Dhaka Bureau: Rashed Khan Menon, president of the Walkers Party of Bangladesh, said that the mess that has accumulated in the constitution for a long time has not been removed yet. Islam, which has been introduced as the state religion in the constitution, has not yet been freed. The high standards that Parliament is constantly undermining. Out of an hour’s parliamentary speech, only three minutes are given to the general public. And for a long time, the praise of the party leaders was talked about. The president said in his speech that the number of lawyers in Parliament is decreasing. One day, if this does not happen, legal experts will have to be brought in from outside to pass the law.
He also said that Bangabandhu said that one day he would build Bangladesh without discrimination, but today Bangladesh is discriminatory.
Rashed Khan Menon made this comment while participating in the discussion on the proposal presented by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina under Rule 147 in the special session on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Jatiya Sangsad on Saturday (April 8). At this time, Deputy Speaker Shamsul Haque Tuku presided over the session.
Menon said, “Unfortunate but true, I have seen the quality of our Parliament deteriorating in the last few years.” Here, out of an hour’s speech, only three minutes are spoken by the common people of the village. The rest of the talk is about the leader of the party—about himself. Parliament is unable to proceed outside. The President said that the situation in the Parliament has become such that, due to the lack of lawyers here, lawmakers will have to be brought in from outside to enact laws in the future. Today, due to the commercialization of politics and elections, the character of Parliament is changing; a new face is emerging. Today, the number of businessmen in Parliament is much higher. As a result, if the number of traders increases, the situation in the parliament changes due to their interest. Parliament needs to be reformed today. The Constitution needs review. Today, if we want to build Bangladesh, we need to build a parliament with non-economic spirit, standards, and those qualities. Bangabandhu wanted to build a discrimination-free Bangladesh, but today a mountain of discrimination has built up in Bangladesh, and we can see its reflection in this parliament. He called for modernizing the parliament.
He also said that this parliament is the product of the liberation war. But this Parliament was never smooth. This parliament has been hurt many times and has been cancelled; the parliament has become a shambles. After the assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975, Mostak tried to give independence to the murderers and legitimize the government with the opposition. Illegal power holder Ziaur Rahman changed the constitution by bringing the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which undermined constitutional rights.
Former Minister Menon said, We know Ojha’s death was due to snakebite, so it happened. After that, another army chief came to power and said that the participation of the army should be guaranteed in the state constitution. Forget it when you get power later.
Rashed Khan Menon said another black chapter of this parliament was the indemnity ordinance issued during Ziaur Rahman’s tenure. After BNP came to power, he emphasized the religion-based politicization of Jamaat. The four principles of the Constitution are undermined. Then in 2006, the conspiratorial election took place. On that day, the interim president, Justice Sahabuddin Ahmed, threatened to dissolve the parliament if the parties could not reach a political consensus and resign. As a result of this threat, the BNP finally decided to return parliamentary democracy to the parliamentary party. It was the brightest chapter of the Fifth Amendment. But on that day, we could not come to a consensus on a few bills; for example, we questioned the centralization of power in the hands of the Prime Minister, and another was the cancellation of the 70-rule proposal, which we could not do. And failed to return to the four pillars of the Constitution. By avoiding these questions on that day, instead, the BNP encouraged religion-based politics and started politics and violence in the name of religion.
He also said that today the BNP is again demanding neutral and caretaker governments. But it was struck down by the High Court.
Rashed Khan Menon said the mess that has accumulated in the constitution has not yet been removed. It violates the definition of religious neutrality in Article 12 of the Constitution, but the controversial issue of Islam as the state religion is still upheld. The prime minister has recognized the tribes. But not as tribal people. The dissatisfaction over these matters did not go away. Even if the four basic principles of the constitution are brought back in the fifteenth amendment, it will not be possible to build this modern Bangladesh if these wastes are not removed.
