Politics in Bangladesh has become a business venture: Badiul Alam Majumdar
“A democracy that can be bought with money has been established,” he said.
Politics in Bangladesh has increasingly turned into a business sector, where accumulating wealth has become almost a certainty for those involved, Badiul Alam Majumdar, chief of Electoral Reform Commission and member of National Consensus Commission, said today (30 November).
Presenting statistical evidence, he warned that if the trend of politicians amassing assets after coming to power continues, the country's path toward democratic progress will remain difficult.
Badiul, also the secretary of SHUJAN (Citizens for Good Governance), made the remarks at a seminar titled 'Prospects of the 13th National Parliamentary Election', organised at the Cirdap auditorium in Dhaka to mark the launch of a new platform called 'Voice Network'.
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Citing asset declarations of mayors elected in the Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, and Barishal city corporations in 2008, he said the Khulna mayor's wealth increased by more than 14,500% in five years. During the same period, the Barishal mayor's assets rose by 5,917%, the Rajshahi mayor's assets by 2,308%, and the Sylhet mayor's assets by 608%.
"A democracy that can be bought with money has been established," he added.
Speaking at the event, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair said expectations surrounding the upcoming national election are high among both political parties and the public
"The Election Commission has not yet fulfilled public expectations. Transfers in the civil administration were supposed to be done through a lottery system, but that did not happen -- the circulars are still being issued at midnight," he added.
Zubair said the country expects a responsible and impartial role from law enforcement agencies during elections.
"They must not lean toward any side under any circumstances. They should uphold their duty to the people. We want to witness the best election in history," he added.
Jasmine Tuli, former additional secretary of the Election Commission, said that while elections may seem simple in theory, in practice they involve "extremely complex equations."
She noted that the use of black money and arms may increase in the next national polls and urged the government and the Election Commission to take early measures.
Ariful Islam Adib, senior joint convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), said the voting rights of citizens had "gone into the ICU" in recent years, and regaining them is now crucial.
Rashed Khan, general secretary of the Gono Odhikar Parishad, said the upcoming election must ensure that no "dummy candidates" or those aligned with authoritarian tendencies are allowed to participate.
The keynote paper was presented by Prof Md Sahabul Haque of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. The session was chaired by Voice Network Chairperson Prof Md Jasim Uddin, a faculty member of Dhaka University's Department of Botany.
