Election Manifesto
Political parties urged to reach consensus on economic issues
Politicians and businessmen at a seminar on Saturday said two major political parties must have a consensus on economic issues in their election manifestoes for the sake of business and industrialisation and avoid anti-development political programmes like hartal.
They said this at a discussion ‘Upcoming election: Economic Manifesto of Political Parties’ organised by International Business Forum Bangladesh in the city.
IBFB president Hafizur Rahman Khan chair the discussion.
Adviser to BNP chairperson Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Awami League presidium member Nuh-Ul-Alam Lenin, Jatiya Party presidium member Fakir Ashraf and FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, among others, took part in the discussion.
Hafizur Rahman Khan urged the political parties to make it clear in their election manifestos what they would do for the development of the country’s business environment and economy.
‘Hartal breaks the backbone of the economy and that’s why we, the political parties have to come a consensus that we won’t call hartal and it should be included in the election manifesto,’ Fakir Ashraf said.
Nuh-Ul-Alam Lenin said political parties adopt programmes to attract voters but such programmes could not be realistic for economic development. For example, he said, open-pit coal extraction system is suitable for Dinajpur coal mine but political parties do not take any steps about it because of ‘politics of vote.’
He said businessmen can create pressure on political parties for discarding the politics of hartal, stopping the use of religion in politics and loan-default culture to create a business friendly atmosphere in the country.
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said cost of doing business was on rise due to lack of good governance and for this reason, not only the businesspeople, other stakeholders such as workers and consumers were suffering.
‘The BNP will prepare the next election manifesto considering the country’s perspectives, where businessmen as well as the stakeholders will get priority,’ he said.
He stressed on the need for building national consensus to create a business-friendly atmosphere.
Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed urged political parties to reach a consensus over holding the next national elections through dialogue.
‘Country’s business community will take the decision, which party they will support, considering their election manifestoes,’ he said.
M Abul Kashem Majumder, professor of Public Administration department at Jahangirnagar University, presented the keynote paper.
-With New Age input
