Government has set an example of mismanagement in 180 days: Nahid

National Parliament Opposition Chief Whip and National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam has said the first 180 days of the BNP government have largely demonstrated incompetence, mismanagement, poor judgment and dishonesty.

He said, "the government was returning to the old fascist and authoritarian structure. “The first 180 days have proved that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has no plan whatsoever for running the country,” he said.

Nahid Islam made the remarks at an emergency press conference held Monday afternoon at the NCP’s temporary central office in Banglamotor, Dhaka. The NCP’s Policy and Research Subcommittee organized the briefing to present what it described as the failures of the BNP government during its first 180 days.

Nahid read out a booklet titled “From Promises of Change to a Return to Old Politics-Mismanagement, Incompetence and Lack of Planning.” It was prepared to mark the government’s first 180 days.

According to the booklet’s overall assessment, the government identified three priorities at its first cabinet meeting on February 17: keeping commodity prices under control, improving law and order, and restoring normal electricity and fuel supplies. Six months later, the NCP claimed the government had failed badly on all three fronts. Fuel shortages have forced factories to shut down and workers to lose jobs, while farmers are having to buy fertilizer at high prices.

Nahid also criticized the rollback of several reforms introduced by the interim government, including the Human Rights Commission, legislation to prevent enforced disappearances, and the Supreme Court Secretariat. He alleged that weaker and ineffective laws were being introduced in their place.

He further accused the government of abandoning its widely publicized 31-point plan and election manifesto while allowing widespread politicization and nepotism in state institutions. He said there had been no visible progress in prosecuting the July massacre, while justice, and treatment and rehabilitation for victims’ families and injured people, were absent from the government’s stated priorities.

Nahid alleged that attacks and legal cases against opposition politicians, dissenters and journalists by ruling-party activists were continuing to increase. He also claimed that government officials were being harassed. In many cases, he said, those injured in attacks were being legally harassed instead of the attackers. He accused the government of turning the police back into a partisan force.

He also said the government had violated its electoral commitments and the July Charter by failing to take the oath of the Constitutional Reform Council.

Responding to a question, Nahid said the first 180 days had demonstrated that Tarique Rahman had no plan for governing the country. He accused the government of following old policies and alleged that it was steering the country toward destruction.

Nahid said, "the government had broadly failed to establish the rule of law. At the same time, he claimed that the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance, particularly the NCP, had played a responsible role as the opposition over the past six months."

“We believe we have acted very responsibly from the opposition benches,” he said, adding that the opposition had brought changes to the country’s political culture. He alleged that the government had responded with attacks, including an incident in which one of their colleagues lost an eye, while another person was killed in Gaibandha.

Nahid dismissed claims that the opposition was weak or ineffective as “propaganda by the government to hide its failures.” He said the opposition was continuously showing the people where the government was making mistakes and breaking its promises, while also resisting those policies politically. If the government continued along the same path, he warned, it would face a major mass movement.

Nahid said the 11-party alliance would soon hold long marches in five to six divisions, followed by a grand rally in Dhaka. He said the rally would send a strong message to the government, after which the alliance would announce tougher programs if necessary.

Meanwhile, the NCP would continue its own programs at the upazila, district and metropolitan levels according to its organizational capacity.

-MT