Bangladesh is going to observe its 40th independence anniversary in next 2011. It has already exceeded 4 decades of its independence but in many segments it yet has not achieved its expected standard i. e. Political, technological, social, economic or any other aspects, especially in Political arena it is still very much unstable. On the eve of its 40th independence anniversary the question is raised that how much it has achieved political stability? How much developed its political culture? The answer is obviously dissatisfactory. In its 40 years age it has already experienced thousand types of political violence, instability, political conflicts mistrust and misunderstanding among the political parties and groups which are still on. This is called the parochial Political culture. The Non-Party Caretaker Government (NCG) is the outcome of this hidebound and parochial political culture.
Caretaker government means a government which governs a country or a nation for an interim period. All over the world the interim government is known as a government of critical moment i.e. when a political government fails to continue its rule due to any political crisis e.g. military intrusion or violent anti government movement than the government hand over the power to an interim government where members are not political and such type of government continues its journey before an elected government takes the power, this type of government is not institutionalized in any other countries in the planet, but Bangladesh made an exception to the idea of caretaker or interim government, it has been accredited constitutionally on 13th amendment of its constitution. Actually the first NCG was temporal though it was later recognized by the constitution of Bangladesh and got a stable shape. The caretaker government of Bangladesh is a form of government system in which the country is ruled by a selected government for an interim period during transition from one government to another, after the completion tenure of the former. As the outgoing government hands over their power, the caretaker government comes into place. The main objective of the caretaker government is to create an environment in which an election can be held in a free and fair manner without any political influence of the outgoing government. When it was given permanent shape it was considered as a unique system in the history of the world but later some questions were risen concerning it.
The mechanism of Non-Party Caretaker Government (NCG) is a constitutional innovation in Bangladesh. Its rule is to conduct and supervise elections in a free and fair manner. This concept was provided by erstwhile Chief of Jammat I Islami Prof. Golam Azam to avoid the political conflict among the political parties and rival political groups and to hold a national election in a free and fair manner without any political influence of the outgoing government. In 1990 when the Ershad military regime was forced to hand over power due to popular resistance, an independent neutral body to conduct elections came to be considered necessary to ensure that the military's influence over the governmental machinery was nullified. To this concept the Awami League (AL), Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat I Islami demanded the NCG and they launched violent agitation against Ershad Government, at last the Ershad military Govt. met the demand of this groups and handed over the power to a Non party Caretaker Government.
The caretaker government that was eventually formed was headed by Chief Justice Mr. Shabuddin Ahmed, around whom a consensus had evolved. The neutral, efficient and free and fair manner in which the 1991 elections were conducted was a watershed in Bangladesh after years of military rule. This experience later formed the basis for institutionalizing the mechanism of caretaker governments before elections.
A political debate on Caretaker government system of Bangladesh is ongoing among the politicians. The ruling Party’s leaders has expressed their opinions over it, few leaders said that the Caretaker government should be nullified but some others leaders demanded its reformation. On the other hand the parties in opposition including BNP retort this demand. The rolling party Awami League (AL) general-secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said that the caretaker government ‘experiment’ had failed, and a national debate should decide whether or not to continue with the system. Before that Deputy leader of parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury had called the parliament members to abolish the caretaker government system on June 28 during the budget session of parliament. AL MP Suranjit Sen Gupta also advocated the repeal of the system. But the opposition leaders found conspiracy in this claim; the BNP secretary General Khandkar Delwar Hossain said that “Awami league wants to capture the power again by the election manipulation.”

The debate on caretaker government is not a recent phenomenon; it started in 2006 when the erstwhile President Prof. Dr. Iazuddin Ahmed took the charge of the Chief of the caretaker government without taking others options of the constitution. The constitution provides several alternatives before the president assumes this charge.
The debate on caretaker government was heightened when military backed under the leadership of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed NCG assumed power unconstitutionally for two years. During the tenure of this unconstitutional Caretaker government many politicians and intellectuals expressed their views on it. Some demanded its abolition and other demanded its reformation. After the 9th parliamentary election the debate on caretaker government rose up.
When the NCG was established by the constitution most of the intellectuals were not in favor of it, they argued that it will hinder the institutionalization of democracy; it would threaten the development of Political Culture in Bangladesh and it can be used as the way of dictatorship. Their panic was not unanticipated; the previous NCG has proved it. But now the scenario has been changed. these intellectuals criticized the demand of the leader of the rolling party, e.g. Ataus Samad one of the Prominent Journalists and Columnists in Bangladesh wrote in a column “although I were against the NCG system but now the demand of the rolling leaders is illogical because the mistrust among the parties is still continuing ”. Despite the previous elections were held under the NCG in a free and fair manner but the defeated party always accused the NCG of facilitating the other party’s victory. e.g. The Awami League and the BNP won the elections in 1996 and 2001, respectively, and each time the losing party accused the NCG of facilitating the other party's victory. The system was introduced after the political unrest in 1991. The AL strongly advocated the system at that time, while a reluctant BNP eventually conceded to the proposal. The two main political parties have reversed their role on the issue.
We are also not in favor of this system. This system is not a symbol of a well established democracy; we think it is a hindrance for institutionalization of democracy in our beloved country, this system should be abolished but before abolishing it we have to develop a political culture and environment where all political parties and parsons trust everybody. A powerful and free of political controlled election commission is very essential for holding a free and fire election under a political government. The present Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda recently said it is possible to hold free-and-fair elections under a political government. Previous CEC Abu Hena also said that it is obviously possible to hold free-and-fair election under a political government but it should be more powerful. Before doing it we the people especially the politician have to change their narrow mentality of refusing election results, they should admire the popular consent and acknowledge the victory of their opponents. When it would be possible then we can abolish the caretaker government system otherwise it would be impossible.
This system can continue for a critical and temporary moment but not forever. Now reformation can be occurred in the present system. Gradually this system can be knocked down. The time has come to rethink the interim government system, and all those involved in the electoral process should debate the issue.