The scrapping of the caretaker government system by the AL in 2011 was always a mistake, and one for which we have paid a high price in Bangladesh. So much of the deterioration in the political culture can be traced to this one fateful decision.
The richest of ironies is that it was the very political party that had brought the country to a halt for months on end in 1996 in order to have the system enacted into law, that was now the one using its supermajority in parliament to do away with it.
The arguments they used at the time were transparently flimsy and persuaded no one. Polls consistently showed that anywhere from 80% or more of the public wanted a neutral caretaker government to oversee the elections, which meant that even many, possibly most, of those who planned to vote for the AL themselves favoured a caretaker government.
If the point of scrapping the caretaker government was so that the system could never again be used as cover for a lengthy non-democratic interregnum period, there were legislative fixes that could have taken care of it. This argument doesn’t wash.
The second argument put forth by the AL at the time that it was only the BNP that could not be trusted to hold fair elections, and that there was no reason the AL should presumptively be judged incapable of doing so, need not be dignified with a response.
We all know that the reason elected governments in Bangladesh want to oversee elections is because they want to be able to manipulate them to stay in office. That’s it. And that is precisely what happened in 2014, 2018, and 2024.
Interestingly, one reason the public favoured the caretaker government system was because we knew that it served as a check on the worst instincts of the party in power. The fear that they might lose the upcoming election served to restrain them. Without this apprehension, we saw what the end result was in terms of corruption, misgovernance, human rights violations, and abuse of power.
Now the country faces a crisis again. In fact the protests of July and early August were arguably the worst crisis of legitimacy that any government of Bangladesh has ever faced.
Certainly, there has never been a breakdown in governance so great that the head of government was forced to flee, leaving a complete and total vacuum in the corridors of power.
We have never seen such a complete breakdown in authority and the anarchic and lawless scenes that we have witnessed this past week.
The need of the hour is for a restoration of governmental authority. And it is to this end that the quick decision to instate an interim government is to be welcomed.
There may be constitutional difficulties due to the fact that the outgoing AL amended the constitution to create precisely such difficulties in the hope that that would allow them to cling onto office, but such is the dire necessity of the current crisis that few would argue against the proposition that an interim government is the only solution.
When the sitting government has been fully denuded of all credibility and authority, allowing them to remain at the helm of affairs is not only unacceptable, but would have been foolhardy and dangerous, not least of all to them.
The speed with which Dr. Yunus has been settled on by the relevant parties as the head of this interim government was also commendable.
Throughout the protests of the past month, the student leaders have impressed with their courage no less than their clarity of vision and commitment. They continued to impress after the fall of the government with sober public statements against looting, violence, and anarchy, and with effective mobilisation of the youth to protect people and property and restore law and order.
Now, with their pick of Dr. Yunus for the head of this interim administration, they continue to demonstrate their maturity, good judgement, and far-sightedness.
Simply put, he is by far and away the best man for the job. He has the stature, the experience, and the gravitas necessary to provide the nation with the leadership we need at this fraught moment in our history.
His swift acceptance of the grave responsibility that has been conferred on him as well as the gracious and eloquent speech he gave on his return to the country yesterday to take up his onerous duty only goes to underline that the nation is now in safe hands.
Nor will his assumption of the office come a moment too soon. The nation looks to him and his slate of advisers to solidly take control of the country and steer the ship of state to safe ground. It is a daunting task and the first order of the day is to ensure law and order and get everyday life back to normal. Everything else pales in comparison with this task.
Once things have steadied then they may turn their attention to fixing the deeper problems that lie at the heart of our body politic. But we have no doubt that given time they can help move us to a more functional, equitable, just, and effective system, and help oversee a free, fair, and truly representative and participatory election.
Let political gridlock and dysfunction become relics of the past. Let us create a system where there is no room for corruption and cronyism and where the human rights and dignity of every individual is respected.
Let us build a government that is equal to the Bangladeshi people. This is where the selection of Dr Yunus is so inspired. More than anything else, he has put the Bangladeshi people and his faith in the Bangladeshi people, at the heart of his life’s work and mission. If there is a Bangladeshi alive who can reach out to all of his fellow countrymen and women, with a true belief in his heart as to the transformational power that each one of us possess and the faith that this power should and must be freed, it is he.
Dr Yunus has been entrusted with the most serious responsibility anyone can imagine at a moment like this, the responsibility to right the ship of state and steer us to safety. Even more than that, he is expected to leave behind a blueprint for the effective functioning of Bangladesh in the 21st century.
There can be no greater responsibility, but then again there can be no one more fit to shoulder this burden at this time, and we have full faith and belief that he will more than rise to the task and do Bangladesh proud, as he has so many times before.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Zafar Sobhan is Editor, Dhaka Tribune.