Crisis of the ruling circle of Bangladesh

Some of the intellectuals and political leaders of the main opposition circle are trying to portray this as a crisis of the ruling party. Is it so? Let's take a look. There is a popular saying, " History does not repeat itself, either by tragedy or by farce. But it rhymes". What we experiencing now in the political arena of Bangladesh is nothing but the rhymes of history.

Gen. Ershad, after coming to power in the beginning of the 80s tried to consolidate his power by undemocratic ways. After 9 years of rule he was forced in the face of popular movement to hand over power to the interim government. It was 6th December, just another victory day like 16th December of 1971.

The then interim government arrested him and 19 cases were filed against Ershad. After the general election in 1991, B.N.P formed the government. and General Ershad remained in jail. And unbelievable it may sound, the main opposition AL started to seek alliance with the Jatiyo party and launched a movement to topple the BNP led government.

With the support of Jatiyo-party, A.L. formed the govt in 1996, and Ershad started to get bail in 17 cases and in 6 months came out of the jail and became a free man. At the end of the A.L. tenure when he changed his face and started to make alliance with the then main opposition BNP, AL restarted all the previous cases and sent him to jail. But he did not like to be in jail. He then broke the alliance with B.N.P to come out of the jail. The rhymes of history go on today.

Why is this game? For the people? For democracy If A.L. were in power now what would they have done? May be they would have played the same brazen power game in the name of the people or in the name of democracy.