Foreign Policy Blogs

Politics in Bangladesh: A Month in Review

The current government of Bangladesh should be congratulated for maintaining some modicum of restraint and dignity, relative to its predecessor governments. It has managed macro-economic policy to the extent that over the last year a series of macro-economic reports for different sectors have trended positive. The central government’s plan to take over recruitment and management of international migrant workers promises to be a step in the right direction–if done correctly, transparently. The budget offered by the Finance Ministry for the coming fiscal year, though a somewhat prudent, risk averse document has focussed on increasing education funding.  This is  all welcome news.

On the other hand, recent reports that the two main parties in power have returned to the status quo ante is distressing.  Each part– the Awami League and the BNP, seemingly eternal rivals–are rolling the dice as if each play is a zero sum game. Hence, for much of the month gone past, the BNP has threatened protest strikes to counter what it sees as Awami League moves to sell Bangladeshi sovereignty to foreign powers.  Whether or not the claim is justified, it has been bandied about loudly enough to get a cadre of youthful, and criminally violent, protesters out on the streets.

Indeed, the BNP thinks it has reason to broaden its chest.  The recent election in Chittagong has delivered a victory for the BNP backed candidate, forcing out the AL backed incumbent.  However, it is an open question whether this election is a harbinger of a wave to come in the next cycle.   The winning candidate and elected mayor of Chittagong. Manjur Alam, was a protege of the sitting incumbent would had held onto power for a decade and a half.   Moreover, Mr. Alam was a popular candidate who has promised greater emphasis on public services delivery in Chittagong.  He has made this promise with a winning smile; the people have, apparently, come to believe that his promises will be delivered.

Hence the victory might belong to the candidate, not the party backing him. Nevertheless, this is no reason for the AL to bark out a marching orders toward victory.  The AL’s totalitarian tendencies are showing through in its rough treatment of its opposition and its leaders, some of whom are moderates and are in danger of being pushed out of leadership positions.  This would be a indefensible development.  The BNP already weakened by its 2008 defeat to the AL is bleeding moderates from its ranks.  The strength of the hardliners is gathering weight, even as the AL shuts down opposition media outlets. Indeed, it is not impossible that the AL has delivered a potent weapon to hard right leaning members of the BNP and its coalition, even as some of the Islamic members of the coalition are facing serious legal troubles.

The next few months will show the trajectory of the trend that Bangladesh’s politics and its government will sway toward. Stay tuned right here for all the developing news and cutting analysis.

 

Author

Faheem Haider

Faheem Haider is a political analyst, writer and artist. He holds advanced research degrees in political economy, political theory and the political economy of development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and New York University. He also studied political psychology at Columbia University. During long stints away from his beloved Washington Square Park, he studied peace and conflict resolution and French history and European politics at the American University in Washington DC and the University of Paris, respectively.

Faheem has research expertise in democratic theory and the political economy of democracy in South Asia. In whatever time he has to spare, Faheem paints, writes, and edits his own blog on the photographic image and its relationship to the political narrative of fascist, liberal and progressivist art.

That work and associated writing can be found at the following link: http://blackandwhiteandthings.wordpress.com