Introduction:

A single definition of politics is difficult to come by. Perhaps the best description

would be that it is a decision making process. It can be associated with philosophy, economics,

history, sociology, and of course the government.

Perhaps the first conception of politics is of it being the realm of parliamentary politics-it is

the domain of trained and professional politicians, who consider politics as their exclusive property.

For the last few decades politics has turned into the game of power and money. People with

overflowing money and gun power are always in the ruling party. Overflowing money, muscle

power, foul play have all worked together to pollute political arena. The rent seeking, violence and

crime loving politicians have marred the good name of politics. They do all sorts of terrible staffs

and manipulate everything according to them so that they can be benefited and profited just in

every sense.

But this is not positive politics. Positive politics is to work for the betterment of the country.

There were times when politics was full of idealism but such idealism in politics has totally

vanished. Today politician can do anything to get in power.

Importance of the Topic:

BNP was also in power in 1991 but that time their performance was not satisfying. On last

election conducted on 1st of October 2000, two third people have again voted for BNP, which is a

record in Bangladesh’s history because they are sick and tired of the previous government i.e.

Awami league’s performance. They hoped that this time BNP would succeed. This research will

clarify if the BNP government has come up to people’s expectation or not.

1
Personal Interest:
I also want to find out what people feel about the present Government and whether their

opinion is same as mine.

Research Hypothesis:
My research hypothesis is that people’s opinion about the current government i.e. BNP is

not satisfying because they have fail to eliminate or even reduce terrorism on whose basis they have

asked for people’s vote.

Research Methodology:
As my research is “PEOPLE’S OPINION ON THE CURRENT GOVERNMEMT”,

the best way of conducting was survey. I have approached people in public, on whose opinion my

research finding was actually based on. My respondents were people of age ranging from 18 to

above 50. I have chosen respondents whom I thought have some knowledge about politics and

government so that I can come up with a clear picture of the government. I have asked 50 people to

fill up questionnaires, which contained different questions about the present government i.e. BNP.

Implementation of my research:
The result of my research may aware the government what people think about them or what steps

they should take for the betterment of the country and it’s people.

Literature Review:
The current Government is composed of four parties. But only two of them are well

known. They are Jamaat and BNP. Before the election BNP and its other parties had prominently

2
discussed about the issue of terrorism, tool taking and corruption and on its basis they have begged

for the people’s vote. People are sick of the terrorism so the have voted for BNP and its alliance as

they have promised for eliminating terrorism. But Government’s performance and their current

position are discouraging which is emphasized by many of the columnists and editors.

In an article called “BNP’s BAD NAME IS INCREASING AND JAMAAT IS

DOING WELL” published in DIONIK ITTEFAk on 19th March 2002 written by the deen and

professor of the Bangladesh Unmukta University points out that the people’s experience of the last

five months after the election is very sad and very heartbreaking. Current Government has always

failed to take control over the corruption, he mentioned. He reported that the way the four alliance

parties talked about the elimination of terrorism was really impressive to people so they have voted

for them. But just after five months they are confused and baffled now by the news in the

newspaper and on the media. The incidents of murder in the Capital city and kidnapping/ abduction

for ransom, hijacking, dacoity, rape and gang rape all have increased alarmingly. Not only that

even the BNP’s worker and partymembers are also behind such contemptful activists.

One the other hand, he said, some of the leaders of the BNP are complaining in low

voice, as their Chairperson is busy in blaming the Opposition party. The puzzled public cannot find

the connection between the BNP party before and after the election. He said that one of the senior

members of the BNP named Altaf Ahmad has written an article about the present Government in

the DIONIK ITTEFAK on 11th March. The views in the article clearly specify that current

Government’s performance is depressing. Altaf said the Government failed to decrease terrorism

even to a very small extent and also points out that the dangerous thing for BNP is it’s

own members are involved in such activities. The author said the JAMAAT on the other hand is

playing safely and soundly. They are not much involved in such things.

3
 To me, the author’s opinion about the BNP party is quite agreeable. Terrorism has

raised their head significantly and the Government’s steps against it are not at all effective. If it had

been effective, then the innocent boy Shihab would not have been killed for ransom. The brilliant

student of BUET, Sabequnnahar Sony did not have to lose her live in the encounter between the

two-gangster group. Gangsters are moving freely with firearms under the godfather, who are safe in

the hand of political leaderships. Politics have become terror ridden and dependant. To be a

politician one must maintain terrorists, activists who are usually known criminals. Our present

practice of political activists is more supportive of crime and criminals otherwise. But one thing in

the article I have to oppose the author. He said, JAMAAT is playing safe but I don’t agree on that.

Both JAMAAT and BNP are now a single united party so everything is taking place under their

decisions and observations. We just cannot blame one party of the united government of four

parties.

An article called “The tit for tat politics” in the weekly magazine called Dhaka

Courier written by Shamim Ahmed points out that some of the government’s move for large-scale

administrative reshuffle. The government has abruptly removed the vice chancellors of six

universities, directors of the state owned commercial banks and sacked or transferred civil

bureaucrats and police officers without giving much plausible reasons behind those removals. He

believed that political considerations where the main factors that prompted the government to bring

about such changes. And in many cases he describes that the government has been disregarding the

points of merit, quality and efficiency. The way the changes are being made has been a mere

process of transferring everything to BNP-nization from Awami league-nization.

4
 To my opinion, the author is judging the BNP’s move in the right way. They do are

transferring everything in their favor so that they can manipulate everything according to their wish

and can never get caught.

An article called “fate of minorities in the aftermath of October election” published

in Bangladesh Observer on 21st Oct 2002 written by Dr. A. H. Jaffar Ullah figure out the condition

of the minority groups under the current government. In this article the author said the newspaper,

these days are rife with the news of unprecedented torture inflicted on minorities by the goons

belonging to the winning party alliance. These are happening in the broad daylight under the

watchful eyes of Bangladesh police. He pointed out that in Bangladesh there are about ten percent

Hindus living mostly in rural areas and the riffraff of the BNP in cahoots with the JAMMAT and

ISLAMI OIKYO JOTE had started in earnest to scare them so badly that they pack up and head for

the neighboring states. Once they leave their home and the ruffians will grab land. Therefore there

is a financial incentive to start a pogrom. He underlined that according to Vernacular newspaper

published from Dhaka, not only the minorities were physically tortured but also their places of

worship desecrated. Hindus Idols were vandalized too.

In my opinion, minorities are really getting badly discriminated under this

government. They are not at all safe in this country any more. If they would have then the murder

of the Buddhist monk at the monastery in the Hingala village of Chittagoan on 23 rd April 2002

would not have taken place.

In an article called “BADGET AND THE PUBLIC” in the DOINIK ITTEFAK

published on 16th July written by Khaled Abdul Fazzal discussed about the budget of 2002 –2003

and the condition of the public. He said, that the passed budget has become of matter of real

discussion. Experts of the financial matters are really disappointed with the passed budget and they

5
are showing negative attitudes towards it in the seminars and meetings. Khaled said, the way

imposition of tax and VAT has increased after the new budget, it is going to make the life of

normal people really difficult. Price of meat, fish, vegetable, oil and all necessary things have

increased significantly and whenever asked about the reason of price inflation, the answer is VAT.

He said, even the patients are charged extra fee just because of the VAT. No matter how the VAT

is imposed, the sufferers are always the end-users.

Khaled said, we understand that it is our responsibility to pay tax. But, does any

Government ever understand that it’s their duty to give people it’s rights and provide them with all

comforts. If they would have understood their responsibilities, then people would have also be

encouraged to pay taxes.

Khaled said, recently published Transparency International report signifies that the

first class Government’s employee are the most corrupted people in Bangladesh and nothing else

could be more shocking than this for any Government. For all these corrupt people and for their

misdeeds, peace-loving people have to pay heavy prices. Loss of thousand and thousands crore

Taka in DESA, WASA, PDB, TNT and all other service providing organization are being charged

on public by gradually increasing the rate of water, gas, phone connection and e.t.c. But the people

who are responsible for such loss are getting even much richer, much respected in the society and

their families are frequently visiting foreign countries. And all these things are happening under the

watchful eyes of the government, he said. Khaled also included that as the rate of such services are

will increase, difficulties of normal public will increase and also the income of such corrupt people

will increase many folds.

He said that unless people are getting honest or unless the government is taking

crucial steps, nothing could stop this corruption in our country. He suggested few steps that

6
government can take to decline corruption. Steps are that the government should fix up an amount

for individual service providing organizations as mentioned above, which they have to pay to the

government after collecting from the public. And the government should tolerate no loss. If any

loss occurs than that should have to be paid by the members of that organization.

The steps mentioned by Khaled may sound very strict and odd but I think, these are

the only steps that can give people relief from problem of paying such high rate of bills.

Government should take care of the corruption of these departments instead of increasing the

burden of paying such high rated bills on the public. If corruption keeps on continuing this way

then we can never improve the financial condition of our country and ultimately we can never be

able to develop our country. This type of budget formation and no steps for corruption may create

problem for the BNP in the future, as next time when they will ask our vote, people will definitely

hesitate to vote for them.

In an article called ”Corruption: Enough is enough- high time to stop it” published in

THE DAILY STAR on 20th July, written by the former Sectary and Ambassador and founder

president of North South University, Muslehuddin Ahmed talked about the condition of corruption

in Bangladesh. He defined corruption as criminal offence under the law of the land and

undoubtedly the most hateful thing in the eyes of the civil society. In his article he mentioned about

the previous and recent Transparency International (TI) report. Earlier TI report showed that

Bangladesh is the most corrupt country in the world and the present report come out with some

factors on those who are involved in such nefarious activities. He criticized the actions of the Anti-

corruption Department. He said, successive government has been busy in taking the politicians of

7
the predecessor government(s) to the court for corruption and other charges, which mostly includes

the charges of corruption of both money and power. But as soon as their party comes to power, the

sensitive cases are either withdrawn or not pursued. He also pointed that the Anti-corruption

officials also change their courses with the change in government. They quickly find so many faults

with those politicians after their exit from various Ministries but could not detect any when they

were in power. He suggested that Anti-corruption could do good if they were free to operate. He

farther suggested that the Anti-corruption Department better be put under the office of the

Ombudsman.

I think putting the Anti-corruption Department under the Ombudsman is actually a

very good idea. If they are free they can openly catch the corrupt people of any sector and they can

be put on to the trail without any pressure from the officials of the higher post.

Finally I want to conclude my discussion by quoting the remarkable saying of

Daniel Webster (1782-1852). He said “The people’s Government, made for the people, made by

the

People, and answerable to the people.” But in our Country things are little different. Our

government is made by the people, but not for the people and is never answerable to the people.

8
 Data analysis:
As my research is “people’s opinion on the current government” I have surveyed 50

people. The questionnaire to which they responded mainly contained question about the current

government i.e. BNP’s action for the improvement of the Country.

First three questions asked the respondent about their sex, age range and their occupation

50 percent of the respondent are male and 50 are female to avoid any sort of biased findings. 65

percent of them are of age 30 and above and another 35 percent are between 18 and 29. 11.5

percent respondent are businessman, 11.5 percent are working private firms, 7.69 percent are

working in the government office, 11.5 percent are teachers, 15 percent are student and 42.8

percent are engaged in others types of occupations.

Other questions are analyses below:

 Are you a blind supporter of any party?

11.5 percent people responded saying yes they are the blind supporters some individual

party and 88.5 percent said they do not blindly support any party.

 Your attitude toward politics:

46 percent people said their attitude toward is negative. 23 percent people said their attitude

toward politics is very negative. 12 percent said their attitude is very positive and 19 percent

said its positive. A total of 69 percent (adding the percentage of negative and very negative

responses) people responded negatively. Politics now days has taken a nasty appearance. All

disgusting and terrifying things are now involved in politics. And in such a situation how can

Many people have positive attitude towards it.

9
 Attitude toward politics

50 46
percentage of
40
people vary positive
30 positive
23
20 19 negative
12 very negative
10
0

 BNP’s performance in 1991?

43 percent people said BNP’s performance in1991 was good and 30 percent said that

performance was bad. 3.38 percent said performance was very bad and 23.3 percent simply

have no idea about it.

 Recently whether terrorism has increased or decreased?

77 percent people responded that terrorism has increased alarmingly.23 percent

responded that terrorism has decreased. A huge number of people responded that terrorism has

increased. Kidnapping and then murder of innocent boy Shihab, murder of a sinless baby of just

terrorism in Bangladesh

80 77
70
percentage of

60
people

50 increased
40
30 23 decreased
20
10
0

10
 13 month named Nowshin, murder of brilliant student of BUET named Shabequennahar Sony,

recently the unfortunate death of Trisha and many more have all made my respondent said

terrorism has increased.

 Is the government taking enough steps to eliminate terrorism?

35 percent people said government is taking proper steps to eliminate terrorism.57

percent people said no and 8 percent simply have no idea about it. If government would have taken

steps then the above-mentioned murders would not have taken place.

Are Enough Steps Taken To

Eliminate Terrorism

No
60
Yes
not known
percentage

40
of people

Not Known
yes
20 No
0

 How will you rank the former president A.Q.M Boddruzzamaan?

61 percent people have ranked him as a good president and 19.5 percent ranked him as a

very good president. 19.5 percent ranked him as a bad president.

 Do you agree with the BNP’s move to remove the president from his post?

80.77 percent people responded by saying no that the move was wrong. 15.38 percent

people said yes move was good. A huge percent said no because it’s really silly to remove a

11
 president for no good reason. Bangladesh Observer on 20th June showed he was fired because

he did not visit the graveyard of Ziaurrar Rahman on his death ceremony. And by the way

government has no right to remove the president, it should be decided by the all the members of

the parliament including the members of the opposition of party. But this decision was only

taken by the government.

 Does the government succeeded to ban student politics?

7.68 percent said yes government has succeeded to ban student politics, 76.92 said no and

15.38 percent have no idea about it. Majority said no. Student politics once was the glory of the

universities but now it has taken a very terrifying look.

 Is government taking any steps for the IT (Information technology) in

Bangladesh?

38.46 percent people said yes and an equal of 38.46 percent people said yes it is taking steps

for the development IT development. 23 percent people said they have no idea about it.

 Is budget proposed by the government satisfactory?

12
 15 percent said yes budget is satisfactory. 62 percent said no it is not. 23 percent people have

Budget

80 62
yes
percentag 60
e of 40 no
23
15 no idae
people 20
0

no idea about it. Majority said budget is not satisfactory. The recently proposed budget simply

increases the price of all necessary things like rice, milk, oil and e.t.c.

 Is the government taking care of the illegal construction?

57.7 percent people said no government is not taking any steps for the illegal

construction. 34.6 percent said they are taking steps. 7.69 percent people have no idea about it.

Newspapers almost every day contain many articles on the illegal construction and the problem

they are creating for the people and the negligence of the government towards this problem.

13
 Illegal construction

57.7
60
percentage of

34.6 yes
40
people

no
20 7.69 no idae
0

 How do you like the banning of Polythene bags?

85 percent said the idea is very good and 15 percent said it’s a good idea to ban

ploythene bags. This step of the government is really appreciating. Polythene bags were really

dangerous for our environment. It’s a non-degradable thing so it causes serious harm to our

environment. It blocks the air passage of the soil and ultimately harms the roots of the plant and

also the underneath creatures.

Banning of polythene bags

100 85
percentage of

80
people

60
40 15 very good
20 good
0

14
 How do like the conversion of three-stroke engine to CNG?

76.4 percent people said it is a very good idea and 19.23 percent said it’s a good idea.

3.85 percent people said it’s a bad idea. Majority again said it’s a good idea. This also concerns

about our environment. Again this idea taken by our Prime Minister is really excellent. The black

conversion of three stroke engine to

CNG

76.4
80
percentage of

60 very good
people

40 good
19.23
bad
20 3.85
0

smoke of the taxi is very dangerous for our environment as it decays the ozone layer, which acts as

the protected shield of the earth.

From the last two questions we can infer that our current government seems to be a real

environment lover.

 Bangladesh is on a threat of terrible earthquake. Is the government taking proper

steps for the recovery process?

65.38 percent people said no government is not taking any steps for the recovery process.

7.69 percent said yes and 23 percent have no idea about it. Majority responded saying no.

Government is definitely not taking steps for the recovery process. It is not improving the condition

15
of fire services, not importing the special equipment required for bringing the people out the

concrete of broken buildings and many other steps of such kind.

steps for recovery process

after earthquake

23

65.38
no t kno wn
7.69 no
ye s

0 20 40 60 80

p e rc e n t a g e o f p e o p le

 What do you think about the government’s decision of closing the Admjee jute

mill?

46.15 percent said it’s a good decision and 11.5 percent responded saying it’s a very good

decision. 23.07 said decision is bad and 19.23 said it a very bad decision. A total of 57.65

(including both the response of good and very good) said it’s an appreciating decision of the

government.

closure of Adamjee jute mill

46.15
50
percentage of people

40
11.5
4
30 19.23
23.07 bad
20
very bad
10 good

0 veyt good

16
 Finally, how will you rank the current government?

26 percent responded that the current government’s performance is good. 12 percent said

it’s bad and another 12 percent said it’s very bad. 50 percent said they are not yet sure of the

current government’s performance.

rfo m
e
P e o
c
n
a BN
e
fth v e
o
g
P mt
rn
0
5
0
5
0
4
0
3 6
2
ne p
o
ta o
g le
f

0 1 2
2 1 2
0
r p
e
c

0
1
p
e

Performance of the current government

50 50
percentage of

40
good
people

30 26 bad
20 very bad
12 12 not yet sure
10
0

Conclusion:
I found that 26 percent people are strongly in favor of the government and 50

percent are partly in favor of the government. People who responded that they are not yet sure of

the government’s performance, I asked them why are they saying so. Most if them said that they

are confused right now. They said that are partly in favor of the government and partly against of it.

They said few of the steps are appreciating and few are disappointing. They said steps like banning

of Polythene bags, conversion of the three stroke to CNG, closure of Adamjee jute mill and steps

for the IT development are brilliant steps of the government and they failure in controlling

terrorism is really disappointing. They said they want to wait and watch further steps of the

17
government and then want to make any decision. Other 26 percent are also satisfied with the above

mentioned steps of the government. The idea of the closure of the Adamjee jute mill is an excellent

step of the government. The huge amount of subsidies that had kept Adamjee open was causing

great harm to the financial condition of the country. Now this money could be used in other useful,

worthwhile ventures. This decision of the government may go down as a landmark in the history of

economic management and, indeed, of industrial development in Bangladesh. This government is

really concern about the environment so they have banned polythene bags and also set up an order

to convert all the three stroke engines to the CNG by the 1st of September.

As 26 percent people are in the favor of the government and 50 percent partly in favor

so I can safely conclude that people’s opinion on the current government is good.

Bibliography
“Bad Name of BNP is Increasing and Jamat is Doing Fine “.Doinik ittefak. 19 March 2002:

5.

Ahmed, Shamim. ”The Tit for Tat Politics.” Dhaka Courier 20 September 2001: 4-7.

Ullah .Jaffar A.H. “Fate of Minorities in the Aftermath of October Election.” Bangladesh Observer

21 October 2002: 3.

18
Fazzal. Khlead Abdul. ”Budget And the Public” Doink Innquelab 16 July 2002; 13.

Ahmed. Museluddin. “Corruption: Enough is Enough-High Time to Stop It” The Daily Star 24

July 2002:8.

APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE
Please fill up this questionnaire and please be sincere with every question.

1. Your sex.
 Male

 Female

2. Your age.
 18 to 22

 22 to 30

 30 to 50

 above 50

19
3. Your Occupation.
 Student

 Businessman

 Government Employee

 Teacher

 Working in Private Farms

 Others

4. Are you a blind supporter of any party?

 Yes

 No

5. Your attitude toward politics.

 Very positive

 Positive

 Negative

 Very negative

6. What do you think about BNP’s performance in 1993?

 Very good

 Good

 Bad

 Very bad

 I don’t know

7. Recently, Is the terrorism in Bangladesh has :

 Increased

 Decreased

 I don’t know

8. Is the present Government taking enough effective steps to

eliminate terrorism from Bangladesh?
 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

9. How will you rank the former President A.Q.M Bodruzzdoza?

20
 Very good
 Good
 Bad
 Very bad

10. Do you agree with the BNP’s move to remove the President from his
post?
 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

11. Does the present Government succeed to ban student politics?

 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

12. Is the present Government taking all possible steps for the IT
development in Bangladesh?
 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

13. Does the budget proposed by the Government satisfactory?

 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

14. Is the Government taking care of the illegal construction?

 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

15. How do you like the banning of polyethene bags?

 Very good

 Good

 Bad

 Very bad

21
16. How do you like the conversion of three-stroke engine into CNG?
 Very good

 Good

 Bad

 Very bad

17. Bangladesh is on a threat of terrible earthquake. Is the Government

taking proper steps for the recovery process?
 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

18. What do you think about the Government’s decision of closing the
ADAMJEE JUTE MILL?
 Very good

 Good

 Bad

 Very bad

19. Do you agree with the imposition of tax on the satellite channels?
 Yes

 No

 I don’t know

20.Finally, how will you rank the present Government’s performance?

 Very good

 Good

 Bad

 Very bad

 Yet, not sure

22
23