
At birth Bangladesh was a homogenous nation state with a promise to make every house a happy home. But soon after its birth, schismatic tendencies developed because of the ill motive and machinations of certain political forces. The lack of a clear perception of the civil society and of the politicians about Bengali nationalism and nation state of Bangladesh, resulted in some ambiguity about their identity. Additionally, the military rulers during their term of office impaired the constitution and dichotomised the nation in order to create their own power base.
Although the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty alone has hogged the worlds ---‘attention so far — because of its uniquely dazzling dominance and durability — it is not the only one within India, leave alone the neighbouring countries of South Asia and beyond. Indeed, the number of clans striding the political stage in the region is rather large. The Senanayakes and the Bandarnaikes were entrenched in SriLanka well before Indira Gandhi first became India’s prime minister in 1966.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh wrote into the Constitution the concept of the Non-Party Caretaker Government to ensure a smooth transition of power from one elected government to another. The two papers in the book authored by late Barrister Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed offer an insider's view of both the period leading to the 13th Amendment and the period of office held thereafter by the Caretaker Government of 1996.
These essays show that contrary to the widespread belief, nationalism is not all about the celebration of territory as a marker of identity and power; it is also about time in a fundamental way. The anxiety over time is as fundamental as the one over space. Indeed space appears as one in the distribution of the elements that go into making the time of nationalism. The author contends that, each time the nationalist destiny of Muslim Bengal took a clearly discernible turn, it seemed to the actors as final and irrevocable?the actors of 1937, 1947, 1954, 1957, or 1971.
Democracy in Bangladesh is of global interest as its success would provide a model for democratic transition in Muslim-majority countries. In 1991 Bangladesh embarked upon a new democratic journey but this journey has been fraught with various crises. The book argues that the nature of the Bangladeshi political parties was primarily responsible for this situation. The major political parties have merged, fragmented and proliferated at will all because of the political or factional interests of individual leaders.
Bangladesh is an account of a courageous man who has boldly faced every adversary which aimed to destroy him or his will to fight back. Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir was first jailed in 2002 for seven months, was made to starve and tortured by his political opponents. Subsequently, Dr. Alamgir was again picked up in the middle of the night by the military backed government’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on February 2, 2007, without any warrant or charges drawn up against him. He was jailed by the government and was at times put in solitary confinement.
There are as many similarities as there are differences between the two military regimes which governed Bangladesh for nearly fifteen out of the first twenty years of its existence. Bangladesh would find it difficult to recover from the effects of the long periods of martial rule or of rule with an unrepresentative government which virtually destroyed the growth of democratic institutions.
This book assesses the extent to which fairness prevails in various aspects of Bangladesh’s politics, judiciary and society at large. It starts by examining fairness as a concept and social norm before moving onto a detailed assessment of the electoral process in Bangladesh. Several chapters are devoted to the coasts and benefits of the caretaker government system. One chapter focuses on the implications of the ‘clean candidates’ campaign launched by civil society during the last election. Another set of articles revolves around multiple dimensions of governance.
The short but stormy life of Bangladesh presents questions which have a far wider relevance. Was its secessionist birth the outcome of ever-latent nationalism or failure of political management or just Indian armed force? How could its charismatic founder leader fall by assassination in the fourth year of his reign? What made democratic urges culminate in military rule?
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the need for a social revolution has been felt and talked about by the middle class in Bengal. But, ironically, it was the middle class itself that has hindered the revolution. The state has changed in size and name but not in character, indicating that relationships within society have remained basically as they were before. This book examines the double role of the Bengali middle class. Middle class's participation in politics and achievements in the fields of education, literature and culture have been remarkable.