By Ali Husnain
fifty years ago, a weak, resource-constrained nation with a major portion of the population uneducated and unskilled was seen by many as an impossible situation. Since Bangladesh was filled with political unrest and the involvement of other parties, some of them even made the dire prediction that it would not exist as an independent and sovereign nation in the long term. Although it appears that these individuals were of assistance to Bangladesh, they actually forced it into a more difficult situation where it halted its advancements and growth after having just undergone dissolution 23 years prior. Bangladesh was referred to be a "global basket case," which denoted that it was an unreliable or decaying nation.
The early natural and man-made disasters in Bangladesh also gave proponents of the "basket case" some instruments with which to spread their propaganda. The country's economy experienced a number of internal and foreign shocks from 1972 to 1975, or three years and eight months, to be precise. These include escalating inflation, the global oil shock, a loss in trade, the need for foreign assistance and food aid, a rise in smuggling, an outbreak of hunger, cyclones, floods, and growing inflation. Then there was ineffectiveness, corruption, and poor administrative management. The "basket case" propagandists failed to take the shocks into account.
Bangladesh has advanced steadily by periodically altering and updating economic policies as well as by adopting new policies, regardless of the projections and predictions made by experts and economists in the early years of the country. Policy creation and execution did not always result in the best or most favorable results. However, even though it occasionally slowed down, economic growth never came to a standstill.
Political progress and adjustments to political agreements go hand in hand with Bangladesh's economic growth. Despite the nation's move toward a market-oriented strategy, state-sponsored capitalism created the door for rent-seeking, which has persisted in various forms over the years. Additionally, it strengthened cronyism—more specifically, crony capitalism. As a result, there was a tighter link between politics and business. The growing income is the outcome, although socioeconomic inequality is also present. The biggest issue currently facing Bangladesh is finding a way to overcome the failures while maintaining the five decades of success. By the conclusion of the sixth decade of its existence, Bangladesh's economy is likely to reach the "drive to maturity" or the next stage in Rostow's growth model. The high optimism is subject to properly addressing inequality, ensuring social justice, and establishing good governance,
However, many people view Bangladesh as a country with many opportunities, and many commitments have been made to take advantage of this potential for the nation and its citizens. Despite making progress and development albeit sluggish, the nation's development has been and still is constrained by issues brought about by those in power, regardless of their political affiliations. It was felt that political liabilities are more important than nation-building. As corruption continues to eat away at the country's foundation, it gives all power brokers a clear path to instant wealth. Democracy has been unable to alter qualitatively due to the existing two-party domination, their struggle for power, and social decay. As long as inadequate governance-related unhappiness persists, exploitation by powerful groups has not lessened.
Moreover, the external entities got a full chance to interfere in the domestic politics of Bangladesh because of its poor conduct in politics and political unrest within the state by the politicians who either have governed Bangladesh or are in power in Bangladesh.
The current political atmosphere in Bangladesh posed to take the country into a devastating phase where it could meet the economic imbalance, lack of resources available for the individuals, and involvement of external entities very closely where they could monitor the administration of Bangladesh very closely and furthermore the sovereignty of the state could be threatened.
However, to save the state from any upcoming calamity, political harmony in the state is very much crucial and important. Bangladesh, following the four principles of Bangabandhu’s policy, should step ahead and the next forthcoming elections must be held under a caretaker government which could be claimed as fair and free to decide the future of Bangladesh. Moreover, state-centric policies should be adopted by the political leader and relations with the other state should be established for the betterment of the state collectively. This is how Bangladesh could progress and restore democracy by applying democratic values and policies which are meant to reconstruct the damages which have been done to the state.