At this critical juncture of time there is a need for rock-solid unity of the people. The regime deposed during the July-August mass uprising pursued and promoted divisive politics with the ulterior motive of creating disunity among the masses so that it could perpetuate its power. Why they did so is now as clear as daylight - only to plunder resources of the country and siphon the same off to foreign countries so that they can lead a lavish life there.
What is needed most now to offset the conspiratorial activities of the despotic thugs is to forge unity and solidarity among the people. The lesson of the history is that disunity of the local forces ended up in the defeat of the patriotic forces in 1757 paving the way for colonial subjugation of the subcontinent. More than 200 years later, solid unity of the people led to the victory in the 1971 liberation war and emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country. People will have to consolidate their unity to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the nation and stop plundering the country's resources.
The unity of the real patriotic political forces could have performed miracle but those are pitiably divided even over vital issues of national interests such as sovereignty and independence of the country, consolidation of democracy and institutionalisation of the system of elections. Due to their disunity the nation failed to achieve these fundamental objectives even in more than five decades of independence. The people of the country were rather a bit disappointed noticing the widening distance between sections of the political forces and the interim government over reform and national election issues. However, political forces sat with the Chief Adviser of the interim government with a view to coming to a common position on a host of critically important issues.
A week ago politicians with diverse backgrounds, according to an FE report, extended unqualified support to the CA's call for forging a national unity to thwart bids of vested quarters through fabricated narratives to reverse the achievements of the mass upsurge and block the effort for rebuilding Bangladesh. This unity on the most pressing issues will hopefully lead to peace and stability in society vitally needed for the nation to forge ahead. They should rather strengthen communication among themselves and with the government to sort out issues and settle the same through discussions. It is expected that political forces would not backtrack from their commitment and would rather take the nascent unity to an even higher level.
According to press reports, Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus on Monday hinted that his government may come up with an announcement this month on the reform and election process. It is hoped that the process would be finalised taking political forces into confidence, which would eventually strengthen the unity achieved so far.
Alongside this encouraging development in the political field, a significant event took place in one of the country's industrial sectors. It is an agreement that both the factory owners and the workers in the readymade garment sector signed the other day. Though limited in nature, this agreement shows the path to peace and stability in the greater industrial arena. According to a report of The Financial Express, workers in the country's main export-earning garment industry are going to get a hiked minimum wage with an enhanced annual increment with effect from January. As per the agreement, the minimum monthly wage for the workers will be raised to Tk 12,000 from the current Tk 8,000 while the annual increment will be increased to 9.0 per cent from the current 5.0 per cent. These hikes came in the wake of unrelenting protest movements of the workers demanding wage hike, timely payment of arrears, overtime and festival bonuses. Protracted movements seriously hampered production in the sector, leaving detrimental effects on the industry and the national economy as a whole. The above agreement will hopefully restore peace and stability in the readymade garment sector and facilitate production there.
Actually, not only the RMG industry but also the whole gamut of the national economy is in dire need of an environment conducive to production, which now suffers from unsteady supply of such essential inputs as power and gas as well as labour unrest and socio-political instability. The national economy is now in a vulnerable state following the political bankruptcy and plundering of resources by the deposed regime.
During its rule of over a period of 15 years, the autocratic Awami League regime caused irreparable damage to the country's politics, economy and public administration. The power production and the banking sectors received the hardest blow from the then government and its plundering cronies. Thus the banking sector has been bled white with 10 banks rendered 'technically bankrupt' --- as the White Paper on Bangladesh Economy observes. As part of the crony capitalism promoted by the immediate past government, the country's non-performing loan reached a record-high of Tk 2.11 trillion. Embezzlement of trillions of taka left a crippling effect on the country's capital market. A staggering US$240 billion was laundered during one and a half decades of the Hasina regime. It pushed the country and its economy on the brink.
As the forces defeated during the July-August mass uprising and their international backers will not refrain from creating instability and instigating chaos and confusion among the people of the country, the nation should be always on guard. To reverse the effects of ruthless plundering by the deposed regime is no doubt a gigantic task; it can only be accomplished through the united efforts of the nation sans the proven enemies of the country. Only a stable socio-political environment based on unity of patriotic forces and uninterrupted economic activities can pull the country out of the quagmire.
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