh and her people, even though all its activities do not follow logic or ethics. The selfish-natured foreign powers never liked to see this party in power. While in power, the party had to have incessant fight internally with the militants of BNP, Jamat etc. and externally, with the selfish foreign powers. In course of continuing movement in such a complex and snaky route, this party also had to find out ways to collect money in order to meet the huge expenditure. When there happened big transactions, most, if not all of Hasina’s relatives, friends and associates made their fortunes. This was definitely unethical and the offenders deserve due punishment. However, some of those who gave money to this party may feel satisfied to know that without their money this party would not become successful in bringing an end to Khaleda’s nasty rule and to create scope for the present government to clean the country.

CARETAKER GOVERNMENT (2007-date): The caretaker government, for the first time in this land has established many instances, prominent among which are: (i) No offender is above the law, (ii) Someone’s unethically earned money belongs not to him, but to the Government, (iii) It is possible to find out mechanism in which even the officials fighting corruptions may be trapped when they are derailed etc. The program of this government has created new hope among the people. Due to exposure of the faces of the past rulers the people have become worried about ‘democracy’. The people of Bangladesh know that there are both good and bad people in the country and that good men may have to turn bad under certain conditions as created by the two military generals and Khaleda. After analyzing the background issues it is not difficult to understand that: (01) There is no scope for good men to compete in election in the present system, (02) Even if good persons are sent to power, they won’t be able to maintain honesty for obvious reason. The present government, by all means, is an interim government. They may implement and continue their programs so long they are in power. As per constitution they are to handover power to the elected government. If a permanent solution to the above two problems cannot be devised and implemented in our election system, then all those achieved by the caretaker government would go in vain.

Part Two: ANALYZING THE BACKGROUND ISSUES TO FIND OUT THE REASONS Prof. Bijon B. Sarma FACTORS AFFECTING OUR POLITICS: In this part of the article we shall endeavor to find out who and what pollutes our political life and election system. Some of the major factors affecting the politics and political environment of Bangladesh are the following:

(01) EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE: Only infant child and fools would say that there is no influence of foreign forces on the politics of Bangladesh. In the past we have noticed unnatural movement of foreign diplomats to be followed by killing of our national leaders. During the past couple of years the government’s refusal to accept proposal from the foreign countries has been discovered to have been followed by agitation, managed by foreign-aided NGO’s. Only a few months ago the newspapers published news saying that Khaleda (BNP) collected large sum of money from the number one enemy-country of our liberation. It is natural that the political parties, which promise to fulfill the needs of foreign countries, get their financial support and blessings. Only the ruling part gets this privilege. Since money play significant role in their politics, other parties are compelled to do something in order to stay in completion. In short we can say, FUNDING BY FOREIGN POWERS TO SOME POLITICAL PARTIES CREATE IMBALANCE AND COMPELS OTHER PARTIES TO ADOPT UNETHICAL MEASURES.

(02) MONEY-EARNING TREND IN POLITICS: These days politics has turned to an excellent money-earning business. As a consequence, businessmen and ordinary people, whose education and knowledge do not satisfy the minimum standard of the befitting politicians, indulge in this act. As soon a person is elected, it becomes his unwritten responsibility to meet the expenses of the party. Naturally once such a person is elected he starts acquiring wealth in order to: (a) Make himself, his family, relatives and friends rich, (b) Create fund for the future elections and (c) Meet the never-ending hunger of the party. In short we can say, ENTRY OF NON-STANDARD PEOPLE IN THE POLITICAL ARENA HAVE LOWERED ITS OVERALL STANDARD AND PERFORMANCES.

(03) REQUIREMENT OF HUGE MONEY FOR THE PARTY: It is a common experience that in order to maintain a political party one needs millions of Taka. External finance for some parties make the situation more complicated for the competing parties. The party collects money firstly from those who seek election. After these men are elected they are unofficially assigned to procure or help the party workers to procure money. Various parties have devised their own mechanism of collecting money. Some of these are: (i) Using the local miscreants as party workers on condition that they would pay commission to the party and the party would save them from the law enforcing authorities. (ii) Using various fractions (students, labor, women, youth etc) of the party to raise money on condition of paying commission to the party. (iii) Inflating the rate of tender-able jobs and to give those to parties willing to give kick-backs. (iv) Collecting commission from the various corrupt persons and organizations. In our system of democratic election, the party needs enormous sum of money for publicity, maintaining salaried workers, combating hazardous situations and so on. If the men in politics endeavored to maintain honesty they could have minimized the party expenditure. Quite often it does not work because of interferences by foreign government and multi-national companies. In short we can say, THE TREMENDOUS COST OF MAINTAINING POLITICAL PARTY HAS POLLUTED OUR POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT. PROF. BIJON B. SARMA, ARCHITECTURE DISCIPLINE, KHULNA UNIVERSITY POLITICAL CRISIS OF BANGLADESH.

Part Three: ANALYZING THE REASONS TO FIND OUT THE FRAMEWORK OF SOLUTIONS

COMBATING THE SITUATION: After knowing the background issues relating to History and its implications in Economics, we can go for analyzing the reasons. The principle reasons revealed above are: (01) Foreign interference, (02) Entry of non-standard people and (03) Excessive cost of the party. Now we shall discus these problems with a view to find out the solution.

(01) FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: In the recent decades foreign funding has been associated with business, most of which go in their favor and against Bangladesh. There is practically no way to stop such funding. The only way in which it can be stopped is to: (a) Alert people about the ill-effects of such funding and to request them to reject the parties which accepts foreign fund, (b) Formulate such rules that the proof of a party accepting such fund would lead to the cancellation of its registration for minimum five years etc.

(02) ENTRY OF NON-STANDARD PEOPLE: The situations narrated above clearly indicates why good people do not feel like entering in politics. At present the game of election has turned to a game of money. One has to give money for getting nomination and once elected he has to contribute fat amount to the party. In indicates, only the rich and money hungry men would like to step in this arena. There exists no statistics to proof that “only the rich men are intelligent and good”. On the other hand evidences show that intelligent students go for higher education in Science, while mediocre students with a degree in ‘easy’ subject enter in business. The only qualification of a rich man may be, his father could earn profuse wealth in clean or dirty ways. Most of the rich men are found to indulge in business. Even the businessmen do not disagree that in order to become a successful businessman in the present polluted social environment they have to sacrifice many of their good qualities. Excepting rare cases the good, intelligent, educated and prudent men are not rich enough to meet the demand of the political parties. Also men capable of spending that amount may not be interested to enter in a profession in which he would have to earn and pay tremendous sum from unknown sources. So, the task here is to discourage the non-standard rich men from entering politics and to create scope and amicable situations for the good ones to enter. This can be ensured in the following ways: (01). The expenditure of the party shall be kept at minimum. (02). There shall be an honorable means for collecting fund for the party. (03). A situation shall be created in which the candidate would not finance the party, but the party would finance for the suitable candidate. It is encouraging to learn that the caretaker government has already initiated some programs to achieve this goal. For example, they have already punished a number of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats and confiscated their illegally acquired wealth. Now it is time to formulate rules to the effect that “Anybody found to have illegally-acquired wealth will be punished and all such wealth will be confiscated. This rule will be implemented more vigorously in case of the elected people’s representatives”. Declaration of wealth before accepting a post and immediately after leaving the same should be made compulsory for the government servants and people’s representatives. However, this system may not always reveal the illegal earning of the dishonest politicians. For example, say, while in power a politician earns huge money and spends the same for the party. This man’s satisfactory record of declaration would not mean that he was honest. In other words, an extremely dishonest politician may not be proved wrong through the statements of wealth in case he spends the illegally collected money for the party. Hence, reduction of the expenditure of the party and arranging honorific way for their fund collection are the best options. (03) EXCESSIVE COST OF THE PARTY: Most of the items to be discussed under this head have been discussed earlier. There is no possibility of improving our political environment without reducing the cost of the party. In USA the political parties collect fund from the big capitalists. The item like ‘hand-sake dinner’, ‘fund-raising venture’ etc. are in fact eye wash for what they do behind the scene. Since the party collects money from the capitalists, most of which are in manufacturing business, after being elected they have to create market for their products. In order to make good use of the manufactured war-weapons, creation of war-like situation or wars later enters into the government’s program. That may be our bitter experience of what happens if the political parties are allowed to collect fund from organizations with vested interest.

Part Four: SPECIFIC PROPOSALS (i) REGISTRATION

INTRODUCTION: The author endeavored to make this article as small as possible. But still items like background issues; associated economic activities etc. could not be avoided. Even though the back ground issues as information are known to all, in this article the author had to discus those from the angle in which he could comfortably place his analysis, synthesis and proposals. The specific proposals will be presented in various aspects like: (01) Registration of the party with related issue, (02) Fund for the party etc.

REGISTRATION OF THE POLITICAL PARTY: Even though some political parties demand otherwise, there are ample reasons to register the political parties. The election commission authorities may go for it in an intelligently designed way. At present we find only a few political parties formed mostly by people with vested interest. Our target should be to bring honest, middle-come, educated and spirited men in politics. Such people would feel attracted if they find the process less expensive and simple. Also there should be provisions to keep away those with bad records. In such a situation, it might be convenient if the commission publishes a Format for Registration and sell it at a cheap rate, at say Taka one hundred per piece. The success of the program is considerably based upon how intelligently the performance is designed. We know whatever good proposal the election authorities may put forth; the previously established political parties would go on raising objections. In order to counter this tendency, we have kept enough flexibility in our format. The proforma shows only eleven simple items, mostly comprising of numbers. The detail information for some of the items may be written in plain paper and Annexed at the end. The Election authority would not think “whether to accept or not” but simply register all such applications if all the information are supplied and the Registration fee paid. The Registration fee to be charged may be, say, Taka 10,000.00 for National, 5000.00 for Divisional, 3000.00 for District and 1000.00 for Thana levels. The proforma indicates (as may be revealed from the oath of the applicants) that the election commission shall publish all the information for public viewing and ask the people to give their comments within say, 2 weeks. After they collect objections the authority would ask the concerned party either to withdraw of defend the case. At this juncture the commission would summon two arbitrators from each of the registered parties and take decision on their advice. The format for registration is shown hereunder. 01. FORMAT FOR REGISTRATION: APPLICATION FORM FOR REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES AT NATIONAL / DIVISIONAL / DISTRICT / THANA LEVEL 01. NAME OF THE POLITICAL PARTY: ........................... ....... ........ .......... ........... ............ (At Thana level registration it is possible to register the committee with the Name and Principles of the party “PENDING”) 02. LEVEL OF THE ORGANIZATION: National/ Divisional / District or Thana with location and address: ........................................ ................... ............. .. ..... ...... .... 03. PRINCIPLES OF THE PARTY: ....... Nos. (The applicant has to mention 10 to 20 Principles. The principles are to be enclosed in Annexure – A) 04. OBJECTIVES: ......... Nos. (The applicant has to mention 50 to 100 objectives in case of Central, 40 to 50 in Division, 30 to 40 in District, 20 to 30 in Thana level. The detail Objectives are to be enclosed in Annexure – B) 05. MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE: Number ................ Nos. (The total number of members in the central committee will be 80 -100 in the National level, 50 -70 in Division, 40 -60 in District, 30 - 50 in Thana level. Among the members there will be Members of the Presidium - 1/%, Secretary – 2%, Treasurer 2 nos. Other positions and numbers in various posts shall be decided by the applicant. The list of members and their official posts are to be enclosed in Annexure – C) 07. MEMBERS OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE: Number ................ Nos. (The total number of this committee will be, 50 - 75 in National level, 40 - 50 in Division, 30 - 40 in District and 20 -30 in Thana level. The distribution will be, Members of the Presidium - 1/%, Secretary – 2%, Treasurer 2 nos. The applicant shall decide other positions and number of members in various posts. The list of members and their official posts are to be enclosed in Annexure – D) 08. FINANCE FOR THE PARTY: (i) Fee for the Office bearers: Entry fee Taka ...... (between 500.00 to 1000.00) Monthly contribution Taka ....... (between 50.00 to 100.00) (ii) Fee for the party members: Entry fee Taka ...... (between 200.00 to 500.00) Monthly contribution Taka ....... (Between 10.00 and 20.00) (iii) Fee for party supporters: Monthly contribution Taka ....... (Between 3.00 and 5.00) (iv) Contribution: Taka ........ (not over Taka 3.00 on one fixed day of each year. Mention date) ....Day ........Month. 09. REPRESENTATIVES TO REPRESENT THE PARTY IN THE ELECTION COMMISSION: Number ............... (The representatives to represent the party in the Election Commission may be office bearers or members of the party. The list is be enclosed in Annexure –E) 10. PARTY’S ARBITRATOR: The party would mention the names and contact address of minimum 10 arbitrators, who may or may not be party-members. The arbitrators would be called by the election commission for solving disputes. The list is to be enclosed in Annexure – F) 11. OATH OF AFFIRMATION BY THE APPLICANTS: (i) We, the following persons do hereby affirm that all information’s supplied in this application are true to our knowledge. (ii) We understand that the authorities would disclose all the information for public viewing and verification. We understand that in case any information is challenged, the authorities would call us to clarify the situation, in which case either we shall defend ourselves or withdraw the disputed documents for necessary correction within the given date. (iii) We understand that in case of dispute, the authorities shall take the decision in the committee of arbitrators, which will be formed with 2 arbitrators from the applicant organizations. We agree to abide by the decision of this committee. 12. Signatures of the persons mentioned in 05 and 06 above. CURRICULUM VITAE: The curriculum of the office bearers need to be enclosed with the application. This one also should be designed intelligently with provision for public viewing, criticism. scope of defense/rectification and arbitration. The sample format of CV has been shown hereunder. FORMAT FOR CURRICULUM VITAE: The c.v. would necessarily include the following information: (01) Photograph, (02) Name, (03) Father’s name, (04) Mother’s name, (05) Date of birth, (06) Permanent address with phone no., (07) Present address with phone no., (08) Marital status with number and ages of children, (09) Educational qualification, (10) Present profession, (11) Past profession(s), (12) Previous political affiliations, if any. It would also include a signed oath as presented hereunder: Oath of Affirmation: (i) I, the undersigned do hereby affirm that all information stated above are true to my knowledge. (ii) I also affirm that in my past life I was never a loan-defaulter in any financial institution, given punishment for any criminal offense or discharged from service for inefficiency or corruption. (iii) I understand that the authorities disclose my information for public viewing and verification. I also understand that in case any of challenge, the authorities would invite me to clarify the situation, in which case either I shall defend myself or withdraw my documents. (iii) I understand that in case of dispute, the authorities shall take decision in the committee of arbitrators, which will be formed by 2 arbitrators from applicant organizations. I agree to abide by the decision of this committee.

Part Five: SPECIFIC PROPOSALS (ii) FORMATION OF COMMITTEES AND THEIR ACTIVITIES

RULES AND REGULATIONS TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE REGISTERED PARTIES: During the first time registration the election commission shall accept the committees without asking how those were formed. But the commission shall clearly spell out how the elections will be held in these committees in the future years. Copy of these rules shall comprise part of the application. Any member, ordinary supporter or non related person will be allowed to file law suits in case any provision of the rules is violated. Hereunder we show the proposed regulations regarding Election and activities of the committees.

OFFICE BEARERS OF THE COMMITTEE: FIRST TIME REGISTRATION: The political parties have to apply for registration showing full-fledged Central and Steering committee. Since there is no scope of election within this short time, the party/like-minded people would choose the members and their positions as per their convenience. The authorities shall accept those if the conditions are fulfilled. After the first-time registration, the Central committee shall work for two years and the Steering Committees, for one year. Subsequently all the committees shall work for two years, such that the election of the Central committees will be held in the odd years and that of the Steering committees, in the even years.

SUBSEQUENT PERIODS: (a) CENTRAL COMMITTEES: All the elections will be held within the first week of the specified month in the odd years. (a) National Central Committee: Month of election: December. Voters: (i) Enlisted members of the party living in the capital city. (ii) Office bearers or elected members of the (a) Divisions, (b) Districts and (c) Thanas. Education: Graduation. Procedure: Secret ballots for (i), postal votes for (ii) (a), (b) and (c).above. (b) Divisional Central Committee: Month: November. Voters: (i) Enlisted members living in this Divisional head quarter. (ii) Office bearers of the (a) Districts and (b) Thanas under this Division. Education: Graduation. Procedure: Secret ballots for (i), postal votes for (ii) (a) and (b). The elected members (office-bearers) will vote for the contesting members in the upper level. (c) District Central Committee: Month: October. Voters: (i) Enlisted members of the party living in this District headquarter. (ii) Elected members of the Thanas under this district. Education: Graduation. Procedure: Secret ballots for (i), postal votes for (ii). The elected members (office-bearers) will vote for the contesting members in the upper levels. (d) Thana Central Committee: Month: September. Voters: Enlisted members of the party living in this thana. Educational: Graduation. Procedure: Through secret ballots. The elected members (office-bearers) will vote for the contesting members in the upper levels. (b) STEERING COMMITTEES: The elections will be held in the National, Divisional, District and Thana levels exactly in the above manner in the even years. Qualification of the intending members also will be the same. Voters: The office-bearers of the specific Central committee will act as voters. Procedure: Election will be held through secret ballots.

RULE OF BUSINESS OF THE COMMITTEES: The Central committee will be the policy making body, that would execute the philosophy and policies of the political party through the Steering committee. The central committee shall meet minimum two times in a year in the months of January and July. If a committee cannot meet within the stipulated month, then the office bearers will lose their positions and fresh election will be held in the following month. The Steering committee shall meet as and when necessary, but the gap between two meetings shall in no way exceed four months. In case of failure there will be fresh election. In these committees no single person would at as Chairman or General secretary. A number of persons (comprising of 1% of the total members in the committee) will act as member of the presidium. One of them would act as the chairman in a meeting and the chairmanship shall rotate in a cyclic order. Similar will be the case with the general secretary, In every meeting there will be three secretaries, where one would act as Chief and the two others as his assistants.

SENDING MEMBERS TO NATIONAL ELECTION: In seeking nomination for posts in the national election the members would need minimum two years’ experience in Central committee or four years’ in Steering committee. This period of experience shall not be applicable at the time of first registration. Before seeking nomination the intending member would be required to publish detail accounts of his immovable properties and assets along with the bank accounts of his and wife’s direct relatives (i.e. son, daughter and their spouse, his and his wife’s brother, sister and their spouse). Also he has to disclose the statement of properties and assets within two months after leaving or removal from the post.

Part Six: SPECIFIC PROPOSALS (iii) FINANCE OF THE PARTIES.

INTRODUCTION: We have mentioned how important the issue of financing the political party is. Because of a defective system of this finance, the government of a highly developed and rich country like USA is after creation of wars and war-like situations throughout the world. Unless we can formulate an appropriate system of this finance, there will be no hope of betterment of our political environment. The readers might have noticed, the specific proposals mentioned above have been designed to keep the expenditure of the party to minimum level. These days men can exchange ideas through phones and letters without involving costly transport. Scope of this privilege has also been utilized, where there are arrangements for the Thana, District of Divisional members to caste votes by post. In spite all such endeavors, a party still needs some amount of money. The honest way to collect this money is from its supporters. Those unwilling to contribute to the parties should be informed that: (i) By allowing the political parties to collect money from foreign countries or companies, the citizens in fact entice the government to take anti-people and anti-state measures. (ii) By allowing the political parties to collect money from large companies the citizens in fact cause the increase of the cost of their product or services. In such a situation it is better for the citizens to pay little and thus to prevent the ruling or other parties from adopting unfair means. When the people directly pay them contributions, they in fact ethically bound them to pay attention to their words and attain the right to say, “Why do you waste money?” This process would lead the political parties to feel obliged to the common people. This is the reverse situation of the “forceful chandabazi (booty collection)” adopted by some political parties.

WHICH PARTY CAN GET FINANCE: It is not possible for the people to finance all the parties because there is every possibilities that their number will be many. So, the maximum number should be kept within four. After the first countrywide election, the four parties wining maximum votes but not less than 1% may be given this status. However, the following procedure may be followed in determining these at the initial stage. .

PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINING THE TOP FOUR: The registered political parties may be given points in the following manner: For registered National Committee – 100 points, Divisional Committee – 50 points each, District Committee – 25 points each and Thana Committee – 10 points each. All parties would be given a certain time (say three months) to register their committees. Then their points counted in the above scale shall be added and the four parties achieving highest points will be identified. In case of tie decision may be taken through open lottery. The registered parties will be have permission to collect money from their enlisted members and office-bearers strictly at the rate mentioned in their application. In addition to those only the top four parties will be given the permission to collect money from their supporters and the common people.

HOW TO COLLECT MONEY: The money from the office-bearers, enlisted members and supporters will have to be collected through receipts, where the names of the payee will be recorded. Non-named coupon will be used for collecting contributions from the public. All the parties would re required to open accounts and to make the transactions through the bank. These accounts will be audited every year.

MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS: The political parties would have the following types of members: (01) Enlisted members: Those who have due endorsement by the government to participate in politics, taken oath to abide by the principles of the party, filled up requisite forms, paid membership fee and pay monthly contributions regularly will be considered as enlisted members. Only such members will be allowed to compete for being office-bearers and only the office-bearers, to compete in the national election. (02) Supporters or patron: They are the persons who are not allowed by the government to participate in active politics. Such supporters can express their support only by paying monthly contributions at the rate mentioned in the application. These supporters should pay to only one party. However, they are free to stop payment or start paying to another party. Other than the enlisted members and supporters, the top four parties can raise contributions from the general public irrespective of their party affiliations using coupon at the rate mentioned in their application on one day in each year.

PATRONIZATION BY THE GOVERNMENT: The government should patronize the top four political parties and their office bearers in the following ways: (01) The responsibility of the celebration of national days (like: Independence day, Victory day, Bengali New Year etc.) should be given on the top four political parties in a cyclic order. A committee with members of this party and government officials may finalize the program and the money allocated by the government and that contributed by the party may be used for this purpose. After they see several such celebrations, the citizens may get idea about the efficiency and honesty of the various parties. (02) The office bearers of the top-four parties may be issued identity card by the election commission authorities. Such identity card may enable the holder preference for getting transport ticket, appointment with the government official etc. (03) The authorities at Thana, District, Division and National levels may allocate hall rooms (Public hall, auditorium etc.) open space for holding meeting etc. to the top four at reduced rate. The spaces may be allocated in cyclic order, like, First weekend of the month – A parity, Second weekend – B party and so on. (04) The authorities at Thana, District, Division and National levels may arrange small equal-sized office rooms for the four parties. All these measures would help to reduce the expenses of the political parties.

CONCLUSION: The caretaker government is striving for improving the political environment of the country. They strongly feel, only the entry of good persons in politics can ensure such a situation. The intelligent people know that our present system does, in no way encourage the good people (who do not see politics as a means of money-earning act) to enter in politics. In such a situation, this author has prepared the above-mentioned proposal, with the conviction that it would help in creating comfortable situation for good men’s entry and dominance in the arena of politics. In preparing these proposals attention has been paid to the following: (01) The common people should become conscious about politics, which is the plays supreme role in determining the status of their lives and the country. (02) Political activities may be done at less cost. (03) Political activities may be continued throughout the year and not only on the year of election. (04) A fair competition is created among the political parties to please the common people by charging less, spending less and showing more activities. (05) The political parties may remain accountable to the common people to an extent where they can say, “not you, but we are the masters because your party runs by our money”. In the above proposal there are provisions such that Politics may start from below, in place of from the top. It may be seen that the cost of registering a committee at thana level is about Taka 2000.00 (Application form -Tk 100.00, Registration Fee -Tk. 1000.00 and other ancillary cost, say Tk.900.00). In such a situation, it is expected that a few like-minded people of the thana would registrar a committee. They can do it without the name of the party. Then parties formed at higher levels may come to annex such committees in their own interest. If the good people find that the cost of politics is within their reach, the fellow members in the parliament are not below standard, there is no mechanism in which he may be asked to give enormous money to feed the party, then they may be interested to enter in it. On the other hand, if the money hungry businessmen discover that there is little or no monetary gain in this profession, it involves risk because of declaration of wealth, his inadequacy of knowledge may be exposed in the environment created by intelligent and educated men etc. then he may feel discouraged to this profession. Would our election commission and concerned authorities spend little time to go through the proposals and find, how far this author’s expectations are valid?

MORE ARTICLES >>