Restore Democracy in Bangladesh – Kamal Hossain

Kamal Hossain, a former ally of PM Hasina's father has joined hands with Bangladesh National Party seeking to end the decade long rule of PM Sheikh Hasina, who has been accused of authoritarianism. The Bangladesh National Party’s chief Khaleda Zia and other activists are presently in jail.

Background

Sheikh Hasina Wazed is the current and 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in office since January 2009. She is the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh. Her political career has spanned more than four decades. She served as opposition leader from 1986 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1995, as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001, and has been leading the Bangladesh Awami League since 1981. In 2008, she returned as Prime Minister with a landslide victory. In January 2014, she became Prime Minister for a third term in an unopposed election, violating the key rules of the Constitution. Hasina's second term (2009 to 2014) as Prime Minister is overshadowed by incidents such as - Padma Bridge Scandal, Hallmark-Sonali Bank Scam, share market Scandal, Rana Plaza collapse, and Bangladesh road safety protests 2018.

Analysis

In Bangladesh’s general election due at the end of December, PM Hasina's ruling party, Awami League (AL) will be fighting to retain power against a new alliance led by Kamal Hossain, an Oxford-educated international jurist and a former foreign minister, whom Hasina grew up calling "kaka", or uncle. The 82-year-old lawyer activist joined hands with the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and two other parties to form the Jatiya Oikya Front (National Unity Front) in October. A secular icon, Kamal Hossain, who drafted Bangladesh’s constitution is seeking to end the decade-long rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been accused of authoritarianism.

The BNP is hoping that the alliance will help boost its support and move on after a series of setbacks, including the jailing of its leader former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia for corruption in February and the sentencing of exiled acting leader, her son, in October. BNP Standing Committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed said his party joined hands with Hossain for "strategic reasons". "Our [of Jatyio Oikya Front] goal is the same, to free the country of tyranny,". After the new coalition was announced, Hasina declared that Hossain had "joined hands with killers".

Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and is the longest-serving leader in the short history of Bangladesh. She began a second term in power in 2014 after an election boycotted by the BNP. "What has happened in the last five years is unprecedented," Hossain said. "We have never had a government for five years that was unelected." Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Zia share a long and bitter rivalry and have alternated in power for most of the past three decades.

Kamal, a former comrade of Hasina's father said his decision to forge an alliance with the BNP was critical to restoring democracy in the country. The BNP has ties with the banned Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed independence from Pakistan in 1971 and several of whose members have been sentenced to death for committing war crimes. Hossain admitted some of the mistakes committed by the BNP in the past. "Yes, the BNP did a lot of things I never appreciate," said Hossain.

"They injected a degree of communalism into politics, which is very regrettable." But he said the coalition would be secular and have nothing to do with groups such as Jamaat.

"The Oikya Front is not a political alliance, rather it is an alliance of war criminals and militants who don't believe in the democratisation of the country," Khan said. He said the people of the country haven't forgotten the last BNP-Jamaat government from 2001-2006. "The country was a failed state back then. "The real danger of having an authoritarian government like the present one is, God forbid if it survives the next election, many of us will not be able to remain in the country," said Hossain in reference to his fears that critics will be targeted by the government.

The Oikya Front chief said, “if the country's owners don't elect their representatives properly, the entire nation will be deprived of good governance, constitutional rule and basic rights. Everyone will have to come forward considering it as a responsibility." Mentioning that the country's people want a change, he said, "I, therefore, appeal to all of our people to unite as we'd obtained independence in 1971, and unite with the same determination to preserve and strengthen this independence as we move forward towards completing the 50th year of our independence in 2021."

Kamal said he believes that free and fair election is an essential aspect of the independence and sovereignty of a country.

Assessment

Our assessment is that with the imprisonment of Khaleda Zia, it was important for Bangaldesh National Party to join with Kamal Hossain because BNP lacked a guardian to lead the election. Only after the formation of the new alliance, helmed by Hossain, has the party regained its confidence. We feel that even if BNP leads, it is likely that the coalition would be opposed due to different ideological backgrounds between BNP and Hossain.