The truth about democracy… Bangladesh style

As the dates 18 or 28 were in the air, it seems we may have settled with 29 (at least for the immediate meantime). I fear that another number may juggle itself into the circus that our political arena has become – only question is whether it will it be a 12 or 1?

One thing that looks so certain but doesn’t get said is that December or January, whichever way it plays out we need to find the right month (and date) when both parties can win. The point that these highly-intellectual advisers of the present interim (albeit, comfortably stretched) government and the appalled people in the Election Commission is missing is that in a reformed democracy – such as the kind we are hatching in Bangladesh, under the auspicious guidance of Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Begum Khaleda Zia – it is only a democracy when their respective party wins… which is what the ‘janagan’ wants in the first place.

Simple.

Now this situation would obviously baffle the average thinking person, who is clearly by that definition not part of the ‘janagan.’ So the time is right, again, for the average non-thinking person – the ‘janagan’ – to bring the party back in power.

It would seem that the very fact that we are looking at shenanigans (for want of a better term) that are slowing down the transition to the democratic process in the name of democracy is ludicrous to the nth degree! But that is only true for the average thinking person – but since the ‘janagan’ (which the average thinking person is not a part of) is ‘evolved’ and inline with reformed democratic principle, this delay is part of the evolution.

The simple heart of the matter is that should Party ‘A’ win the elections, it is not only a reflection of the resounding ‘people’s voice’ through the democratic process, but alas reason enough for Party ‘B’ to claim vote rigging and deem the results unacceptable as the ‘people’s voice’ has been stolen! This process is not discriminatory in any way (hence its ‘evolved’ incarnation) on which party actually wins, because the roles (as defined in by the reformed, evolved democracy rules being hatched, and only just being understood, in Bangladesh) are interchangeable. Simply put, should Party ‘B’ win instead, and bark the virtues of the democratic process that has anointed them crediting the roar of the people, it is now accepted (in fact, expected) that losing party can cry foul!

The difficult task at hand, for the perpetrators of the elections is finding a date when both parties can win and claim the prize. Again to the thinking person, it would be difficult to imagine such a possibility, which is why the country needs to go back in the hands of the non-thinking person for the sake of the ‘janagan.’

It is a moot point that it only is because it is the ‘people’ who are corrupt and underhanded, that our misunderstood leaders have entered into the muck and grime of corruption to sway the people back from the dark influences. Our misunderstood leaders have defaced their pure character for the love of the people. Only now is it evident that the very politicians that we have thrown in jail for corruption are the very politicians that are our true saviours – clearly they have proven their virtue and sincerity by the number of times that have performed the sacred Hajj (again for the blessing of the long suffering ‘janagan’ against the intellectual tyranny of the thinking person).

That we have been blessed by the gracious acquiesce of the apa of one party against a backdrop of defiance of the madam from the other is but democracy at work. Hartals, strikes, the ability to take up arms and sharp implements, burn cars and create havoc on the streets are only manifestations of an evolved democracy at play; the fragile democracy of opposition and mayhem, against the sinister plot for complacency and parliamentary debate. After all, our valued leaders have been elected to represent their god-ordained interests on the streets (that the ‘janagan’ wishes them to have) rather than debate in the interest of constituency and Constitution. Only a fool still clinging on to the misguided virtues of western-style democracy would think otherwise.

History has taught us that strikes and bandhs have pushed the British, and then the Pakistanis, out of the country… it has been these true and tested political tools that have subjected governments to topple and crippled their economies. Any one knows that a government that claims itself as pro-people and patriotic would rather step down than subject the economy to any more battering! A test by acid, indeed; one that subsequent governments have been put to test by the worthy opposition but have failed, to their shame.

The nation has had to suffer over the last two years, first the price of essentials were allowed to escalate beyond what economics would have us believe (because the government has allowed syndicates from BOTH parties to rule the markets and profit – when it was clear by the parties concerned that only ONE should have been allowed to); the country has passed in a state of emergency, and has proven difficult for a restless (jobless) people, accustomed to spontaneous mayhem on the street and blocked roads, to send their children to school and not have to worry about untoward incidents – to say nothing about no loss of the work week! (Thankfully, the all-supportive ‘janagan’ has risen to the occasion and created a bit of havoc once in awhile.)

But seriously…

The country has undergone several piecemeal changes – to debate the good or bad of those changes is irrelevant at this point, more so because after all the changes and reforms we are exactly where we were. I see no reason that the heads of the respective parties can still hold a nation to ransom owing to the ineptitude and cowardice of leader-followers who should know better.

Both leading parties have experienced politicians who probably have more political acumen and depth than the leader they wish to follow… yet for some inexplicable reason (hardly that really, since they are in it because they want to be ministers and feel that the legacy of the great departed leader runs far richer than their collective contributions to that legacy), they toe the line.

What is fascinating is that despite the allegations of corruption against these leaders, the time they have spent in jail on account of those allegations, has paradoxically, brought them back from political death. Suddenly we have them calling the shots again – with one only backing the present government and the elections because she thinks that she will win and the other protesting against an uneven playing field and calling to defer the elections simply because she thinks that she will lose.

To make matters worse we have them both trumpeting that the rules of the games – which allowed the morally and socially corrupt to contest the elections – remain unchanged in the name of democracy and fair play. What is more fascinating is also that now BOTH leaders are suggesting possibilities of vote rigging! (This may be of course to account for why they may lose the elections – after all it can’t possibly be their fault – and so that the people are prepared to see democracy at work and the streets are on fire immediately after the votes are in.)

In the end, whether it be 18, 28, 29, 12 or 1, however the numbers are juggled, sadly (as far as this thinking man is concerned) the ball is destined to fall but the circus is far from over.