Bangladesh is evolving as a country of many islands, and there is good news and bad news. The economy has done well, but there are also signs of regression in other fields that risk the sustainability of the economy.
During my visit, I was heartened to see that new flyovers and nicely paved roads, but I was also dismayed to see how these shiny new roads contrast with some of the old pot-holed ones that still exist, bearing signs of neglect. There are fewer traffic jams (relatively, that is) but pollution is the same, if not worse. Happily, there were no power cuts, but power is being distributed at hugely subsidised prices on an ad hoc basis, with no long-term strategy for cost-efficient and sustainable generation-and-supply in sight.
On the economic front, most people appear busy, and, indeed, they have something to be busy about, and are engaged in some income-earning activity or other. This is encouraging. Our GDP’s most prominent beneficiaries are still the rich and the privileged, however.
Thanks to the omnipresence of Facebook, newly acquired skills in mobile phone photography and instant Facebook posts, selfies have assumed a new art form in public forums in Bangladesh, especially in momentous events such as weddings. I am told that this is not necessarily a bad thing because “Indian Prime Minister Modi loves selfies too.” Nevertheless, I wonder whether it is fair to cite Indians for everything that is stupid and silly.
The ruling party that looked so visibly shaky in 2014 is now fully in control, so much so that ministers compose poems caricaturing the opposition and recite them at cabinet meetings. Admittedly, this is not as atrocious as Nero’s fiddle-playing as Rome burned, but, given the opposition’s muted existence, this is not only tasteless but downright cowardly -- akin to scoring a goal in an empty net.
Even though the economy is not exactly booming, it is recording healthy growth, and, with the political opposition virtually silenced, some semblance of stability has returned. Intriguingly, this has not been matched with boosting investor confidence.
Freedom of expression, a staple of any working democracy, is shunned by most people out of fear and the government itself is not exactly a fan itself. For example, recently, when an internationally famous Bangladeshi intellectual and economist challenged, with empirical evidence, the integrity of the government’s fiscal estimates, the government, instead of responding with evidence-based counter argument, responded with launching an enquiry into this individual’s and his expatriate wife’s bank accounts to investigate the “nature of transactions,” giving a clear message to those who fancy critical thinking to “shut up or shape up.” Talk about Orwellian fear.
Against this backdrop, the conclusion I come to is that, even though people are better off economically, it is the political deprivation, moral decay, uncontrolled corruption, breakdown of the rule of law, and the repression and harassment at the hands of the opposition which are most damaging. The people’s euphoria over financial advancement is replaced by feelings of uncertainty, fear, and resentment, and this is bad.
The argument that “development” is a preferred substitute, or secondary to democracy, is a false theory, and it is of little wonder that the theory is not gaining much popularity among the rank and file, and, worryingly, with the suppression of a liberal and open opposition, dissent is accumulating and rising. Many also believe that the seething discontent that is brewing underneath is being worked on by an extremist-fundamentalist opposition in the form of Islamist militancy.
Indeed, given the complexities and numerous dynamics that are currently raging both within and across the country, it is difficult to predict exactly how things will shape up in the coming years. The argument that more development and less democracy is the answer is not only hollow but outright misleading. As a matter of fact, when development is pursued within the framework of corruption and authoritarianism, it breeds inequality, embeds injustice, and proliferates mass discontent that results in filling the ranks of militants.
In the case of Bangladesh, where credible liberal alternatives are becoming casualties of a sham democracy, the vacuum is being filled by the Islamist fundamentalist-extremists and, indeed, against the backdrop of a corrupt and repressive establishment, these extremists are gaining moral legitimacy, especially at the grassroots, as crusaders of faith and protectors of morality. This is a horrifying prospect, and most Bangladeshis do not want this.
They do not want fundamentalism to triumph over liberalism, and they also believe that the way to defeat fundamentalism is neither through repression nor “development,” but through unadulterated democracy. The sooner the government and those who care about national and regional security and stability understand this, the better.
