Come next January it will be one year of the new parliament. And by all indications emanating from the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party), it may continue to abstain from joining the next session starting from 4th January 2010. The prospect of the parliament continuing without the opposition comes as bad news, and the excuse as usual is that the atmosphere is not conducive to the BNP rejoining the Jatiya Sangsad.
The BNP should realise that the boycott neither serves their cause nor the country nor our democracy. While the party never fails to espouse the need for an effective parliament it seems that it does not feel motivated enough even after having boycotted the parliament for long to be joining it.
And as for the BNP's preconditions, let us restate what we have said so many times in these columns in the past. For a party that has received more than thirty percent of the votes in the election, it is doing a great injustice to the electorate because the voice of the people that the BNP MPs are representing is not being heard in the parliament. Did they stand for election with preconditions? If not, then they are in breach of commitment that they had made to their supporters and are certainly abdicating the responsibility that their voters have reposed on them.
What is interesting also, insofar as the BNP preconditions are concerned, is that the number of demands is accreting everyday. To start with it was the number of seats in the front row, to this have been added several more since then including demand for withdrawing cases lodged against BNP leaders.
No democracy can be credible with the main opposition staying away from the parliament. Many important national issues remain virtually unaddressed in the absence of the opposition. If the BNP feels that it is being subjected to harassment or that the government is making unwarranted comments on its past and present leaders it is the floor of the House that is the best and the only place that the criticisms are countered. But these can, and should never, take precedence over the interest of the voters.
We also feel the AL (Awami League) must do all within its capacity, and if necessary, go the extra mile, to engage the BNP and get them to join the parliament. For, it takes the ruling and the opposition to make a functional democracy. We cannot afford to have a non-functional parliament any longer and we are concerned about what indefinite boycott of the parliament might do to the country's politics.
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