‘Blakes don’t run Bangladesh’

Ref: Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta on Friday reacted harshly to US diplomat Robert O Blake’s comment that the major political parties should reach a consensus for credible elections.

“Bangladesh is not dictated by Blakes,” the railway minister said at a programme at Dhaka University’s Teacher-Student Centre.

“If Bangladesh were to be run at the orders of Blakes, it would not have become independent.”

“Bangladesh is run by Bangladesh’s whims, Bangladesh is run by its people’s wishes,” he said.

“So many Blakes have come and gone; no policy has even been made by their diktats. Bangladesh is an independent, sovereign country,” Suranjit, a member of Awami League’s advisory council, added.

Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said on Thursday that the two major political parties should work together on a formula to hold free and fair election.

On the same day, BNP acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said his party is ready to discuss formation of a caretaker government in or outside parliament if the ruling coalition arranges one.

Asked to comment on the matter at a reunion of Jagannath Hall Alumni Association on Friday, Suranjit said, “Dialogues can’t be held on condition.”

“If the BNP puts condition beforehand, (it means) they don’t want talks. They want to push their demand forcefully,” he said.

The Awami League leader said democracy is a matter of consensus, not ‘trade union’. “The main thing is democracy’s sustainability…how we’ll maintain democracy.”

Criticising opposition’s demand for caretaker government, he said: “You (opposition leaders) will practice parliamentary democracy, but won’t let parliament function, make it ineffective, boycott it continuously and then will say that you’ll have to be given a non-party, impartial government.”

About the government’s stance, he said: “We haven’t said anything about whether to or not to form a caretaker government. The Supreme Court has said elected and unelected governments cannot function together. So it’s unconstitutional.”

The government repealed the caretaker government system through the 15th Amendment to the constitution following a Supreme Court verdict last year. BNP and its allies have been protesting the move.

Suranjit, who was the co-chair of the special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendment, said: “We haven’t even changed a single word, full stop or comma. The 1973 election was held following what was in the 1972 [charter]. Now it remains the same.”

He urged the BNP to present an ‘acceptable formula’ in parliament, if it has any.

“If they (BNP) give any proposal, we’ve said, we will discuss it.”

The Awami League leader said: “Didn’t the [constitutional amendment] committee invite them outside parliament? Did they come? They didn’t.”