Change remains elusive

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The people did not vote just for the transition to an elected government. They were very keen to see real changes in the way the country was being governed. Those who are on the driving seat of power must realise the real aspirations of the people. The people did not vote for the Awami League and its political allies only for the materialisation of the agenda of the latter but for a solution of the problems that bedevil their life every day.
The present government has been in power for over 10 months. Compared to the total allowable tenure of this government which is five years, this length of time is not a long one. But the same is enough surely to form the first impressions about the ruling qualities of the incumbents in power.
This government also did not come to power just as a matter of course. It came to power at the end of a series of very bitter and also traumatic experiences spanning some years that crystallised beyond doubt what the people aspired the most and what were really needed for the continuing progress and prosperity of the country. The deepest realisation on the part of the people generally on the eve of the last general election in Bangladesh was that the old order must give way to a new and remarkably healthier one. The new order that was desired would ensure good governance above everything else.
The early statements from the leading figures in the new government, specially from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also helped such expectations to be raised to a high degree among people in walks of life. Leaders of the Awami League-led government promised time and again that they would lose not a moment from their first day in power to change the old order and to bring refreshing new changes for the good in all spheres of national life.
But more than ten months down the road, the rhetoric and the realities hardly meet. If there is anything to be said decisively about the ruling style of this government, it would be that it has not succeeded in changing anything.

Humayun Khasru
Japan Garden City
Mohammadpur, Dhaka