The Ninth Parliamentary election has been a milestone in the history of Bangladesh. First of all we would like to congratulate the AL led Grand Alliance for such a remarkable and historic landslide victory. It is assumed that this has been the greatest victory ever for an alliance since the independence of our country. I would also like to congratulate the caretaker government, the Election Commission and the Bangladesh Army for the hard work to make sure a fair, free and credible election on December 29, 2008. Furthermore, congratulations should go the whole nation for electing a new government with vision; it is the people of Bangladesh who made this happen.
There is no doubt that a new era is about to begin in Bangladesh with a new year 2009. How do we evaluate the outcome of the election 2008? Bangladesh went through a lot of turmoil and critical situation in last couple of years. This election was a much anticipated election through which people elected their representatives who they believe would make some socio-structural change to ensure liberty and justice for all.
Now all people including the very supporters of AL led Alliance need to stay calm and focussed to the mainstream development of this country. The nation is going to get the elected government after two years and now it is up to the AL led Grand Alliance to fulfil the expectations of this nation.
The election is over, but this is not the end; this is just the beginning of a new era that could be the greatest era if all political parties work together. It is now up to the AL Alliance to face the greatest challenges. We strongly believe that the greatest challenge for the newly formed government would be to satisfy the dream of this nation. It is conceivable that bigger achievement comes with greater responsibilities. Facing the challenges and working in front to make this country stronger would be much harder. But the question is whether AL Grand Alliance is ready to face these challenges? We firmly believe that this alliance is confident to take these challenges, especially after winning such a landslide historic victory with which they can change the constitution which was always ignored since 1975. People would definitely look at what steps this Alliance is going to take after forming the government.
We know economic hardship is going on all around the globe, and Bangladesh is also in the list that faces economic challenges. Already the expected GDP growth has been revised by development partners. It would be especially the greatest challenge for the newly formed government to make people's lives a little bit more comfortable. We are obviously talking about the price hike for which the general mass of our country suffer a lot. Research shows that four million people already went under poverty line because of price hike in last summer which put Bangladesh in question about achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Getting people out of economic hardship would be a great challenging task for the new government. Providing employment to the young people and to curb increasing religious extremism should also get priority in AL led Grand Alliance agenda.
Again it will also be interesting to see how the Alliance works with opposition parties to make the parliament effective and the centrepiece. In the past we have seen that our parliament was not effective and no dispute was settled in the parliament. We believe this is the real moment for the AL led Grand Alliance to make a change, a change would be to settle everything in the parliament, a change would be when both government and opposition parties will discuss everything in the parliament. It is up to the winning alliance how it works with and how it would welcome opposition parties to engage them in all discussions in the parliament.
The newly formed government would also have to make strategies regarding foreign policy. People would be looking at how the newly formed government steps with the brand new government in the USA. Not only with the USA, it would be extremely important for Bangladesh to cope with the Western World, especially after restoring democracy following a lay off about two years. The whole world will be watching to see how this winning alliance can work to put the country into the democratic process.
Once again we would like to congratulate AL Grand Alliance and wish them good luck on working for the people of Bangladesh and to bring about a change in peoples' life and, ultimately, to bring about an exceptional change to this country. Congratulations to AL led Grand Alliance!
*Me & Salahuddin Ahmed from Ashland University also contributed in this article. The article was published on the daily Independent (Editorial, page 6) in Bangladesh on December 31, 2008.
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