Political culture needs overhauling

There is nothing wrong in supporting a particular political ideology. And being the activist of a political party is also nothing out of the ordinary. But the problem of present-day politics in Bangladesh is that supporters or activists of one political belief or party are not ready to coexist with the holders of a different political belief. This culture of intolerance in politics is the root of all evil in Bangladesh society and politics. Elections and having elected governments mean nothing if the supporters and activists of different political views cannot live and work under the same roof. Consider the case of some specialised government hospitals in the city. According to reports, most of the departmental heads, senior doctors including professors and associate professors did not report to their respective duty at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) between August 6 and 8. Why? Because they all belonged to the party that led the immediate past government that fell on August 5. They feared that members of their opponent political party might attack them. And their fear was also not misplaced. Some of the doctors belonging to the past ruling party, who attempted to join duty, were reportedly chased away by the followers of opponent political groups. The result of this culture of political intolerance is that patients with serious medical conditions suffered as, reportedly, no adult cardiac surgery could be done on those few days following the collapse of the Awami League-led government of Sheikh Hasina on Monday (August 5) last week. One wonders, why the service of doctors whose duty is to save life should suffer because they have different political beliefs. Here the accusing finger is not being pointed at any particular political party or its followers. The doctors at the NICVD who failed to join their duty in those few days after August 5 were fully aware about what they did to those who did not belong to their political view. So, they feared backlash from their opponent political camp. This is the situation not only at the public hospitals. Following the political changeover, from the streets to every workplace in the capital city as elsewhere in the country, one could observe similar scenes. This is unfortunate.

Street fights, even bloody ones, among the activists of opposing political parties are within the accepted norms of politics in this country. One can well call it a political phenomenon of the developing countries where, they say, democracy is still inchoate, not fully developed as in the West. Question still arises because experiments on elected democracy are not new in this part of the world. The people of this land are used to voting to elect representatives of their local bodies to legislative bodies since the British colonial period. In that sense, the culture of electoral politics and with it the tenets of democracy should have taken root in our mindset long ago. But it has not happened so far. As a result, the fights and brawls among the political supporters have spread from the streets to the corridors of public hospitals, courts, educational institutions, you name it, it is everywhere. Organisations that are supposed to render emergency services to the people often become dysfunctional, thanks to the intense political rivalry among highly educated and knowledgeable professionals. This is not expected from a nation that has been engaged in a democratic experiment for decades.

It is believed, with the changes that have set in after August 5, the culture of party politics of the future would also undergo a positive transformation.

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