Acceptance of people's sovereignty shows the way

The past month has witnessed the unfolding of momentous events in this part of the world. What was thought to be unchangeable changed with the artificially constructed reality lying shattered. This nation often boasts that few peoples in world history have earned their independence at the costs the Bangalees had to pay in 1971. What is, however, overly missed is that hardly a people that had fought a bloody war has also been subjected to such abominable betrayal, beleaguerment, guile and intrigue at the hands of its own rulers. Those who were given the mandate to govern and those who usurped power by force or ploys other than fair have all let the people down time and again.
It is a strange feeling that assails people with sensitive minds. The traditional political binary has recognised the people as voters who can be influenced by contradictory or conflicting views and opinions on certain hot issues of the time. Even in the United States of America, billionaire funds gushed into election campaign allegedly become the decisive factor for presidential win. The election process is therefore less than perfect in the best of democracies. Essentially, it is a flawed process that is left so in order to preserve and promote the interests of the oligarchs.
In this part of the world, the blind imitation of the process makes it even more archaic and distorted. This is exactly why even the camouflage of civility is shed and in many places voting is marked by clashes between rival parties, violence and casualties. At least the western democracies have been able to avoid such ugly incidents. The problem with power wielders is that they want a monopoly hold on the system of governance caring little for the wishes and expectations of the governed. That exactly is the point where things go wrong because it denies the sovereignty of the people.
Thus the power tussle becomes brutal, intriguing and immoral. As long as there is a facade of narratives legitimising takeover of the state power, the common people have to accept it, tolerate it and submit to it no matter how discontented they may be. Given the opportunity, the people, much as they may be suppressed, do not hesitate to bring down even the apparently most powerful ruler. There are overthrows of rulers galore in many parts of Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. The latest such ouster is the one of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
The question now is, do the people that has sacrificed 3.0 million lives at the altar of independence and had to endure dishonour of 0.3 million women deserve such rulers? Time and again, the people have expressed their opposition to any authoritarian and corrupt leadership at the helm of state power. Initially, all pretend to be respecting the will of the people but no sooner are they saddled firmly in their positions than they go off-track making a mockery of rule by the people, of the people and for the people. They simply undermine common people and their rights and power.
In extreme cases, the people in power and the state machinery down the line behave like predators instead of protectors. The weak are exploited at every stage with impunity. People are brutalised and even dehumanised if they try to cross the path of the powerful or their cronies. Those who remain aloof from the thick of things and are lucky not to draw the wrath of the ruling class get frustrated because a stifling socio-political environment is created all around. In such an environment, creativity is the last thing to flourish because here scholarly, erudite and enlightened people are sidelined but the mediocre, sycophants and even tricksters and frauds are allowed to rule the roost.
Yet, happily, there is a limit to the oppressive and authoritarian rule. Once it reaches the tipping point, it crumbles from within and a spark somewhere turns into a conflagration to consume it. The people become once again hopeful that the rulers will be humble and submit to the people not lord them over. But the unsavoury truth is that before long they get disillusioned. This is what the condition of today's Bangladesh is. In the throes of expectation, the people have many a time found themselves in a political no-man's-land, in the limbo. One villainous dispensation has been replaced by an equally or more wicked one.
The frustration is overwhelming as they discover the emptiness and vacuousness of the political exercises as exposed by the reversal of power into vulnerability. Now the all powerful flee or are holed out from their hideouts like criminals and headed to the court. What an irony! At this point, a sense of mortification overtakes an innocent and sensitive soul all because one has to put up with such powerful scoundrels who have reigned supreme so long. Outsize frustration and nihilism invade the soul because the alternative is no better. Can the nation look forward to a new generation of political leadership which will not at all be partisan and corrupt? If that happens, the Bangalees will be free from its curse of vengeance and corruption.