Politics slipping out of hands of politicians, regrets Tofail

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Thursday, 23 February 2012

Author / Source : STAFF REPORTER

DHAKA, FEB 22: Veteran Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed on Wednesday observed that politics has slipped out of the hands of politicians because the activists want share of money allocated for Test Relief (TR), food for work and development work. “Such a situation has arisen because of those who were in power between 2001-2006. They have put the politics at such a corner, making it difficult for the real politicians”
Tofail said while addressing a discussion meeting on 'International Mother Language Day  and Martyrs Day,' organised by Jatiya Party (Manju) at Jatiya Press Club in the city. JP president Anwar Hossain Manju chaired the meeting.
“The politics of give and take was never been there. It was Zia who had destroyed politics, bragging about making politics difficult for politicians,” he said.
Tofail, however, said that many problems of the country could have been resolved if the ruling party and the opposition could discuss the problems in the Parliament.
“It appears that some of the parliament members sitting on the front rows come to pass their idle time. There would have been transparency in many national issues if those were discussed in the House,” he added.
“Politics has become difficult now-a-day. We used to boycott the parliament sessions and the opposition boycotts it on and often without coming to the House. We have to come out of the culture of boycotting the Parliament,” Tofail observed.
“Because of opposition’s absence in the Parliament, many things which they could speak in the Parliament, saying it was not party’s discipline”. He further said and adding, they don’t even come to the Parliament and the crisis seems to have in both of the party sides,” he said.
The crisis will disappear in future, the optimistic AL leader said and added that the country was born through the blood of martyrs.
Among others, Editor of The Independent and adviser to the former caretaker government Mahbubul Alam, secretary general of JP Sheikh Shahidul Islam, presidium member of JP Col (retd) Abdul Latif Mallik, convenor Abdur Rahim and president of a faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalist (BFUJ) Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury also spoke at the function.
Mahbubul Alam said, “We have established Bangla as our state language. Now we want to introduce the language in all spheres of life to fulfil the dream of the language martyrs.”
“In the present globalised era we have to learn Bangla and other languages too to survive in the competitive world. The more languages we learn, the more we get the benefits in the international job market,” he said.
“We have to remain careful so that no aggression could hamper it. We have to write more books on different subjects in Bangla including history and science,” the editor added.
Describing the history of language movement, Mahbubul Alam said, “Bangla is a rich language and it is the language of 30 crore people including West Bengal , Assam, Tripura, Bihar and some parts of Jharkhand.”
Anwar Hossain Manju said that a change in the current political atmosphere has been occurred.
“Politics cannot be done only with the use of money. In order to get success in politics, one should gain popularity and to be accepted by the people,” he said.
Regarding the mentality of the young generations, he said, “They only believe in the positive politics and the meaning of independence means employment to them. If we could generate employment opportunity, the independence will be more meaningful for them.” He added.
Sheikh Shahidul Islam said, “We could have made more progress if good governance and accountability were in place in the country.
He said, if we could ensure transparency in the decision making process, the country could have made more success.
“If we could turn the face of the politicians towards light as Alexander the great did it while taming a horse, the country would go far ahead,” he added. 
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury lamented and said, this is the only instance in Bangladesh where people sacrificed blood for language but still Bangla is not used in all levels in the country.
About democracy, he said, “The path of democracy is not the bed of roses. People become frustrated if there is no positive practice of democracy prevails in the state politics.”