Football not the answer

Seriously, despite the severity of our problems, it would not be fair to conclude that in Bangladesh we need to take as drastic a measure as in, say, Georgia, and kick out a government that the people have elected freely and fairly with almost a 2/3rd majority. Then again, neither the lady now in power nor the other lady in opposition have failed that miserably to deserve the judgement that Mr. Miah has imposed on them. If one were to look at Bangladesh dispassionately, the country has moved ahead, albeit slowly, on the socio-economic aspects of development under this prime minister, as under the leader of the opposition when she was the PM. Our GDP growth has been good under the ladies as is our growth in areas of export enhancement, education, population control, poverty alleviation, etc, etc.

We have failed most abjectly in the political spheres and in maintaining law and order and arresting corruption. This is where we need to look and where our tragedy as a nation lies for these two areas should be the easiest to resolve given even a moderate sense of goodwill and love for the country among our political leaders. Here the two ladies together with their political colleagues must bear the wrath of the people. The PM who came on an agenda of law and order appeared on course to do her job till she declared amnesty for the army that was doing a fine job. The other lady is crying foul that the PM is protecting criminal godfathers in her party, forgetting she supported well-known terrorists like Joynal Hazari in the last election. In fact, both of them are either directly or indirectly nurturing criminals, allowing the cancer to spread deep into the body politic. Kicking either out won't help solve this problem for their replacements would do the very same thing. What will solve the problem is for the two ladies with their colleagues to jointly decide to end the criminalisation of our politics because our political leaders and political parties recruit and protect the criminals. We will end this criminalisation only when the political leaders end their links with criminals.

The other major problem, that of corruption, cannot also be ended by the suggested game of football. It has many causes, most important of which is the irrational relationship between the pay of government servants and prices. The causes must be identified and addressed. A change at the top by kicking a PM out will in fact create more corruption. Bangladesh sits on the doorstep of development; a door that our politicians are blocking. We don't need a perpetual game of football. We need just a simple understanding among our political parties not to keep ties with criminals and if they do that, the door will open, assuring us of a bright future.