The Awami League and its crony allies have ‘won’ all the seats in the National Parliament in the January 7, 2024 elections,  by misusing their full control over the bureaucracy, the police, the armed forces, the courts and the Election Commission. In this new parliament, there is not a single member against the ruling party, the Awami League!

The Awami League has conducted this election under its own government by referring to the 15th amendment of the constitution. But they held this election without revoking the previous national parliament according to the constitutional rules. Such unprecedented events have not been seen in Bangladesh or even in any other country in the world. Within a short time after coming to power in 2009, they realised that they could not win the next election because of widespread theft, corruption, looting and torture. But despite these chances of defeat they were determined to stay in power. That is why, they themselves repealed the law that they passed in the parliament in 1996 for a caretaker government during the election and in 2011, brought back the system of elections under the existing government. It was a highly immoral act politically. The number of members of the National Parliament in the constitution is three hundred. But because the previous national parliament was not revoked, this number now stands at six hundred!

Since coming to power in 2009, through theft, corruption, looting and torture, they created a situation in the country in which there was no chance of their victory in the next elections. Therefore, according to their planned agenda, they took all necessary steps so that in the 2014 elections, no party other than the Awami League had candidates in 153 seats and the Awami League was entitled to form the government according to the ‘parliamentary’ law by occupying seats before the election. It was also an unprecedented phenomenon of the ‘parliamentary’ election system in the whole world.

Several parties including the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) participated in the 2018 elections. But during those elections the opposition parties were suppressed and the Awami League regained power through reckless and unprecedented rigging of the elections, with complete control over the police and the Election Commission. Convinced by the effectiveness of their electoral strategy, they organized elections in 2024.

After the 2018 elections, there was a major change in the situation in the country. Since 2009, there have been theft, corruption and looting during the Awami League government, but this time it was more reckless than before. The Awami League leaders at the top level started stealing and looting; the condition of the people of the country became very miserable. The prices of daily necessities continued to rise irresistibly, and on the other hand attacks on the people exceeded all previous records. As a result, the people’s anger and opposition against the Awami League government started increasing rapidly. In this situation, the people desire to resist spread widely.

In 2014 and 2018, the BNP was in a bad shape politically due to its many mistakes. But after the 2018 elections, they became somewhat active. The BNP turned around organisationally despite Khaleda Zia’s illness and the false case against her that sent her to jail. They started taking various initiatives to use the people’s opposition and urge to resist organisationally and politically. As a result, within 2020, they emerged again as a political force. People continued to support the BNP as their means of resistance. As it gained this support, the BNP started organising meetings, processions and agitations to demand a non-partisan neutral caretaker government instead of elections under the existing government. People started rallying behind their movement. By 2022, by accumulating strength in this way, they emerged as electoral rivals of the Awami League.

In this situation, the Awami League government gradually increased its attacks on the BNP. As more and more people continued to gather at BNP’s meetings and rallies, the Awami League used the police and the goons of Chhatra League (Students’ League) and Jubo League (Youth League) against the BNP as well as other opposition parties. They were forced to do this because of their rapid isolation from the people.

Politically, the BNP turned around when people’s anger towards the Awami League was accumulating. Whatever the state of the BNP is, Mirza Fakhrul Islam is well known as an honest and competent politician. Mainly under his leadership, the BNP quickly overcame its weak position politically and organisationally, rallied the people who were angry with the Awami League and gained popularity. One after another they started organising meetings and processions all over the country, including in Dhaka. On December 10, 2023, despite much opposition from the government, they held a large rally in Dhaka. In the face of this situation, the Awami League government continued to increase its attacks on the BNP. But in spite of this, the BNP started to organise a movement in the entire country in 2023 demanding elections under a caretaker government and the resignation of the Awami League government. Along with this, they announced their election boycott under the Awami League government.

Ahead of the 2024 elections and after the elections, some said that boycotting the elections was a big mistake by the BNP. As their political and organisational status weakened due to the boycott of elections, it became possible for Awami League to hold one-party elections. This thinking is completely wrong. The BNP took the right political step by boycotting the elections, because it was proved in 2018 that there was no possibility of neutral and fair elections under the Awami League. They had made all preparations to use bureaucrats, police, courts and Election Commission to plan the 2024 elections in the same manner as in the previous two elections. Moreover, the other important thing that needs to be noted in this case is that it was a stupid, ridiculous thing to continue agitation for a neutral caretaker government and participating in the elections at the same time. because the decision to participate in the elections would have turned the movement for the caretaker government into a farce. So the decision to boycott the election while agitating for the caretaker government was one hundred per cent correct. The reason why the BNP’s organisational conditions were weakening before the elections was not because of their decision to boycott the elections. That weakness was caused by the all-out attack of the Awami League government against the BNP. The BNP was organisationally weakened as a result of the extreme fascist attacks that the Awami League carried out on the BNP and other opposition parties.

On October 28, the BNP held a huge rally in Dhaka. Countless people attended that rally. During that rally, the Awami League government launched an all-out attack on them with the police and dispersed the rally. Also, after the 28th they started arresting BNP leaders and workers recklessly. They started arresting thousands of BNP people using false cases or even without any case. They arrested the BNP’s top leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam and other leaders on false charges and sent them to jail. They arrested over 23,000 BNP leaders and workers until the 7th January elections.

They attacked not only the BNP, but all other opposition political parties alike and created a situation where it was impossible for anyone except the Awami League and a few other small parties allied to them to be candidates in the elections. Therefore, people had no chance to vote for anyone other than the Awami League as there was no other candidate in the election.

But despite creating this situation, the Awami League was in another danger. They realised that even if the election was held, other influential leaders of their own party would contest as rebel candidates. Being afraid of this, they decided to recognise the rebellious Awami candidates as independent or free candidates of the Awami League without expelling them according to the rules! It was a violation of election rules and ethics. Such a strange thing had never been seen before in the elections of Bangladesh or any other country in the world. By this action, the Awami League not only violated the election rules and regulations, but it proved that there was a breakdown in the Awami League organisation. As a matter of fact, the internal unity of the Awami League was largely destroyed due to mutual conflict owing to the widespread corruption in the Awami League organisation. In this situation, the Awami League was completely isolated from the people politically. This happened because Sheikh Hasina was consolidating her power by controlling the bureaucrats, police and courts instead of her party. In this situation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina almost completely ignored the Awami League organisation, and the crisis of disunity within the Awami League as an organisation intensified.

In the fifteen years from 2009, the leaders of the Awami League acquired enormous wealth through uncontrolled and unprecedented theft, corruption and looting. Especially from the 2018 elections to 2023, their looting and stealing was widespread and completely reckless. As a result, almost all Awami League leaders turned into thieves, corrupt people and looters.

By completing many mega projects in the country, Sheikh Hasina claims to have made a revolution in the infrastructure of the country and proudly says that she will bring a flood of development into the country. But these mega projects have become a major avenue for theft and looting. It can be seen that the initial cost of each mega project increased two to three or four times by the time the project was completed. Most of this increase was looted and increased the wealth of the Awami League leaders. Before the election, the Awami League nominees declared their wealth to the Election Commission. It can be seen that they increased their wealth significantly since 2009, especially after the 2018 election. The wealth of many of them has increased one hundred, two hundred times or more at this stage! All this happened through stealing, corruption and looting. As a result, there are no honest people left in the Awami League.

Numerous reports have been published against these in almost all the newspapers of Bangladesh. Several strongly critical reports and articles have been published in major newspapers in the United States, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Australia, and even in India. But the ruling Awami League government has implemented their electoral agenda without taking these into account.

Since hundred percent of the candidates in the election were from the Awami League and their associate organisations, they won this election. But this victory has been achieved through corruption. Since there were no opposition candidates in the election, there was no political competition, so people had no enthusiasm to participate in it. Forty-two percent of voters cast their votes, as per Election Commission calculations. But this is an extreme instance of rigging. Because even though the fake voting started from the beginning, by 3 pm only 27 percent had voted as per their announcement. But in the last hour from 3 pm to 4 pm the number of voters stood at 42 percent. Any honest and unbiased person had no difficulty in realising that in the last hour there was blatant rigging. According to the previous plan, the Awami League government introduced the thugs of Chhatra League and Jubo League into the polling stations and cast lots of ballot papers into the ballot boxes. As a result, 27 percent of the votes were counted in seven hours, but despite the absence of voters at the end, the vote was 42 percent!

The Awami League spent crores of taka to gather voters. They increased the number of voters by giving money to poor voters, bringing them to polling stations in buses and rickshaws and feeding them biryani. It seems that not more than 10 to 15 percent of the votes were actually cast. Newspaper reports and photographs show that numerous polling stations in the plains and hilly areas were completely empty. No one voted.

The people of the country and the international community have rejected this election as a rigged election. Many reports and strong criticisms have been published against it in the newspapers of Bangladesh as well. Some international organisations rejected the election and called for new elections under a neutral caretaker government.

India, China and Russia congratulated Sheikh Hasina for winning the election, terming this election as free and fair to serve their own interests. But the United States, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Australia etc. have rejected this election. The United States and the world’s worst imperialist countries are playing this role in the Bangladesh elections because of the deterioration of their relations with the Bangladesh government. The main reason for the deterioration of relations with the US imperialism is due to the day-to-day growth of Bangladesh’s relations with China. But despite this position of the United States of America, the role they have taken in the election of Bangladesh has made the situation in Bangladesh public throughout the world. The above countries and their leading newspapers have revealed the true nature of the Bangladesh elections and informed the people of the world.

Since coming to power in 2009, Sheikh Hasina has been engaged in trying to bring all powers into her own hands. Now after winning the 2024 elections, state power is concentrated in her hands. Her government and party ministers and leaders are nothing but her subordinates. This concentration of state power in one hand in complete isolation from the people is not indicative of strength of the state and the ruling government and party. Rabindranath said in the context of a discussion, ‘If all the blood of the body accumulates in the head, it cannot be called health.’

In this election of 2024, the Awami League has won absolute authority of the state. But in view of the fact that the people of the whole country and the international community rejected this election, despite winning the election, the Awami League was defeated politically. Judging from this aspect, the Awami League government is now thrown into a big crisis. Most of the elected members of the parliament are business owners. The way these business owners will manage the governance of the country for their own business interests will increase this crisis instead of reducing it. Inflation is now a big problem facing this government. The price of goods will increase instead of decreasing. The theft, corruption and looting in the country will become more serious than in the past. It will be impossible for the Awami League government to deal with these problems.

Despite the election victory of the Awami League, the people of the country are extremely angry at the Awami League today. It would have been difficult for the Awami League to win even ten seats out of 300 if the elections were neutral. In this situation, the people also want a new election under an impartial caretaker government. In this regard, despite the election victory of the Awami League, the political situation of the country is hot now. In this situation, if the opposition political parties including the BNP are not discouraged and start a new movement for new elections, then the political situation will turn around. The situation of the country will change rapidly if the opposition political parties, including the BNP, come forward strongly in the movement and become active on the issue of inflation, uncontrolled increase in prices of goods, theft and corruption of Awami League people and the deterioration of international relations with Bangladesh. If the opposition does not use this opportunity, it will be an act of great political folly. Shakespeare wrote, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” A favourable situation has now been created before the people of Bangladesh and the opposition political parties. Taking advantage of this situation, they have to enter the political arena of Bangladesh actively and strongly. As a result, the Awami League government will face a deep crisis. Conditions will be created for the resignation and fall of this government.

Translated from the Bengali by Mueenuddin Ahmad

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