The Awami League-led 10th Jatiya Sangsad is set to start its journey today with a parliamentary model following what has been described to have been the “worst” history in terms of parliamentary practices.
A total of 297 MPs, elected in the poll boycotted by the BNP-led alliance, are expected to attend the inaugural session of the 10th parliament that will practically have no opposition party as Opposition Leader Rawshan Ershad’s JaPa has representatives in the Awami League-led cabinet.
This is the third time a parliament is formed through an election boycotted by the major parties.
Gen HM Ershad’s JaPa first in 1988 introduced the culture of forming a parliament without the participation of major parties.
The BNP followed suit and arranged a one-sided poll on February 15, 1996.
Now the Awami League leads a parliament formed by an election boycotted by the opposition parties.
Experts and the politicians are critical of the government decision to include JaPa in the cabinet and appointing Rawshan as the opposition leader.
But the treasury bench and the JaPa leaders defend the decision referring
to Pakistan that in 2008, formed a government inducting MPs from the Pakistan Muslim League, the leader of which Nawaz Sharif was the opposition leader.
“As a student of political science and history, I have never seen or heard of a government like this. The opposition can in no way join the cabinet,” AK Mayeedul Islam, a Jatiya Party MP, told the Dhaka Tribune after a meeting of the Jatiya Party MPs with Rawshan Ershad in the chair.
The meeting decided to play the role of a “strong” opposition in parliament.
Replying to a Dhaka Tribune question about how the JaPa could play the dual role of opposition and the treasury, Mayeedul Islam said with an oblique smile: “Let us see whether we can initiate a new model of democracy. Tell the ministers, how they would.”
Rawshan Ershad, however, did not talk to the media after the meeting.
State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune that the Gilani government in Pakistan had nine ministers from the Pakistan Muslim League.
“They worked well,” he said, clarifying that the ministers from JaPa would not criticise the government policy, but the party MPs would oppose the government in the House.
In 2008, the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League joined hands to counter Gen Parvez Musharraf, who in 1999 overthrew the Nawaz Sharif government and sent him to exile.
For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the elected PPP government handed over state power to another elected civilian government headed by Nawaz Sharif.
“This is nothing but a political opportunism of the Jatiya Party. When a party joins the cabinet, it cannot be the opposition anymore,” Professor Nizam Uddin Ahmed, a Chittagong University teacher who wrote several books on parliamentary affairs, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Pakistan is not a correct reference as a model for democracy. No democracy in the world has such a model [where the opposition joined the cabinet],” he said. Chief whip ASM Feroz told the Dhaka Tribune that the JaPa would play the role of a real opposition.
“It is possible for JaPa to work as opposition, even after sending representatives to the government,” he said.
Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal, an MP of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, told the Dhaka Tribune that a party could not play the dual role of opposition and ruling party.
“Pakistan should in no way be a model for us; it has the worst history of parliamentary democracy,” he said.
Political observers say the government had to accommodate the JaPa in the cabinet as a section of the party led by Rawshan Ershad brought it to the election.
Inaugural session preparations
According to the order of the day, the House will sit at 6pm with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. The first business of the day will be electing a speaker and a deputy speaker.
After the elections of the speaker and the deputy speaker, the house will go for a recess of around 20 minutes. The president will administer the oath of the newly elected speaker and deputy speaker.
The new speaker will preside over the meeting as the House resumes. The House will go for another recess of 20 minutes after the adoption of a condolence motion on Awami League MP Shawkat Momem Shahjahan, who died on January 20.
President Abdul Hamid, according to the constitution, will address the MPs highlighting the performance of the government. The House will then be adjourned for a couple of days.
The newly elected MPs would then discuss on the president’s speech and finally thank the head of state for the speech.
Out of a total of 300, the election commission has already published gazettes declaring 297 MPs winners. With Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury being elected unopposed on Tuesday in the Rangpur 6 by-poll, the number of MPs elected uncontested rose to 154.
The Awami League commands the House with 231 seats while the JaPa has 34. The Workers Party of Bangladesh and the JSD won six and five seats respectively. Tariqat Federation and Jatiya Party (Manju) got two seats each while Bangladesh Nationalist Front has one.
A total of 16 independent candidates were also elected. Jessore 1, Jessore2 and Tangail 8 constituencies are currently vacant.
