e common people are not concerned with movement to protect democracy or protesting killing of democracy. To meet the necessity of life and livelihood they have to come out amid panic and fear. Amid the unprecedented anarchy of 2013 also, capital Dhaka was busy with work. Violence continued on the one hand and on the other works went on in schools, colleges, offices and courts. Violence subsided largely after the January 5 elections and the programs of hartal and blockade turned more futile. People of different classes and professions said the elections were questionable to them. They also want fair and participatory polls. But even then they do not want to lose their lives and livelihood. A teacher of Dhaka university political science department Shantnu Majumdar told this correspondent people have much reservations over the January 5 polls, but even then they do not want another 2013. Observing that extreme programmes like hartal and blockade have become nominal due to their over use, he said people have started ignoring hartal and blockade drastically. The loss of a day is a great loss to a working man. If it is declared today that bombs will not be hurled on vehicles during hartal, the programme will be hardly observed. In politics, the age of blockade is less than hartal. In the anti-British movement Mahatma Gandhi used the Gujarati word ‘hartal’. The main appeal of hartal is that political parties will cal hartal and will observe it spontaneously. Blockade is to some extent different. Here no appeal is made to the people, rather they are forced to observed it. Hartals have been observed on many occasions after the first hartal was called by Tamuddin Majlis in 1948 demanding official recognition of Bengali language. After independence people have seen 46 days of hartal on an average annually till 2013. But in the recent hartals there was no response from the public, rather traffic jam could not be resisted on the following day even by blasting bombs in the evening of pre-hartal day. 22 hartals were called in 2014, seven of them by 20-party alliance led by BNP. On the first day of 2015 a hartal was called by Jamaat. BNP has been observing non-stop blockade since January 6. On the fist day the highways were empty although vehicles plied in the city streets. Long route transport service connecting the capital Dhaka started from Tuesday. The movement of vehicles across the country turned normal yesterday. In such a situation, BNP’s joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi called for continuation of blockade programme. Public lives are exposed to the detrimental effect of such political impasse. Badsha Mia, a tea vendor at Progoti Sarani footpath in the capital, expressed his annoyance failing to run business due to fear for confrontation between ruling Awami League and opposition BNP over celebration of first anniversary of the government on January 5. He is concerned about his bread and butter. The issue of country’s democracy or voting right has little value to him. He is not interested to lose his business amid a movement waged by the opposition for achieving voting right. It is not sure as to how long the blockade will continue. He is worried over not getting expected number of customers. The marginal street vendor earned Tk 800 and Tk 1,000 regularly in the last couple of days. But his income should be nearly Tk 1,500. Out of total 2,86,96,000 families in the country 1,51,83,000 are dependent upon agriculture. All of them are not affiliated with ruling Awami League. Many of these people support opposition BNP. But they cannot sell their agricultural products due to blockade. The farmers at the northern region are counting loss due to fall in price of cauliflower. Such product has become so cheap that it is selling at Tk 1 per kg. Around 4,000 factories of export oriented RMG sector are operative. There may be difference of political ideologies among the owners. None of them support blockade. Even, they are sending their goods to the Chittagong port under police escort. During unbridled blockade enforced by opposition BNP, the businessmen’s apex body FBCCI leaders made their stand clear that they are against the political programme which a detrimental to the trade and commerce. The movement of vehicles is normal in the capital and traffic congestion was stereotyped. The goods-laden trucks and other vehicles plied on the highways. In such a situation, the might of opposition BNP to enforce an effective blockade has been questioned. The party’s programme is being criticised by many. Ruling party’s Dhaka city unit general secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya came to the street wearing lungi (a traditional dress normally worn at house) to mock BNP.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Edgeless blockade too makes public panicky:Daily Sun
e common people are not concerned with movement to protect democracy or protesting killing of democracy. To meet the necessity of life and livelihood they have to come out amid panic and fear. Amid the unprecedented anarchy of 2013 also, capital Dhaka was busy with work. Violence continued on the one hand and on the other works went on in schools, colleges, offices and courts. Violence subsided largely after the January 5 elections and the programs of hartal and blockade turned more futile. People of different classes and professions said the elections were questionable to them. They also want fair and participatory polls. But even then they do not want to lose their lives and livelihood. A teacher of Dhaka university political science department Shantnu Majumdar told this correspondent people have much reservations over the January 5 polls, but even then they do not want another 2013. Observing that extreme programmes like hartal and blockade have become nominal due to their over use, he said people have started ignoring hartal and blockade drastically. The loss of a day is a great loss to a working man. If it is declared today that bombs will not be hurled on vehicles during hartal, the programme will be hardly observed. In politics, the age of blockade is less than hartal. In the anti-British movement Mahatma Gandhi used the Gujarati word ‘hartal’. The main appeal of hartal is that political parties will cal hartal and will observe it spontaneously. Blockade is to some extent different. Here no appeal is made to the people, rather they are forced to observed it. Hartals have been observed on many occasions after the first hartal was called by Tamuddin Majlis in 1948 demanding official recognition of Bengali language. After independence people have seen 46 days of hartal on an average annually till 2013. But in the recent hartals there was no response from the public, rather traffic jam could not be resisted on the following day even by blasting bombs in the evening of pre-hartal day. 22 hartals were called in 2014, seven of them by 20-party alliance led by BNP. On the first day of 2015 a hartal was called by Jamaat. BNP has been observing non-stop blockade since January 6. On the fist day the highways were empty although vehicles plied in the city streets. Long route transport service connecting the capital Dhaka started from Tuesday. The movement of vehicles across the country turned normal yesterday. In such a situation, BNP’s joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi called for continuation of blockade programme. Public lives are exposed to the detrimental effect of such political impasse. Badsha Mia, a tea vendor at Progoti Sarani footpath in the capital, expressed his annoyance failing to run business due to fear for confrontation between ruling Awami League and opposition BNP over celebration of first anniversary of the government on January 5. He is concerned about his bread and butter. The issue of country’s democracy or voting right has little value to him. He is not interested to lose his business amid a movement waged by the opposition for achieving voting right. It is not sure as to how long the blockade will continue. He is worried over not getting expected number of customers. The marginal street vendor earned Tk 800 and Tk 1,000 regularly in the last couple of days. But his income should be nearly Tk 1,500. Out of total 2,86,96,000 families in the country 1,51,83,000 are dependent upon agriculture. All of them are not affiliated with ruling Awami League. Many of these people support opposition BNP. But they cannot sell their agricultural products due to blockade. The farmers at the northern region are counting loss due to fall in price of cauliflower. Such product has become so cheap that it is selling at Tk 1 per kg. Around 4,000 factories of export oriented RMG sector are operative. There may be difference of political ideologies among the owners. None of them support blockade. Even, they are sending their goods to the Chittagong port under police escort. During unbridled blockade enforced by opposition BNP, the businessmen’s apex body FBCCI leaders made their stand clear that they are against the political programme which a detrimental to the trade and commerce. The movement of vehicles is normal in the capital and traffic congestion was stereotyped. The goods-laden trucks and other vehicles plied on the highways. In such a situation, the might of opposition BNP to enforce an effective blockade has been questioned. The party’s programme is being criticised by many. Ruling party’s Dhaka city unit general secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya came to the street wearing lungi (a traditional dress normally worn at house) to mock BNP.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment