A Bangladeshinfo.com Analysis

Hardly anyone loves to show interests about the happenings in the political arena in today's Bangladesh. Many understand this, except those who are the game makers of politics, which was once a popular subject to talk about.

The opposition has called for mid-term polls at the cost of ouster of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government and just enforced a hartal. It is trying to make the political scene hot by drumming up the programmes, whatever it called.

The government, on the other hand, is carrying forward a good number of programmes - whether good or bad is a different question. But what is lacking is the public interest about most of those subjects as a whole.

Why this changes have occurred? And at a time when both the government and the opposition, specially main party Awami League, are throwing a number of high-profile programmes? Should they go without much sensitivity and how come the politicians do not see any enthusiasm even among their workers and hardcore supporters?

The last 12 years of democratic transition saw one clear development: what is called bipartisanship, a scholarly concept in the West, but a sweet experience in a country like Bangladesh because of misuse through politicization of everything. Still, the devotion for a political party is getting limited within the sycophants.

More important feature is that the people in general lost their sensitivity and interest about the programmes announced by the politicians, be it administrative reforms or opposition demonstration.

Some people might find it interesting to note that hartal has lost its relevance as a political weapon. Simultaneously, the opposition had long been using boycott of parliament as another tool, which, though did not serve the boycotters' purpose, only made the Parliament ineffective.

The government is talking about all development activities and patriotic words while the opposition had still been giving anti-establishment programmes. This takes a shape as if the ruling party people, as they feel, are the only patriotic force while the opposition leaders and workers are all troublemakers. Conversely, the opposition considers the ruling party leaders as anti-people, declaring themselves as the saviours of the nation.

This is a cycle through which the government and the opposition have been passing, sadly enough, during the democratically elected governments - two run by BNP and another by Awami League. The people had a missionary zeal against the autocratic rule earlier, but they now see their dreams lost in the behaviour of the democratic political parties.

The people, specially the conscious segment, witnessed the political trend closely and lost their interests justifiably. Only those involved are yet to realise what they are showing to the people is an "Old wine in new bottle".