Barrister Mahbubur Rahman: Tarique Rahman has returned to Bangladeshi politics like the phoenix of Greek mythology. Despite countless attempts to destroy him, the people of this country have welcomed you with incredible love. Finally, breaking through a web of conspiracies and relentless smear campaigns, you have become a symbol of trust for everyone. Congratulations, Tarique Rahman, the Prime Minister of the new Bangladesh. As the son of a former President and former Prime Minister, you are now set to be sworn in as Prime Minister – this is an immense blessing from Allah and a rare example in the political history of the world. You have reached this position today through your leadership qualities, overcoming a difficult path of life threats, oppression, and persecution. The love and support shown by the people of the country for your charismatic leadership, even amidst various challenges, was clearly evidenced on February 12 across the nation, an event that became known as ‘Tarique Spring.’ The spring season is also about to arrive in the nature of Bengal.
The people of Bangladesh have responded to slogans like ‘Bangladesh First,’ ‘Vote for the symbol, not the candidate,’ ‘Vote for Shaheed Zia and Begum Khaleda Zia,’ and ‘Vote for Tarique Rahman.’ Your announcement upon returning to the country, “I have a plan for the people of my country,” deeply resonated in the hearts of ordinary citizens. This was reflected in the ballots, with the people ensuring the victory of the ‘Paddy Sheaf’ (BNP’s electoral symbol) nationwide. Reaching out to the masses, even amid the grief of losing your mother, Begum Khaleda Zia, was beyond many people’s imagination. You traveled tirelessly across districts, metropolitan areas, and divisional cities. People responded to your call and offered their support. The very people of Bangladesh, from whom conspirators forced you to leave the country in an injured state in 2008, and against whom fascist forces issued international red alerts, have now elected you as the leader for national reconstruction. To borrow from the English poet Robert Browning’s poem ‘The Patriot,’ the people of Bengal have spread rose petals on your path. Your victory echoes through roads, buildings, and localities across cities and villages. People greeted you with flags and expressed their full confidence in you in the recent election.
Now is your time. Hundreds of writers, poets, and journalists will publish enthusiastic writings about your victory saga. Many will write the story behind your triumph. Your plans and commitments, along with the long struggles and sacrifices of party activists, will all find a place in their writings. At the same time, many will calculate the upcoming gains and expectations. With your party, BNP, returning to power after a long 18 years, a new light of hope has dawned in the hearts of activists. The proper management of this hope and expectation, and the implementation of the ‘plans’ and ‘commitments’ made to the people, will become the core responsibility of your premiership. Just as your path to becoming Prime Minister was difficult and challenging, governing a Bangladesh with its current fragile political and economic structure will not be easy. Fulfilling the legitimate expectations and aspirations of the people will be the main challenge of your premiership.
The people of the country generally place their trust in a leader, but with conditions. The primary condition for people to trust you is to restore peace to the country. It means reining in corruption and irregularities, allowing people to sleep peacefully. This task will not be easy now. Building public trust in a newly elected government after a student-led mass uprising is very difficult. The people have chosen you as the suitable person to fulfill this challenging responsibility. You will need to demonstrate firmness and sagacity in every instance to meet their aspirations. I am mentioning a few of these many important steps:
Firstly: You must form a cabinet composed of honest, efficient, and dynamic individuals. Shaheed Ziaur Rahman’s cabinet should be kept as a model in this regard. He included the most successful professionals from various sectors of the country in his cabinet, which is still considered a successful cabinet in Bangladesh’s history. Not a single member of your cabinet should have the opportunity to be corrupt, either financially or morally. A review and watchdog system for the cabinet is essential to keep it effective and honest.
Secondly, establishing good governance in the country will be the biggest challenge for your government. The people of the country want to receive their desired services without harassment when they visit any government office. If you can ensure this much, public trust in the future government will be maintained. The main obstacle here is bureaucracy. You are certainly aware that during the fascist government’s time, bureaucracy served as its primary tool. You must take necessary initiatives to ensure public service by undertaking structural reforms of the bureaucracy, police, and judiciary.
Thirdly, you must maintain regular follow-up activities on all manifestos or plans presented to the people before the election. While everything cannot be implemented like Aladdin’s lamp overnight, it is crucial to visibly demonstrate your sincerity and effort to the public.
Fourthly: Effective measures must be taken to stop ‘negative branding’ against BNP activists. You have already stated that you will take two-stage steps to curb extortion and land grabbing. If any activist is accused of these, immediate disciplinary action must be taken by the party, just as you have done in the past one and a half years. You must always be vigilant in ensuring accountability in both the party and the government.
Fifthly, you must continue your dialogue with the new generation. You must ensure Chhatra Dal (BNP’s student wing) politics in schools, colleges, and universities. This will foster the practice of nationalist politics among the new generation, which will give the government more time to focus on development-oriented work in the future.
Sixthly: Appoint relatively qualified individuals to all government institutions and ensure that their work is consistent with your plans and vision. You must ensure that new looters do not emerge, preventing the loss of hundreds of crores of taka that occurred in financial institutions like banks and insurance companies.
Amidst thousands of such challenges, you will perhaps now work tirelessly day and night. Even then, it is crucial to remember the latter part of Robert Browning’s ‘The Patriot’ poem. The same people who welcomed a leader with rose petals later pelted him with stones, leaving him bloody and banished. If you cannot fulfill your commitments, even by dedicating all your time and effort, people will turn away. In the words of poet Robert Browning, ‘God has not given me my reward.’ Therefore, the people must understand and be convinced that you are sincerely striving for their welfare, and only then can you receive positive returns. It is because of this much trust that the people have placed in you that Allah has brought you back from an uncertain exile to a position of public love and confidence. I hope that as the 15th Prime Minister of Bangladesh, you will be able to uphold this trust. The nation expects that you will be able to prove your popular slogan ‘Sobar Age Bangladesh’ (Bangladesh First) in both action and spirit.
Author: Lawyer and Political Analyst.
