An opposition party could use parliament as a platform to question the government and reach the people, she says
Published : 31 Dec 2023, 10:18 PM
The BNP’s decision to boycott the general election may be repeating their mistake from 2014, says Khushi Kabir, the eminent rights activist and development worker.
“When does a politician get close to the people? It's at the time of the election,” she told bdnews24.com’s ‘Inside Out’.
“You reach out to people. And if you are missing out on the election, you're missing out on reaching out to people who will then know you as a politician.”
Being in parliament also allows opposition parties a platform and a space to discuss their issues, she said.
“You can always come out and hold a press conference and let the public know that as an opposition, I'm not getting what my rights are in parliament.”
“We've raised this question, we've asked for our interventions, we've asked to speak, we wanted to raise these issues, we wanted to raise this bill in parliament. And if they're in parliament, they can always come out and speak if they took part in the elections.”
For Kabir, these benefits outweigh the complications of an election the opposition has described as ‘rigged’.
“The opposition is claiming the election is totally rigged and it's a false election. So, if we consider that to be true, if they took part in the elections, they could have come and said in this centre and this place and this place it was totally rigged. Now they can't claim how rigged it is because they're not taking part.”
“I just think that not taking part in 2014 was a mistake. It's a mistake this time too.”
The full video of the interview is available on http://bdnews24.com’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
The BNP and other opposition groups could have fulfilled a necessary role by taking part in the polls and forcing the government to take responsibility for its actions, said Kabir, who is a member of the Board of Trustees at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
“I firmly believe that without a strong and vibrant opposition, a parliament cannot really function,” she said.
“To have a one-sided parliament without any opposition which could take the government and the party in power to question, ask us for accountability; the parliament becomes quite dull.
“And so, any bills and laws that get passed are passed without any in-depth, detailed discussions. And the public are totally unaware of why and what and which time bills are passed.”
Otherwise, either the government will have to hold itself accountable or people will have to risk being thrown in jail or have false cases filed against them in order to demand accountability, she said.
The human rights activist also criticised opposition parties for not using their position to mount a broad critique of the government’s handling of major issues such as law and order and governance.
“The main opposition, instead of talking about the people in general, the country in general and the situation in general, are very myopic in only thinking about their party and their party leaders being arrested,” she said.
“I think it's a lost opportunity that they have not taken cognisance of this. Basically, I don't think they were interested. It just shows that the political parties are not interested in the people and their constituents.”
She said she rarely sees an interest in the needs of the common people from politicians on all sides of the aisle.
“I don't see that happening, neither from the ruling party nor from the opposition, whether they are outside the parliament or whether they are in the parliament.”
Kabir also noted that the kinds of people involved in politics had changed over time and may have contributed to this shift.
“And now, the kind of nominations that are given and even the parliamentarians who have come into the parliament, or the leaders of political parties. Most of them are from the business community.”
“We used to have a tradition of politicians who would have a very strong base in the rural areas with the people themselves, with the general public. We don't see that happening much now.”
And this shift, she argued, is affecting the focus of politics.
“Generally speaking, people who are in parties now and leading are very distanced from real people, real issues, and what affects people the most.
“And that's why we sometimes have ridiculous statements, very irresponsible statements from political leaders which really reflect their distancing from people at large.”