Ruling party needs to play a greater role for effective JS

THE first sitting of the ninth Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday was by itself a special occasion, marked as it did the resumption of the national parliament after a break of more than two years. It was made all the more special by the fact that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led main opposition attended the sitting from the very beginning and, more importantly, voted for the ruling Awami League nominee for the position of speaker as a gesture of ‘goodwill’. Although the opposition lawmakers did have reservations about the election of the deputy speaker, they did not allow resentment to disrupt the process; they simply abstained from voting without making any hue and cry. The call of the outgoing and the incoming speakers of the parliament for the lawmakers to play their due role to make the parliament effective, albeit largely ritualistic, also added value to the auspicious occasions. There was a return to what could be called a contemporary parliamentary tradition when the BNP-led opposition staged a walkout; however, the ninth Jatiya Sangsad overall had an auspicious start to its tenure.
Such a positive start naturally gives rise to popular aspirations that the ninth Jatiya Sangsad would not be blighted by ills of the past and truly be the nerve centre of national politics. To make the parliament effective, in the truest sense of the term, the lawmakers would need to play their due roles, as individuals and as a collective. They are expected to do their homework before debate on the government’s development policies – social, political and economic – and learn to rise above parochial partisan outlook to efficiently and effectively play the watchdog role they are entrusted with. Crucially still, they need to learn to be accommodative and tolerant with regard to opposing views.
Ultimately, however, the responsibility to make the parliament effective rests with the treasury bench. It should initiate the process to form the parliamentary standing committees without undue delay so that these oversight committees can start work in earnest. The ruling Awami League and its allies need to realise that an overwhelming majority in the parliament can be both a boon and a bane. Surely, they have the strength to muzzle through whatever law they want enacted. However, to make the law-making process participatory and inclusive, they need to take the opposition in confidence and allow it the space it deserves, maybe more. The election of the deputy speaker looks to have left a bad taste in the mouth of the opposition lawmakers, especially since the ruling party did promise to pick the deputy speaker from the opposition, a promise it did not keep. Hopefully, both sides will see to it, in a spirit of camaraderie, that the issue does not snowball into a major handicap in the treasury-opposition relations.