Accommodate each other

Jatiya Sangsad Building

With the Jamaat-led Opposition staging two road marches, the first one to Chattogram and the second one to Rangpur from Capital Dhaka, and the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party staging a huge procession in support of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and his government in the metropolis on Tuesday 22 September; politics has moved to the streets too early after the restoration of democracy only in last February. The intervening period is only 7 months. 

Differences of opinion in a democracy is normal. But this should not override the verdict coming through the February 12 elections. The government which has secured nearly two-thirds of the seats in Parliament says it would implement the July Declaration word for word. The opposition wants exactly this. But their interpretations of the declaration differ. 

This reminds me of a debate held in the Second Parliament of 1979 in which the Awami League-led opposition was not ready to accept a point made by the then Prime Minister Shah Azizur Rahman. Shah Aziz after some persuasion told the opposition, we say this is right, you say this is not right, but we prevail. If you want you challenge this at an appropriate forum. 

Perhaps time is not ripe to directly challenge the government by taking to the street. The government should also have the magnanimity to deal with the opposition in a way that it does not take the extreme path. There is still time for reparation. Or else undemocratic forces will take advantage of the disunity. Both sides should be accommodative.