The non-partisan government system was first introduced in 1990 when the 3 Party (Bangladesh Awami League, BNP and Jamaat-E-Islami) Alliances jointly made a demand for it to creating a level playing field during the national election. Accordingly, it was adopted as a part of the constitution in 1996 by the sixth parliament in the name of Caretaker Government through the 13th amendment of the constitution.

As an interim period non-partisan government, Caretaker Governments managed all the subsequent elections and the peaceful transitions of power from one elected government to another up to 2008. Some controversies were created in the selection process of the Chief Adviser of Caretaker Government after the government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia ended in 2006 and an extra-constitutional military backed Caretaker Government was formed in 2007 as outcome of those controversies.

Due to some loopholes in the formation of the Caretaker Government system and in the context of a verdict of the Supreme Court regarding the legality of the 13th amendment, Bangladesh Awami League led government abolished the Caretaker Government system through the passing 15th amendment of the constitution with its majority in the parliament. After the abolishment of the Caretaker Government, the first national election was held in 2014. BNP led alliances boycotted the election demanding the restoration of the non-partisan government system to transition of power from one elected Government to another and the Bangladesh Awami League won the election with two third majorities and with very little opposition in that election.

As per present constitutional requirements, the upcoming national election will be held at end of 2018. The demand of restoration the non-partisan government system by BNP during the upcoming election is remain unchanged till now. We don't know the update position of BNP that they will either boycott or participate in the said national election under the current government. Also, we cannot predict that whether the current government is able to create the level playing field during the upcoming national election for all parties or not.

Suppose, for the sake of arguments that BNP led opposition party participated in the upcoming national election; in this case, will they have a level playing field with works for the national election? Again, suppose that the BNP led opposition party participated and won the upcoming national election; have the Bangladesh Awami League a mentality to hand over the power to them peacefully?

In a general sense, none of the parties in Bangladesh have such type of mentality, if they have a minimum power to deprive them. I think the public perception of Bangladesh is also the same. If so, why does current government want to hold the upcoming national election under them? Yes, I agree that unelected government is not constitutional. But the Bangladesh constitution is not the bible. It was formulated for public interests and it should be amended for the same.

We all know that once upon a time, the non-partisan government was introduced in 1990 for demanding by the 3 Party Alliances including the present ruling party as well as it was adopted as part of the constitution by the BNP (Ruling party of that time) in 1996 for the opposition pressure (Bangladesh Awami League) of that time. But now, the ruling party is denying continuance of demand of BNP led opposition parties to restore the non-partisan government showing a verdict of the Supreme Court as well as the constitutional legality.

Contrariwise, after the government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia ended in 2006, she was denying continuance of demand by the present ruling party for the Caretaker government. At last, she bound to adopt the Caretaker Government system as a part of the constitution through the 13th amendment. From these, it is revealed that political parties in our country do politics for themselves, not for the public interests and they can play any role to retain the power! Sometimes they (both parties) deny the demand of non-partisan government for retains the power if they are in power and sometimes they (both parties) provide pressure to restore the same if they are in the opposition like the two-faced snake.

There are no parties in Bangladesh who provide the importance of public opinion. Just all parties want to hold the power. Before the election, we observed that all parties provide a commitment to solve all the problems and provide service to the public. After the election, they forget all commitments and become a busy person to self-development. It cannot be democracy. We all know the phrase of Abraham Lincoln; democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people".

As per the said definition of the democracy, are we in the democratic? Free, fare and neutral national election is a prerequisite of the democracy. Is this possible to hold such type of free, fare and neutral national election under any ruling party in Bangladesh? Considering political context and previous experiences, we believe that if the upcoming election will be held under the environment of free, fare and neutral, the competition will happen between the Bangladesh Awami League led alliances and BNP led alliances. One group will take power for one period as opposed to another group will be the main opposition and it will be the changed after 5 years. But no one wants to tolerate for 5 years. But the public is suffering for long due to lack of their tolerance. Is this a government 'by/for/of the people'?

In the world, including Bangladesh, no man or party could hold the power for eternity. In Bangladesh will not be the exceptional one. We learned from history that power is changed anyway. It may be after a short time or a long time. When the power will change, then the new ruling party will show the same as constitutional requirement and the said verdict and hold the election under them.

The same scenario has to be observed by the public. Hartal, blocked, vandalism and clashes will occur. The movement will cause blood to fall of the general public. The image of the country will be lost in the rest of the world due to the unrest situation in the country. Resulting, the general public has to be counted loss.

Actually, no party is the well-wisher of the general public. We can say that all is bullshit. They could take the initiative to restore the non-partisan government eliminating loopholes in the prior Caretaker Government system otherwise. If the ruling party has enough public support or if they have enough confidence that they did well for the public interests, then where they fear to reform the non-partisan government to hold upcoming election?

I think there will be a wrong decision to avoid the issue of non-partisan government system during the election by the ruling party because power is not for eternity. Once the present ruling party will become opposition any way, they will be a victim also. So, they should form such type of the government system, so that no one can interfere on any national election.

I think only present honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has the honest courage to take initiative to restore the non-partisan government eliminating loopholes of the prior Caretaker Government system to create a level playing field during the national election for public interests as well as to avoid future political unrest situation in Bangladesh as a daughter of the father of the nation.


আমার এ লেখাটি গত এপ্রিল ১২, ২০১৮ খ্রিঃ তারিখে The Daily Observer পত্রিকায় প্রকাশিত।