Veteran politician Dr Kamal Hossain Thursday lamented Awami League and BNP for treating the country as “their own property” forgetting that it actually belongs to its 160m people.
“The two major parties consider the country as their own property. There is no scope of thinking like that. The constitution does not give any party the country’s ownership.
The country belongs to its 160m people,” he said while addressing a discussion the ongoing national crisis at the Jatiya Press Club. Bangladesh Jatiya Party organised the meeting.
He said the two parties had failed to ensure a healthy practice of democracy and give it a good shape even after the country’s 42 years of independence.
Kamal, also the president of Gonoforum, said the country’s 160m people could not exercise their due power. “Therefore, a representative democracy is a must. If the representatives are not made properly, the 160m people will be deprived of due services.”
He observed that the Awami League and the BNP had given an impression that there was no alternative to them in politics.
“But alternatives are necessary for people. We need treatment for our disease of getting overwhelmed seeing any particular party and its symbol. Persons should be given the priority, not the symbol and the party.”
The growing influence of the two parties is a sign of emergence of autocracy, Dr Kamal warned. “We have got blind to the two parties...it will not bring anything good for democracy.”
Mentioning that a credible election was very important for the nation, he said if the election was not held in a free and fair manner, the defeated parties would be deprived of their rights.
Chaired by chief adviser to Bangladesh Jatiya Party Dr MA Mukit, the programme was also addressed by Krishak Sramik Janata League President Kader Siddiqui, Opposition Chief Whip Zainal Abdin Farroque, Awami League leader Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed and Nagarik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna.
