Improving political culture is vital in Bangladesh. The 2024 July-August mass uprisings — which led to the ouster of the Hasina-led government — have reminded the importance of improving political culture and created its scope. The Yunus-led interim government has made various steps including reform steps which have the potential for improvements in political culture in Bangladesh since there will be changes in different laws that will increase checks and balances and secure more transparency and accountability in the government and political parties that can reduce the scope of the dictatorship. But it remains unclear whether and how much the chance of political dictatorship will be reduced in the future without understanding the reasons for Hasina’s becoming a dictator.
The five-times prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has carried out many autocratic activities in the last fifteen years of rule including her orders for forced disappearances, involvement in the killings of the uprising masses, unprecedentedly suppressing the opposition for more than a decade, almost completely destroying the electoral system and money laundering. But, notably, she was not autocratic at all when she came to power in 1996 and left the office a day before her terminal in 2001. There are probably various reasons that made Hasina the topmost dictator ever in Bangladesh, also called by many as “fascist ”. The killings of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was the leader of the independence of Bangladesh and other family members and the denial of justice against their killings are probably two crucial underlying reasons for her dictatorship, though not decisive.
But several other reasons including subsequent and repeated attempts to kill her after her coming back to Bangladesh in 1981, the “minus two formula” during 2007-08 and her intention to stay in power by any means also have played vital roles for her dictatorship. She has been the most targeted political leader to be killed in the last several decades in Bangladesh. But, under constant conspiracies against justice against those who killed her family members and the threats to her survival, the 2024 grenade attacks on the political assembly of the Bangladesh Awami League that aimed at killing her and the attempt to minus her during the last military-backed government are probably the decisive reasons for her becoming a dictator and adopting any means to address all the challenges.
Photo credit: https://edition.cnn.com/.
This Editor’s Letter does not intend to justify those activities of Sheikh Hasina that led to intentional killings, forced disappearances and other autocratic activities during the last fifteen years, from 2009 to 2024. But, pertinently saying, without taking the underlying reasons for Sheikh Hasina’s becoming a dictator into consideration, it is difficult to desirably reduce the chance of political dictatorship, even though reforms reduce its chance, and prevent the dictator from making changes in the constitution for political ill purposes in the future, even if reforms improve the political culture in Bangladesh — whose political development has been hindered repeatedly since independence.
Political culture is desired to be improved in Bangladesh at least to the extent that it neither supports the activities that made Hasina a dictator nor facilitates the undesired activities that she did during her long rule. For this, the good intentions of political parties and leaders and others including foreign actors who often play a vital role in becoming a political dictator by supporting and constantly conspiring is vital. The pro-liberation and anti-liberation war divisions also need to be addressed by political parties.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
