Term Paper

on
The Picture of Democracy in Bangladesh based on Freedom of Speech,
Access to Fundamental Rights and Social Security

Course Code: PA 1102

Course Name: Introduction to Politics and Government

Submitted to:
Md. Robiul Islam
Lecturer
Department of Public Administration
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)

Submitted by:
Name: Abu Usama
Roll: 2016941027
Session: 2019-20
Department of Public Administration
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)

Date of Submission: June 10, 2020

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Introduction:

Since the downfall of the autocratic regime in 1990, Bangladesh has entered into the era of
parliamentary democracy as the democracy and democratic aspirations have been included in the
Constitution as one of the state principles. From then, Bangladesh has experienced almost a
quarter of a century. But the promise of establishing original democracy has remained elusive
although the country has achieved surprising development in the recent decade. But,
development need not be without democracy. At present, because of the absence of an effective
opposition, the Parliament has become a one-party institution. It seems to growing an
authoritarian government because of their activities. Here, people do not enjoy proper
fundamental rights or get protected by social security. However democracy had already been
narrowed down to elections. Those were the last signs of democracy here and temporary
caretaker government were being created for election times. But that too is destroyed now. The
overall situation of various dimensions and principles of democracy shows the true condition of
our country and that is what this paper is going to elaborate.

Definition:

Generally democracy means rule by the people. “Democracy is a system of government in which
laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings and major undertakings of a state or other
polity is directly or indirectly decided by the “people” a group historically constituted by only a
minority of the population but generally understood since the mid-20 th century to include all
adult citizens.” (Dahl, 2020)

Analysis:

Unfortunately, in the recent time “We have to accept continuity of one-party dominance to
maintain the rapid economic development the country is experiencing, as the saying goes. Look
at Malaysia, Singapore, Chaina, and the other supermodels of third world development. Not
models of democracy, they are.” (Rahman, 2018)

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The condition of democracy in Bangladesh is in crisis. This picture can analyze on the basis of
many aspects. Here, I select following three aspects to show the democratic situation.

1. Freedom of Speech:

Freedom of speech is very essential for the development and functioning of democracy. This is
the beauty of democracy. In democracy, state allows citizens to express opinions freely without
fear of being oppressed. But in current Bangladesh it is impossible. Government shows very
intolerance to the dissent. Citizens are muzzled by government in criticizing government openly.
In this circumstance, for the fear of retributory punishment, our media have adopted an unstated
policy of self-censorship. In 2019, the murder of Abrar Fahad for supporting the struggle of the
people of Kashmir and for protesting the recent Bangladesh-India agreement on his Facebook
has once again highlighted the deprivable condition of freedom of speech in Bangladesh.

“Nearly 60 cases have been filled against more than 100 people, including 22 journalists, under
the Digital Security Act this year until May 6. A number of citizens and journalists have been
arrested for social media posts critical of the government or reporting on the government’s
handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Senior journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol disappeared on
March 10, a day after a politician from the governing Awami League party filled a criminal
defamation case against him for publishing “false, offensive, illegally obtained and defamatory”
content on Facebook.” (Chowdhury, 2020)
This situation is never acceptable for an ideal democratic country. But unfortunately, we the
people silently bound to accept this situation because of the fear of judicial punishment.

2. Access to Fundamental Rights:

Protect individual’s rights is mandatory in any democratic country. But Bangladesh has failed to
provide fundamental rights to its citizens. A most important fundamental human is to vote in
freely held election. But we observed two “managed” and “controversial” elections in recent
decade. Even local level elections are controlled. In any country, Judiciary plays a vital role in
protecting social security. But, here in Bangladesh, judiciary is not independent and corrupted.
So, getting proper justice is very difficult to Bangladeshi citizens. State does not ensure our
normal deaths as government is involved in torture and death in custody, ‘crossfire’ and extra-

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judicial killing. State does not ensure equality of all citizens. In current situation, citizens
completely lose their human agency.

To participate in public meetings and processions peacefully is a fundamental right which is

guaranteed in our constitution. “But in December, 2019, members of Bangladesh Students
League, the ruling party Awami League’s student wing, and its linked group Muktijuddha
Manch attacked and brutally beat the Vice President of Dhaka University Student Union, Nurul
Haque and other students from different universities for organizing a rally in solidarity with
Indian students protesting Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, which
left at least 25 students critically injured.” (Amnesty International, 2019)

We observed same things in quota reform movement and road-safety protest movement in 2018.
So, from the above pictures, it is very easy to say that Bangladeshi citizens cannot get their
fundamental human rights properly as other developed democratic countries.

3. Social Security:

Bangladesh as a democratic country included the provision of social security in our constitution
as citizens, right. But our social security sector does not have enough funding and the funds have
lacking in transparency. Our government has enacted a National Social Security Strategy in
2015. But approximately 47 million (World Bank, 2016) Bangladeshis live in poverty or around
the poverty line. If social security strategy does not help move out of poverty, there is no validity
of it. Government is failed to build social safety measures for all deserving citizens, particularly
the poor and vulnerable. In this COVID-19 crisis, citizens are very much afraid and become
frustrated in terms of getting health and food security. We could not manage our lockdown
effectively because of our problem in social security. Poor people came to road because
government did not properly ensure food security to them. Politicians are always tinkering with
the problem, but nothing effective had been done so far. So, failure to develop adequate social
security policies in spite of success in many other sectors endangered the viability of a
democratic state. (Khan, 2017)
When a government is not elected democratically by the people and when a leader is not
accountable to the citizens, it does not feel any necessity of hearing peoples’ problems and fulfill
their social needs

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Conclusion:

From above analysis, it is very easy to say democracy in Bangladesh is not in good condition.
We should remember that only progress on some economic and social indices never mean
development .There is no argument that Bangladesh is on a clear development path. But it is
never acceptable of forgoing competitive democracy on the altar of development. From 1990,
two ruling parties do not focus on the normative qualities of democracy. However, it will be
wrong to say that democracy has remained under stress in the last twenty years. But this
controversial democracy will cost our nation dearly. The dimension of democracy which is
embodied into principles of freedom of speech, fundamental rights, social security etc. are not
properly present here either. Our government should not forget that democratic rights and
political freedom are among the constituent components of development.

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Bibliography:

1. Amnesty.org. 2019. Everything You Need To Know About Human Rights In Bangladesh. [online]

Available at: <https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/bangladesh/report-

bangladesh/> [Accessed 10 June 2020].

2. Chowdhury, T., 2020. Bangladesh using controversial law to 'gag media, free speech'. Aljazeera,

[online] Available at: <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/bangladesh-controversial-law-gag-

media-free-speech-200520204441863.htmll> [Accessed 10 June 2020].

3. Dahl, R., 2020. Democracy | History, Development, Systems, Theory, & Challenges. [online]

Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy> [Accessed 9

June 2020].

4. Khan, S., 2017. Social Security in Bangladesh. The Independent, [online] Available at:

<http://www.theindependentbd.com/printversion/details/122629#:~:text=Although%20social

%20security%20issues%20are,elderly%2C%20and%20persons%20with%20disabilities>
[Accessed 10 June 2020].

5. Rahman, S., 2018. Democracy vs development. Dhaka Tribune, [online] Available at:

<https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2018/12/29/democracy-vs-development-2>

[Accessed 9 June 2020].

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