The by-election for Dhaka-17 is one of the most significant elections in recent times. It is taking place during the 50th anniversary and golden jubilee of the Jatiyo Sangshad, which became the parliament of Bangladesh in 1973.
After 50 years of independence, Bangladesh is set to usher in a new generation of leadership. This is the post-1971 generation, who have grown up with the identity of an independent Bangladesh or were born after 1971.
Will this election be the harbinger of a new generation of leaders? We will soon find out.
Electioneering
The Awami League has nominated Mohammad Ali Arafat, a member of the party's Central Working Committee and a prominent academic, political analyst, and commentator, and founder and chairman of the Suchinta Foundation which promotes a progressive Bangladesh.
Arafat has been an effective spokesman for the Awami League in both media and diplomatic circles. His nomination reflects the Prime Minister's confidence in his candidacy and the importance of this by-election as Bangladesh gears up for the next national election in December 2023 or January 2024.
Arafat is contesting the polls against candidates from Jatiyo Party, Trinamool BNP, and Bangladesh Congress, as well as a social media personality known as Hero Alom.
Arafat has a constructive message for the voters of Dhaka-17. He has promised to ensure that civic services from the government reach all the residents of Dhaka-17, which forms an affluent upmarket urban area in North Dhaka.
Despite being a posh locality, nearly 75% of voters in Dhaka-17 are slum dwellers while 25% live in the affluent areas of Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara.
For 20 years, the Awami League did not represent this zone in parliament. The Awami League returned after the election of the late actor Akbar Hossain Pathan aka Farooque.
Today, the Awami League has nominated one of its most important central leaders to represent the constituency. Arafat promises to deliver the transformative agenda of the Awami League to this constituency, particularly to its most downtrodden residents.
Arafat has been telling voters that “boats are the symbols of development and progress.” Indeed, the Awami League has been like a Noah's ark for those who want a prosperous secular democratic Bangladesh.
It has been an ark of refuge as the BNP-Jamaat released a flood of disinformation and violence. The Awami League has revamped the infrastructure of Bangladesh more than any other government in the country's history, with signature projects from the Padma Bridge to the Karnaphuli Tunnel.
Twilight of the BNP
One thing is for certain. Bangladesh will never return to the misrule of the BNP-Jamaat seen between 2001 and 2006. In its current form, BNP is like the MQM. Like the fugitive Altaf Hussain who leads the MQM from abroad, the BNP is led by the fugitive Tarique Rahman from abroad.
There is almost universal dread at the prospect of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman leading the country. The BNP has left no stone unturned in its quest to discredit and undermine the Bangladeshi state. Its secretary-general glorifies the pre-1971 period so much that it may be fair to dub the party as the Pakistan Nationalist Party. Unfortunately for the BNP, it has become like Pakistan's MQM.
There is a cardinal mistake in Bangladeshi politics. It is to assume that the government is on the edge of collapsing. BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has made this terrible mistake. Time and time again, Alamgir has been proven wrong. The BNP could well be in its twilight years.
Awami League hardliners want to see the demise of the BNP. Many liberal Bangladeshis believe that the BNP should either reform itself or become extinct.
For the BNP's ally Jamaat, the Supreme Court is set to hear a petition on its status as an unregistered political group. Jamaat lost its registration amid the controversy over its violent anti-liberation role in 1971. Whether the ban on Jamaat should be reinstated continues to be an enduring question of Bangladeshi politics.
Banana republic politics
While the Awami League has been genuinely focusing on development, including the completion of major infrastructure projects which will boost the economy, the BNP has been busy with banana republic politics.
Whenever the Awami League tries to hold the BNP and Jamaat accountable for their poor record on human rights, freedom, and democracy, the BNP and Jamaat cry foul and deride the Bangladeshi state as a lawless banana republic.
To paraphrase the editor of an American magazine called the Dispatch, the compulsion to defend anything and everything the BNP-Jamaat does and then claim we live in a banana republic whenever the system tries to hold them accountable is a celebration of lawlessness and banana republic politics.
Disinformation
The BNP has been busy peddling distorted news and disinformation. A joint statement by journalists and academics recently condemned the distortion of the Prime Minister's remarks by Mushfiq Fazal Ansary, a former press spokesman of Khaleda Zia who has become part of the White House press corps. Ansary presumed that the US wants to “grab” St Martin's Island. The PM has often been targeted by BNP disinformation.
Bangladesh will prevail
Brushing aside fringe and marginal disinformation from the BNP, the Awami League must continue with its transformative agenda to build a progressive and prosperous Bangladesh.
The clarion call of Joy Bangla will inspire the people of Bangladesh towards a better future. Despite myriad challenges, Digital Bangladesh has solidly given the benefit of nuance to young Bangladeshis. We need leaders who will tell us about how they will build the future of our country.
The Dhaka-17 by-election can be the harbinger of a new era and a new generation. We can usher in an era of constructive politics in order to build a better Bangladesh. Constructive politics is needed to transform Bangladesh for the goal of advanced development in 2041 and beyond.
Umran Chowdhury works in the legal field.
