So, it all boils down to one thing – our election times will be accompanied by hostility and aggression. Many lives will be lost, and destruction will happen
The nation is going through local government election times. The polls planned in phases will continue for some time. A sustainable and functional local government is important for an effective democracy.
Simply having five-yearly national and local polls are not democracy. Rather, the pre and post-polls functioning of the institutions and departments of various government and semi-government bodies are important cornerstones of democracy.
When we talk about polls in any tier of the state administration, we can’t help commenting on the accompanying violence that mars the entire spirit and expectations of the democratic exercise.
We have witnessed large-scale violence during the January 5 national polls, as though we are, as a nation, unable to hold any political contest without hostility. Not only does this violence disturb the process of the electioneering and voting, it also leads to tragic killings, and unrestrained destruction of land and property.
The most tragic thing is that no side in the contest is ready to talk or work in a peaceful manner. Living in the same area, these contestants and activists do not hesitate to take up arms against each other whenever political interest interferes. Having lived for generations in the same neighbourhood, even having distant family bondage, does not stop them from taking up arms against each other.
The spirit or understanding of democracy is absent in our system. For instance, we expect the national polls to be peaceful and democratic. How? Don’t we forget that even in the national polls, we have the whole country involved in the practice? Campaigning and voting is held all around the districts and rural areas, as it happens during local government polls.
So, in either case, be it national elections or upazila polls, we have the whole country and citizenry involved in the exercise.
Election times are supposed to be times of festivity. But we witness increasing violence. Local contests used to be a matter of excitement and sport in the past.
Things have changed drastically. The politics of retribution has crept into our systems like no other thing. Instead of developing a peaceful democratic system, we helped ourselves with the politics of violence that was marked by communalism, extremism, inflammatory speech, intolerance, gruesome killings, and unresolved mysteries. In the garb of politics, we also developed a perverted trend in our social dealings.
The ongoing violent local government polls are yet another indication of our continued intolerance and disrespect towards each other, and our total disregard towards a system of self-rule.
Dangerous to all these, are mainly the leaders who have been fanning the trouble. Polls are marked by the snatching of ballot boxes, physical attacks on each other, the burning of voting centres, and mass scale rigging.
It is no longer a surprise to hear about violence and other related crimes when it comes to the polls. The Election Commission also apprehends violence in marked areas, and plans security measures.
So, it all boils down to one thing – our election times will be accompanied by hostility and aggression. Many lives will be lost, and destruction of all kinds will happen.
More surprisingly, there is no effort from any quarter to address this situation. No one comes forward with a solution to the ills that are eating up the morale of society.
Not only should we talk about the pre and post-polls violence, we should also seriously contemplate the causes of the violence, and supply remedies with good grace.
We should have a national agenda to make the polls peaceful, and give democracy a chance to make its way in our system.
Violence and hostility have now become an accepted part of the election process. Even the EC, law enforcement agencies, and political parties have taken things for granted – that polls and violence mean the same thing.
This time around, government activists are in action trying to outdo the opposition in the fear that they might lose big.
Politically, BNP-backed candidates are leading in the contest, while second in the race are ruling party-backed candidates. Jamaat has also fared well in the sense that it was supposed to be lost and gone.
Regardless of who wins and takes over the reins of local governance, we expect a turnaround in our mindsets. Our political competition should be civilised, and local polls should set an example for the urban people – that Bangladeshis can live in peace and harmony, and hold peaceful contests for changes of power.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
