AS BANGLADESH prepares for a political transition and the interim government initiates the much-anticipated consensus commission on state reforms, one cannot help but notice a troubling trend: the overwhelming focus on constitutional, electoral and legal reforms, while critical issues affecting everyday lives such as health, nutrition, education, climate resilience and agriculture, remain largely neglected. The imbalance reveals a deeper problem in our politics: the persistent tendency of a group politicians to prioritise reforms that secure their own power, rather than those that improve the lives of ordinary people.
The consensus commission led by prof Yunus is a necessary platform for dialogue and national healing. But when most of the attention is concentrated on electoral mechanisms, judicial independence and institutional restructuring -important as they are - while issues like maternal mortality, child malnutrition, school quality, food affordability and climate threats are sidelined, it sends a disheartening message to the people. That message is: your basic needs can wait.
Over the past decade and a half, poor-centered equitable and inclusive development in Bangladesh has been systematically undermined by Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 obsession with so-called 鈥榤ega projects.鈥� While touted as symbols of national progress, these projects often became vehicles for large-scale corruption. Billions of US dollars were siphoned off through opaque procurement deals and politically connected contractors, enriching a narrow nexus while the majority of citizens, especially the political opponents, poor and marginalised, were left behind. The emphasis on flashy infrastructure masked the continued deterioration of public health services, educational quality and rural livelihoods. The opportunity cost of this misplaced focus has been enormous as a result of which millions of children stunted, farmers abandoned in times of crisis and patients dying without care.
Bangladeshi politics has long been shaped by elite calculations. Reforms that influence who holds office, how long they stay, and how much control they exert are seen as urgent and unavoidable. But reforms that demand deeper commitment, sustained investment and deliver long-term social returns - like building a robust health system, ending classroom dropouts, reversing child stunting, or helping farmers cope with erratic rainfall are treated as afterthoughts. They are postponed in favour of political expediency.
This pattern lays bare a painful truth. Reforms that directly benefit politicians, power, visibility, control, go to the top of the list. Reforms that primarily benefit the poor, the voiceless and the vulnerable, those who don鈥檛 bring votes or headlines, are pushed down. And yet, the vast majority of Bangladeshis are far more concerned with how they will access treatment for a sick child, how they will send their daughter to school, or whether they鈥檒l survive the next climate disaster than they are with the structure of the Supreme Judicial Council or the appointment of the Election Commission.
These concerns are not side issues. They are central to the very idea of democracy. Governance reforms must not end with elections, they must begin with people鈥檚 lives.
This is why Tarique Rahman, the Acting Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has made a clear and unwavering commitment to a 鈥榩eople first鈥� approach through BNP鈥檚 31-point state reform agenda. His vision is not limited to repairing political institutions but extends to repairing the social contract between the state and its citizens. The BNP鈥檚 reform plan places utmost priority on ensuring that no one dies without receiving quality health care, no child goes hungry or drops out of school and no farmer is left behind in the fight against climate change.
From healthcare and nutrition to education, food security, agriculture, and environmental resilience, BNP鈥檚 agenda is rooted in the belief that development must serve people first, not political elites. The party鈥檚 reform vision is not just about changing laws; it鈥檚 about changing lives.
As Bangladesh stands at a crossroads, the call for comprehensive reform must not be hijacked by political maneuvering. True reform must be felt in every home, every school, every field, and every health clinic. It must deliver dignity, opportunity, and hope to those who have waited too long. Anything less is not reform, it is repetition.
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Dr Ziauddin Hyder is an adviser to the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and former World Bank senior health and nutrition specialist.
