Left of the right, right of the left

Khaleda Zia
Ziaur Rahman entered into the political arena, incidentally. But his arrival was inevitable. His coming was necessitated by the demands of the nation and the time to fill the void in the leadership. His did not come to join politics through any tortuous path by means of conspiracy in the dark, but his ascent in the political arena at an auspicious dawn on November 7, 1975 was anointed by crores of people from all walks of life and patriotic soldiers, amid incessant slogans and sprinkling of flowers. The country’s leadership came to him.
When Ziaur Rahman came to power, there was no political party in the country. Banning all other parties, a party called Bakshal was created under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to initiate the rule of a single party in the country. People were stripped of their democratic and fundamental rights. Freedom of newspapers and judiciary was forfeited. After promoting Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from the post of the prime minister to that of the president, he was handed over the power and authority to decide on the fate of the nation. The tenure of the government was increased by three years without holding any election. Although a veteran who had fought for independence and democracy for long, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman appeared as the head of the Bakshali totalitarian regime. But these tyrannical activities ran counter to the spirit of our great war of liberation. These activities had greatly shocked and enraged the people, immediately after the hard-earned independence. It was the rivals of Sheikh Mujib, who chose Khondokar Mushtak Ahmed, a close political associate of Sheikh Mujib, to seize power, resorting to a bloody coup, with the help of a section of army officials loyal to him. After seizing power, Mushtak banned the Bakshal. But Mushtak did not succeed in overcoming the crisis stemming from a tumultuous political unrest. He was also dethroned by another military putsch. Another group seized power and imposed Martial Law all over the country. It was against this backdrop that a revolutionary movement was spearheaded on November 7, with the historic people-military solidarity. This change was for the independence and sovereignty of the state, for the multi-party democracy, for people’s freedom and democratic rights, for liberal politics and for development and growth. This movement epitomised a transition to democracy from Martial Law, which was spearheaded by Ziaur Rahman, the man who declared the war of independence. He brought back politics and democracy and gave opportunities to form political parties in order to make this transition meaningful. He restored people’s fundamental rights and freedom of speech, of newspapers and of the judiciary. To advance this politics of change, he himself floated the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The Muslim League led the Pakistan movement, but it could not meet the aspirations of the momentous era afterwards. The Awami League was in the forefront of Bangladesh movement, but later it failed miserably as a political party. Against the backdrop of this failure, the BNP came into being with a commitment to do politics commensurate with that of an independent country. This party has given rise to a political system, weathering vicissitudes of fortune, both during peace and struggle, over a period of long 31 years. This party is now a balanced organisation with lots of experiences. Our commitment and dedication have become sanctified with the blood of martyrs. We are moving along against the politics of rivalry, division and confrontation, holding high the national flag – a symbol of unity. We, the people of plain land and hilly region, irrespective of religion, caste, class and profession, have built an integrated nationhood. We shall resist any movement by religious bigots, keeping our social and religious values intact. We shall extend our hand of friendship to all across the globe on the basis of equality, but we shall never accept any camaraderie at the cost of our sovereignty and freedom. We are to remain absolutely uncompromising over our national interest and dignity, and that too at any cost. We are neither leftists nor rightists. Those who are on our right are rightists and those who are on our left are leftists. We are on the left of the rightists and on the right of the leftists. We exist at the centre and we are the centre of the country’s politics. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is the main stream in this country. It is the BNP, which is the national political institution of Bangladesh.

Original Article on NewAgebd