THE remark of the senior joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that the government is creating various issues to deflect public attention away from agreements — said to have been against Bangladesh’s national interests — that the government has signed with other countries is misleading on a few counts. If the issues that the BNP leader has spoken about include the ongoing student movement against the discriminatory quota in public jobs and the movement of public university teachers against the controversial universal pension scheme — Pratyay, mandatorily put in force on July 1 for the people recruited in public universities then onwards — which many BNP leaders have already amply hinted at, this undermines the legitimate movements of both the students and the teachers. The demand of the students and job-seekers for the cancellation of a 30 quota for even the third generation of freedom fighters in public services constitutes a disservice to the spirit of the liberation war and an insult to the freedom fighters, who fought for an egalitarian society where no one would be subjected to any form of discrimination. This is also demeaning for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party which on July 6 offered moral support for the causes of both the students and public university teachers in movement.
As for issues that the government is creating, as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party says, to divert public attention from affairs of national importance, such remarks also undermine the collective consciousness of the public in general as people do not so easily forget issues that run counter to their interests or the interests of the nation. It is not unlikely that the government may create issues, employ tricks, use ruse and resort to trickery to deflect public attention away from more important issues such as anti-state treaties, as the BNP has pointed out, but then, this is the duty of the opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest in the opposition camp, to remind people of the wrongdoings of the ruling party and convince the people to stand against such standing that goes against national interests. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is not seen doing this effectively. The senior joint secretary general of the party has talked of issues such as corruption in the National Board of Revenue that has made the headlines and corruption in the Public Service Commission, which is responsible for the recruitment of public servants, that has started making the headlines. He says that the government is using the issues to keep people busy so as not to talk about issues such as agreements signed with other countries. While corruption by revenue board officials or question paper leaks by the Public Service Commission are much serious issues affecting national interests, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party appears to be talking the walk in an unthoughtful way and not meaningfully walking the walk, which it should do in the first place as the political party leading the opposition camp.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party must remember that if it is incapable of fighting for the general interest of the people, it has its duty to support the people fighting for causes of various sorts. It must, therefore, stop belittling rightful causes and walk the walk in meaningful way.
