The current interim government is the outcome of the successful popular uprising of students in July-August 2024. As a result of a long and a half-decade movement, this mass movement culminated in a successful mass coup in the month of July-August 2024.
For the past decade and a half, the country has been under an oppressive regime in the guise of a democracy. According to some academics, this system of governance was mainly managed by one person.
Although the crisis of governance system in Bangladesh is historical, the nature and political practices of the governance system of the past decade were completely different from the previous governance systems.
The state became so thoroughly oppressive that its comparison was rare, reads a press release issued by Center for Policy Analysis and Advocacy (CPAA) on Sunday.
The brutal fragility of the state’s democratic institutions has never been so clearly demonstrated, speakers said at a roundtable discussion titled “Moving Forward Bangladesh: Empowered People and Effective State.”
They added that from farmers-labourers-fishermen-potters to laborers-day laborers-coolies, middle class, upper class, political leaders-activists, businessmen, professionals, journalists, teachers-students, everyone has faced torture in the oppressive regime.
The inevitable result of oppressive regimes is the creation of a special rich class who establish a monopoly over the economic system and use the economic policy-structure to favor individuals and groups.
Unprecedentedly, the central bank, which is committed to protecting the public's deposits, completed the formal arrangements to bring the banking system fully under the control of one group.
This is a rare event not only for Bangladesh but also considering the history of other countries of the world. Even other fragile democracies do not have such experiences.
Prof Md Nazrul Islam, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology; Prof Md Shafiul Islam, Rajshahi University; and Associate Prof Md Shariful Islam, Dhaka University presented keynote at the event.
