ON REFORMING POLITICAL PARTIES IN BANGLADESH

Dr. Mahbub Ullah

Our part of the globe has a long history of political parties. The people of the subcontinent were not acquainted with political parties based on popular mobilization before the advent of the British rule. However, group formation among the nobles in the royal courts to advance private and personal ambitions was not uncommon during the Mogul rule. Historian Satish Chandra has unfolded the intricacies and complexities of party and group formation in the Mogul court in his seminal work, Parties and Politics in the Mogul Court. But, the squabbles among the nobilities had nothing to do with the concerns of the people’s life and living. One of the salutary effects of the colonial rule had been the familiarization of the people of the subcontinent with the western political system entailing formation of political parties.

All India National Congress was founded in 1885. The initial motive behind the establishment of Congress was to build a channel of communication between the British rulers and the local elites for a better understanding between them. The foundation of Congress was so conceived can be discerned from the fact that Allan Octavian Hume, a retired English ICS officer, played an important role in its formation. According to Lajpat Rai, despite the fact that Hume was ‘a lover of liberty and wanted political liberty for India under the aegis of the British crown’, he was above all ‘an English patriot’. Once he saw that British rule was threatened with ‘an impending calamity’, he decided to create a safety valve for the discontent. Initially perhaps there was a commonality of interest between India’s educated elites and the agents of colonial administration. The Indian elites thought that it would be premature to confront the colonial rulers before consolidating their social position. But, politics has its own dynamics. The initial honeymoon being over Congress gradually emerged as the vanguard of constitutional struggle for Indian independence.

After two decades of the formation of the All India National Congress, All India Muslim League was formed at Dhaka in 1906 under the leadership of Nawab Sir Salimullah. At the beginning Muslim League was a reformist organization. Persons like Nawab Salimullah and Agha Khan espoused the socio-economic interests of the Muslims of the subcontinent without annoying the British rulers. Their vision was that Muslims needed education first to have their say in politics. This strategy worked wonderfully. By the thirties of the last century there was a noteworthy development of educated Muslim middle class who spearheaded the movement for a separate homeland for the Muslims. Muslim League transformed itself from a party being dominated by feudal elements to a party of the Muslim middle class, especially in Bengal. The infusion of middle class elements into Muslim League turned it into a mass political party. Dynamism of highly educated leaders like Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Abul Hashim enabled Muslim League to reach the grass root level.

The sketchy overview of the foundation and growth of two major political parties as given above demonstrates that political parties are born in historical contexts and develop through adjustment with the changing social realities. Though founded in a colonial and backward social setting both the Congress and the Muslim League followed the grammar of modern political parties. They held national and local conferences on a regular basis. Resolutions and decisions of the committee meetings were meticulously recorded. The speeches of the leaders were very often available in written form. A perusal of those speeches by any individual would convince him that they were written with utmost care and reflected high level of erudition and philosophical stance of the leader concerned. Many of these leaders had the habit of maintaining diaries, which enabled historians to gauge their inner mind. History thus became more objective and meaningful. Not only the records on resolutions and decisions had been well-kept, but also the records on membership details were systematically maintained. Committee and conference decisions were arrived after protracted discussions with due regard to the democratic norms. However, there were occasions when weight of personality wisdom nullified general run of opinion. Inner party struggle within both Congress and Muslim League even reached the proportion of turmoil on occasions. But, those had nothing to do with narrow personal interest. As we go through Jinnah Papers, Muslim League Papers, Congress Papers, letters and correspondences of the leaders of the two parties we are simply amazed to discover how disciplined and systematic were the party activities during the colonial days. Things, however, did not continue to be so orderly with respect to both the parties after the independence. The waning of the discipline and order in party organization after the achievement of independence could be due to easing of rigor in political life. Corruption of power had its sway over the organizational discipline of the parties.

Funding of political parties with the exception of the Communist Party remained somewhat hazy in the subcontinent all through. However, collection of membership dues was by and large rigorous during the colonial period. But, membership dues were not sufficient to defray the expenditures of the parties, though conducted frugally. Private donations made by rich capitalists were sizeable. Birla was the main financier of the Congress, while Ispahani contributed liberally to Muslim League. The motivation behind such private donations was not narrow personal interest. Birla wanted to see the growth of Indian entrepreneurial class once India attains independence under the leadership of the Congress. Ispahani’s objective was no different. Ispahani wanted to see the growth of Muslim entrepreneurial class with the creation of Pakistan. One commendable aspect of pre-independence political parties of India and Pakistan was that the statements of funding and expenditures were presented regularly in the party conferences. This good practice gradually lost its importance with the achievement of independence and monopoly over state power. The slackening of party discipline seems to be correlated with the capture of state power. This is perhaps true for the post-colonial societies. As this is the trend of the day we should not think that we should sail with the wind. State necessity and the demand of the time do compel us to think seriously about rectification of the unhealthy culture within the political parties in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi political parties suffer from many maladies. The most serious allegation against them, especially the bigger ones, is that they lack in internal democracy. How is a political party expected to run a country democratically when it does not have democracy within it? It so happens that the apex body meeting is not convened for months together while many crucial policy decisions are taken by the party chief. It could be due to lack of confidence of the party chief in rest of the members of the apex body. But then members of the apex body not enjoying the confidence of the chief are also not removed from the apex body. This is a very inexplicable situation. There continues an uneasy calm at the top level of the party. The senior leaders who sit in the apex body hardly challenge the undemocratic conduct of the party chief. Rather, they dare not do it lest they lose cabinet births and other privileges. The party chief possesses tremendous charisma to circumvent any pressure for democratization of the party functioning. This was not the situation in pre-independence India, though leaders like Gandhi and Jinnah possessed no less measures of charisma, rather more than any leader of contemporary Bangladesh. The problem lies not only in the apex body; it proliferates down to the local level party units. Election of the local level party units remains postponed for years. Faction fighting is to be blamed at this count.

Bangladeshi political parties are not in the habit of maintaining minutes of the party meetings, resolutions and decisions of the party committees properly. This was not the practice of party politics in the colonial days. The good practice weathered over the years. This state of affairs is not at all desirable. When controversies arise over party positions, it becomes difficult to determine the truth. Genuine academic research on the political parties is constrained by the lack of reliable information. Modern technology makes maintenance of party records in a perfect form. Political parties should develop the practice of record keeping in their own interest and in the interest of the country at large.

A serious deficiency of the political parties in Bangladesh is the lack of transparency in their funding. The bigger the political party bigger is the transparency gap. The activities of the political parties are not consistent with their known sources of funding. Parties receive big amounts of donations in exchange for nominations for parliamentary elections. This practice elbows out genuine party activists from the arena of state power. These frustrated political activists are given the promise that they would be compensated as the party goes to power, only to expand the vicious circle of corruption. On the other hand, the nomination buyers extract undue pecuniary benefits from the party leadership as they capture state power after the election. It is also alleged that important political parties in Bangladesh receive funding from the foreign sources. If this allegation bears a minimum amount of truth then it should be considered as the worst menace. It is menacing for our independence and sovereignty. We all know that there is no free lunch. Foreign powers would be ready to provide funding to political parties, whether in the government or in the opposition only to buy and protect their interest. This menace of foreign funding has to be stopped forthwith.

In the light of the above analysis it has become an imperative to institute the reforms of the political parties though appropriate legal instruments. The political parties should not consider the reforms detrimental to their free functioning. There cannot be any freedom without responsibility. These reforms are overdue in the interest of the political parties, democracy and the nation. Should not the political parties be comfortable to run the country free from all encumbrances? Let me propose some urgent reforms of the political parties in Bangladesh.

l All political parties should be registered with the Election Commission and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

l To be registered the political parties should submit their manifesto, constitution and detailed CV of the members of the Central Executive committee.

l The political parties should hold election at all levels of their hierarchy according to the party constitution. Failure to hold such elections will lead to cancellation of registration unless otherwise mentioned in the political parties act.

l All political parties shall maintain all records in writing with respect to party decisions and resolutions.

l All decisions regarding party programs and activities must be taken through processes of consultation and democratic decision making as laid in the party constitution.

l Political parties should be barred from receiving donations from local and foreign sources. Political parties should, however, be allowed to collect party membership fees.

l Political party members should be given proper identity cards duly endorsed by the authorized party leaders.

l Political parties should be funded by the state in proportion to the votes received during the previous election.

l Expenditures of the political parties at all levels should be audited annually. The audit report should be published in a largely circulated national daily.

l Political parties must be barred from announcing political programs that smacks of violence.

l Political parties should be barred from having any link with trade unions and student organizations.