Term Paper

On
Scenario of democracy in Bangladesh

Course Name : Introduction to Politics and Governments

Course Code : 1102

Submitted To
Md. Robiul Islam
Lecturer
Department of Public Administration
Submitted By
Md. Sakif Al Wasee

Roll: 2016941033

BPA 2020

Date of Submission: 09.06.2020

 Introduction

There are a lot democratic country in the world. Cleisthenes is considered the father of
democracy. Democracy first started in 508-507 BC at Athens. By the time it came to Indian sub
-continent. Bangladesh is democratic country where the people chooses the government. The
head of the government is Prime minister. Bangladeshi government follows the Parliamentary
Government system. Bangladesh got independence in 16th December of 1971. But just after
getting the independence democracy was not established back then. Basically in 1990 the
journey of democracy started in Bangladesh. From then to now Bangladesh had a strict journey.
In all of these years our country developed a lot but also faced some worst experiences.

Definition

What is Democracy? Democracy is a process where people are the sovereign. Democracy is a
system where the majority always wins. In a democratic country the people always elects the
government. Basically they elect the government by hosting a vote. Many scholars defined
democracy in their convenient way. Democracy most often refers to a form of government in
which people chooses leader by voting. ” Democracy emphasizes freedom and liberty as its
essential goals, with democratic institutions as the means to achieve them.” (Dalton,2007,p.143).
Democracy represents the rights of people. Democracy represents the freedom of speech of
people. In a democratic country the people always chooses one person who can represent them in
front of the Government. In a democratic country people always holds the power. And the
government always try hard to fulfill the demand of the people. There are almost 167 democratic
countries in the world. In every country they priorities the needs of the people. The most three
important things in a democratic country is freedom of speech, fundamental rights and social
security. But in Bangladesh, Are we getting the most three important elements of democracy?
Democracy always had a soft corner in every human’s heart. But still there is a question that
should we get the proper democracy? So basically if we come to a definition then Democracy is
basically government by the people where the government is elected by the majority.
 Analysis

In the scenario of Bangladesh we can divide the Bangladesh political history in three parts.
Bangladesh got independence in 1971. After that three different era came to our country. The
three parts of our political history are: 1.Party System in the Foundational years (1972-1975)

2.Party System in the under Military Rule(1975-1990)

3. Party System Under Electoral Democracy(1991-Present

So basically democracy started in Bangladesh in 1991.From then to now only two political
parties ruled Bangladesh all over these years. The parties are: 1.Banladesh Awami League
2.Bangladesh Nationalist Party. If we think deeply we can understand that Bangladesh developed
a lot all over these years. Bangladesh developed a lot in all over these years. Bangladesh reduced
poverty rate by sustaining economic growth. Bangladesh made a lot of flyovers and roads in the
whole country. So if we research deeply we will find that Bangladesh has developed a lot. But
the question is Does the people Bangladesh has proper democracy? Are they getting their rights?
Are they getting freedom of speech, social security and etc.? Let’s analyze the past 30 years.
”According to police statistics, 20,835 cases have been filed on charge of rape since 2014.
Of the rape cases, 1,538 were filed between January 1 and April 30 in 2019 taking to 12.81 the
number of rape incidents reported on an average in a day.”(Rashid, 2020). In a democratic
country where everyday almost 13 women/children get raped there is no social security. Most of
the time they don’t even get the justice. In this case this kind of things violating the rights of
people. The women, girls even the kids are not safe in our country. There are so many cases like
this are available in our country. In 2015 American-Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy murdered in
Ekushey Book fair. He was killed in front of everyone. What was his fault? Is this even a fault
that he was a free thinker? When a person gets murdered for free thinking it’s definitely means
that we don’t have freedom of speech. And also when a person gets murdered in public place like
Ekushey Book fair. Then it clearly shows us how fragile our social security system is.
“According to witnesses, two assailants stopped and dragged them from the rickshaw to
the pavement before striking them with machetes. Avijit was struck and stabbed in the
head with sharp weapons. His wife was slashed on her shoulders and the fingers of her
left hand severed when she attempted to go to her husband's aid. Avijit died at the Dhaka
Medical College Hospital .” (Rabbi,2020). We don’t have to go back too far to find another
example. Just 2 years ago the quota movement happened in our country. The students
were protesting against the quota system with peace. But they get attacked by the
Bangladesh Police and a political student organization. “ Students of different universities
across the country staged demonstrations and boycotted classes on Sunday, protesting at
Saturday's attacks on the quota reform activists allegedly by some Bangladesh Chhatra League
(BCL) activists.”( Prothom Alo English Desk,2018). Is it supposed to supposed to happen? As a
citizen of a democratic country we have the right to asking our demand. We have our freedom of
speech. But in this case we don’t have anything. This incidents violates everything. If we go
back in 2001 then we will found another proof that how trash our social security is. “A bomb
explosion at an open-air concert in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, has killed at least nine people
and injured several others.The bomb went off in a park where thousands of people were
attending events to celebrate the Bengali New Year.” (BBC News,2001). Nine innocents people
were killed during that bomb blast in a mega event like Pahela Baishakh. This incidents
represented our social security. And again if we talk about the freedom of speech and rights then
the biggest example is Abrar Fahad. Abrar Fahad was a BUET student who actually wrote a
status on social media which is against the government. For that the BCL members tortured him
and tortured him till death. The brilliant mind of our country like him don’t have the freedom of
speech. Tonu Murder case.Sagor-Runi murder case,Bisshojit murder case,Rifat Sharif murder
case etc. A lot of cases are like this are still happening in our country which represents the worst
scenario of our country.So it’s very clear that we don’t have the proper democracy. Our
government might have elected by democracy but the people of our country don’t get enough
democracy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I can say that we are a democratic country where everyone supports the
democracy. Because of democracy we are developing country today. We improved a lot. But our
country also got some worst scenario. Every country has it’s worst experiences, So do we. But
every democratic country needs to focus that if their people are getting proper democracy or not.
And we also have to ask ourselves that, Am I getting the proper democracy? Because if we don’t
change ourselves then country will not be changed. We have to erase fear from ourselves. So that
one day we can live in a country where democracy is actually meaningful.

Reference

1. BBC News,2001,Bangladesh Bomb Kills 9,available at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1276726.stm

2. Dalton,R.J,2007, Understanding Democracy: Data from Unlikely Places,p.143,available

at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/223229

3. Prothom Alo English Desk,2018, Students protest at attacks on quota reform

leaders, available at: https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/Students-protest-at-attacks-
on-quota-reform

4. Rabbi,A.R,2020,What is the status of freethinker murder cases?, available at:

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2020/02/25/what-is-the-status-of-freethinker-
murders-cases

5. Rashid,M.2019,Bangladesh sees nearly 13 rapes everyday, available at:

http://www.newagebd.net/article/72764/bangladesh-sees-nearly-13-rapes-every-day