HAHA…guess which traitorous moron said that. Sad, yet true.

Abul Barajat, Dr. Kamal Hossain and their likes have after all the political Party of the “Father of the Nation” in tow. And, the Awami League is not shrinking one bit from kow-toeing the powers that be, even if such a power may be putting the dampers on Bangladesh to the extent that Doomsday appears to be on the loom! Three Cheers for AL-style Democracy, a-la BAKSAL of old: ONLY AWAMI LEAGUE AND GENERAL MOEEN/ARMY STRUTTING ON THE POLITICAL STAGE. “Public be damned”.

Walaya’s “Illiteracy” is the worst begotten problem of Democracy in Bangladesh. At the risk of appearing to be either pretentious or arrogant (which I am neither, I hope), the captive votes of “kajer bu’as” and Rickshaw wallahs have, I am afraid, have thrown up the convoluted configuration of what I am tempted to term RICKSHAW WALLAH DEMOCRACY in Bangladesh: disrespecter of all rules of law, a gander in the goose.

Thank God, I don;t vote, and haven’t ever considered getting registered for voting either. Votes and “Elections” alone don’t after all make Democracy singularly. If they do, as a matter of debate, then one has to thank the kajer bu’as and Rickshaw wallahs for having shaped and defined Bangladesh’s Democracy as the largest chunk of the “Electorate” for the last 36 years. In the same breath, one has to thank the likes of Hanif, Maya, Paltu, Khoka, Mirza Abbas, et al, for having populated the urban centres with ghettos for their “Vote Banks” among such kajer bu’as and Rickshaw wallahs. Knowledge Capital has never ever been the source and origin of Democracy in Bangladesh. Goons and “Gaddars” have arguably been the architects of Bangladesh’s “Democracy”.

Add to the goons and gaddars the DALAL HOSSAINS, and you may likely have a recipe for Iraq and Afghanistan revisited in Bangladesh in the not-too-distant future. Weird thought? Don’t discount it; not by a long shot.

Whenever elections are held, it will be the awami league that get power. or that coalition politics succeeds again. but what will they have learnt? probably nothing, but it will be important to observe what they do and for the rest of the political community to bring the best out of them.

That will then be an opportunity for people to organise around a better vision, not set up an NGO and think a bit. Existing parties might want to change too, I realise that its hard when the state may be beating you black and blue. Jamat can do an AKP party, while the BNP can go UMNO in the mean time.

Meanwhile only 65 indians came on the Kolkatta to Dhaka train. I think ‘that one’ is just about past it.

Ohhhh that is RIGHT! I can’t believe I forgot. Yes, I got the memo, indeed, if not before, at least right around the time when Afghanistan was invaded and later again with Iraq invasion and later again with Iran being the biggest threat to democracy.

Democratic values mean divided/flacid national politics, open access to your markets and submission to western foreign policy interests. didnt you get the memo?

taking the mickey, i’m talking about students taking the mickey out of the half truths spun around national creation mythology. nirmuls would not be amused!

For this particular problem, I just fail to see how having to pick between AL and BNP could be our solution to CTG problem. I hope and pray it gets better, but for now I don’t see any promise.