Jumbangla Desk: Three months have passed since the end of Sheikh Hasina's dictatorship in the uprising of anti-discrimination students. After Sheikh Hasina left the post of Prime Minister and the country on August 5, a new chapter began with the expectation of the journey of forming a liberal, democratic, non-discriminatory, non-communal Bangladesh through state reforms on the path of democracy.
Mass uprising
To tell the truth, no one believed that such a Baldarpi government would collapse around the demand for quota reform in government jobs. Not even those leading the movement. They announced a 'one-point demand' for resignation just two days before the fall of the government, on August 3. The next day, more bloodshed occurred across the country. The next day the 'March to Dhaka' program was announced. The situation goes against the survival of the government. In this case, the decision of the army made the victory of the students easier. By noon on August 5, the news spread that Sheikh Hasina had left the country and sought refuge in India. His sister Sheikh Rehana was also there. Sheikh Hasina's trial has already started in the International Criminal Tribunal left by her.
Meanwhile, August 8 Nobel-winning economist Professor Dr. The interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus is about to complete three months. In this three-month assessment, economists say, some order has returned to the fragile macro-economy.
And politicians have expressed unease at the lack of clear steps to reform and yet hold early elections.
According to the information of the finance department of the government, the newly formed and exceptional government has to start working with the debt burden of 18 lakh 36 thousand crore rupees left by the previous government. Out of this, the amount of accumulated foreign debt is 6 thousand 790 billion dollars. The burden of paying the principal and interest of this huge debt is now on the shoulders of the current government.
Apart from this, after the end of Sheikh Hasina's dictatorship, the information of widespread corruption and looting under state patronage began to be exposed to the countrymen.
In an interview recently given to the Financial Times, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansoor said that businessmen close to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have removed money equivalent to 17 billion dollars from the bank.
TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman gave the same information in a press conference on Saturday (November 2). Apart from this, referring to the information of the Planning Commission, this information has been published in the media that 17 lakh 34 thousand crores of taka has been spent in the name of development in the 15 years of Sheikh Hasina's government, of which 40 percent has been looted.
According to the observers, apart from this chaos in the financial sector, this government has to face various challenges, including the demands and movements of different organizations, returning the police administration to work. State reform is considered to be the main task of the interim government in anticipation of the student uprising, but in the third month it has come under some question. 11 reform commissions have been announced in two phases on 11 issues by the Chief Adviser, but the notification for formation of five commissions has not been issued yet. The longer the elections are delayed, the more the defeated forces may rise up - fearing that BNP and the anti-fascist movement partner parties have stepped up their efforts to demand early elections.
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation President Md. Sahabuddin's comments and the anti-discrimination student movement demanded his resignation, but several political parties, including the BNP, expressed dissent.
The stance of student movement against Jatiya Party also did not get support from BNP and their like-minded parties. BNP informed that they are not in favor of banning any political party. Political parties' support as well as criticism of the interim government has been noticed recently. Many feel that the classroom is still not completely normal. Apart from this, among the notable events of the last month were the denial of a bench to 12 judges accused of acting as accomplices of the fascist Hasina government and the final cancellation of the Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution by the Supreme Court. This settled a contentious issue regarding the independence of the judiciary.
Meanwhile, amid the demands of the political parties for quick elections, a search committee was formed to reorganize the Election Commission on October 31. Prior to that, the interim government's legal advisor informed the formation of this committee. Asif Nazrul said, the work of our government to adopt the election process has started. You can say that the journey towards the election has begun.
In the third month of the interim government, the activities of the armed forces in maintaining law and order have brought a lot of relief to the public. However, there is discomfort with the high prices of daily necessities.
Actions in the financial sector, what analysts say
Analysts of the banking sector said that confidence in the bank started to return after the new governor took over. This is reflected in the remittances sent by expatriates. Remittance flow exceeded $200 million in August itself. Reserves begin to consolidate. Loan assistance was sought from the IMF-World Bank. Despite the huge amount of debt taken during the previous government, the organizations responded to the positive actions of the government and assured to support the reforms. The governor stopped freely selling dollars from the reserves. Reserves, which had been on the decline during the previous government, have risen to around $20 billion. The reserve is expected to increase further in the future.
On September 11, the central bank formed a six-member task force to reform the banking sector. This task force mainly examines the current financial situation of the banking sector, assessment of bad assets and major risks, review of financial indicators of weak banks, assessment of actual credit status, assessment of provision shortfall, review of liquidity situation, assessment of net capital, assessment of real value of assets, assessment of the respective banks. Conduct activities related to separation of evil assets.
Former Director General of Bangladesh Development Research Institute (BIDS). Mustafa K Mujeri said the measures taken by the interim government are positive to stimulate the economy, but not enough. There has been some order in industries, remittances have increased, this is a good thing. However, to reduce inflation, it is not only necessary to increase the policy interest rate, but also to pay more attention to the market management. To make the economy more active, steps must be taken to increase public and private investment. Small and medium industries should be organized. Agricultural production should be accelerated. Then the employment will increase, the economy will be dynamic.
Evaluation of political leaders
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Assessing the situation three months after the fall of dictatorship, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, a member of the BNP Standing Committee, said that the fascist Sheikh Hasina government fell due to the country-shaking movement of the students. As a result, the people have been freed from 15 years of misrule. But due to this change, the doubt among the people about the election has not yet been resolved. There is still uncertainty about when the elections will be held.
Gayeshwar Chandra Roy said that people's sacrifice in 15 years cannot go in vain. People did not deviate from his expectations. A return to democracy through a free and fair election can fulfill that expectation of the people. The government has started the process of reforming the state. But they also have to think about how far an unelected government can carry out sweeping reforms. Immense imagination is out of reality. The government should keep this in mind.
Motiur Rahman Akand, Secretary of the Central Propaganda Department of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Spokesperson Party, said that the fascists left the country through the movement of students and people. Hope this spirit of revolution will continue in the future. However, the government is yet to complete the preparations for early elections. Hopefully, the government will hold elections soon after completing the reforms.
Meanwhile, on Monday (November 4), the post, telecommunication and information technology adviser said. Nahid Islam said that after all necessary reforms, elections will be organized on the basis of national consensus.
Matiur Rahman said that the government came to power through an unusual situation. The government is working to free Rahu from corruption and partisanship at all levels of the country including administration, judiciary. The government is working to restore the normal situation in the country. Reforms are being brought in the banking sector. These aspects are positive.
Saiful Haque, general secretary of the Revolutionary Workers Party and one of the organizers of the Democracy Forum, said that although there are many deficiencies and weaknesses in the management of the government due to the pressure of the people's huge expectations, some order has returned to the country's fragile macroeconomics in the last three months. The economy is starting to pick up. The speed of remittances and reserves have increased.
Saiful Haque also said that the tribunal formed for the trial of genocide and state terrorism has already started working. Arrests of the accused are continuing albeit slowly. The government has been very successful in garnering support from the outside world. Reform commissions are working.
Although there is no lack of goodwill in the interim government, he feels that there is lack of coordination, slowness, multifaceted pressure, inexperience and lack of foresight in government management.
One of the organizers of the Democracy Forum said that some of the government's activities have created an opportunity for confusion in the public mind. Some of their actions and announcements have also sparked controversy. The unbridled rise in commodity prices is making people miserable. The two most important priorities of the interim government, apart from elections, were to provide comfort and security to public life. The government is making efforts for this. But the market situation is still rough. Insecurity in public life is alarming. The administration, including the law and order forces, has not yet been fully implemented.
He said that the most important task of the government is to complete the necessary reforms based on national consensus and hold free and credible elections in the shortest possible time and hand over power to the elected government and depart with dignity. But there is still no visible activity in this regard. The search committee was formed in the previous law to form the election commission. There is scope for questioning this.
Ruhin Hossain Prince, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and one of the leaders of the Left Democratic Alliance, said that the government did not announce any roadmap for its work at the beginning. Their roadmap is not yet clear. However, we hoped that they would soon bring relief to public life. It will improve the law and order situation along with price control. The main demand of most of the political parties was to start the discussion on the reform of the electoral system and announce the electoral roadmap soon. Democratic political parties will be consulted in these works. But in this case they have not succeeded yet. On the other hand, even though the government speaks openly about criticism, some circles are trying to suppress people's voices in various ways. In the meantime, workers' blood has been shed while protesting. The government cannot avoid the responsibility of these.
Ruhin Hossain Prince said that other works including reforms are not visible, hearing various things among the advisers, it seems that there is a lack of coordination. Some sections of the protest movement are behaving in such a way that people are not getting relief, but rather increasing resentment. Some are trying to make the liberation war controversial. There are reports of persecution of religious and ethnic minorities. There is no comfort in them. The people of the country do not understand the heart of the interim government. If these issues are not resolved quickly, there may be a crisis in the work of the interim government.
But if you ask each person separately, you will get the same answer. They want discrimination free society, equality, justice.
