DOT Desk: Workers Party of Bangladesh President Rashed Khan Menon recently spoke to Dhaka Tribune’s Nawaz Farhin Antara about the upcoming national parliament election and the political situation of the country, reports Dhaka Tribune.
Rashed Khan Menon is an important character in the political history of Bangladesh. A frontline leader during all of the country’s movements and struggles, including the Mass Uprising of 1969 and the Liberation War of 1971, Menon is currently the member of parliament from Dhaka-8. The sixth term lawmaker has also served as a minister in the Awami league-led government, and his party is in the ruling party’s alliance.
What are your thoughts on the ongoing political unrest ahead of the election?
Election season is already here. There are six months left. All the parties who are in the opposition have already raised one of their demands. They say that they will hold an election under a caretaker government, and they want the resignation of this government. We can’t make the claim that a tense situation is going to be created around this election, though some violence has been created in the country by various activities, rally meetings, and marches. There has never been and cannot be a situation created by the opposition parties where the government has to resign from power. The opposition parties have not been able to create such a situation so far, so I don’t think they will be able to do it before the elections
How do you think the next election should be conducted?
The demands raised by the BNP and the other parties who agree with them, for the resignation of this government, are irrelevant. Why should the government resign? They will conduct the election according to their responsibility, as per the constitution. There is no reason for any problem here. However, there is no doubt that the situation has become somewhat complicated, as the opposition claims. This has been compounded by the actions of foreign powers, particularly the United States, which previously sanctioned the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), but now has imposed visa policies directly on the question of elections.
The US has stipulated that if the election is not fair, they will impose this visa policy. What they are basically doing is imposing conditions on a sovereign country with this visa policy. The European Union has joined it. They have already come to Dhaka and held a meeting regarding whether they will send observers during the election. I think that the meeting with the three parties is reasonable. What they have done is hold a meeting with a group like Jamaat, which has been accused of war crimes and even had its political licence revoked by the Election Commission.