As the country gears up for what is going to be the most consequential national election in its independent history, a locally grown form of online harm, deliberately engineered to fuel targeted disinformation campaigns and rampant misinformation among a largely digitally illiterate population, is posing a serious threat to its efforts to transition from authoritarianism to democracy.
We do not need to be perfect voters, and we do not need to know every answer. In a transitional period, what matters is the willingness to participate and the courage to relearn what authoritarianism tried to take away: that our voices count and that democracy is a skill we can rebuild together.
The real victory of any revolution lies not in the fall of an old regime but in the birth of a culture that resists repeating its mistakes. Bangladesh’s revolution will have meaning only if it leads to a politics that listens, includes, and endures.
We stand today at a critical juncture. The authoritarian state has collapsed, but the authoritarian mind endures. The struggle for democracy, therefore, is no longer against a regime -- it is against ourselves.
Until democracy regains its moral soul -- until citizens can question without fear and leaders can lose power without vengeance -- it will remain a performance, not a principle. And if this performance continues, one morning we will awaken to discover that democracy has quietly turned into its opposite.
Call the vote. Step down from the balcony. And let an elected government answer, at last, to the only sovereign that matters. The antidote to our present malaise is not another announcement. It is an election.
The recent Innovision poll provides a very good snapshot of the political state of play with less than 6 months to go before elections
There is nothing that can be accomplished by an April election that could not also be accomplished by one in December, and much that could be lost.
How BNP’s tactical chaos could trigger a national referendum. The more the party questions the legitimacy of the interim government, the more fraught the political situation becomes. This is something Bangladesh can ill afford
From Day One, the interim government has been dogged by its inability to explain its decisions to the general public. But it is still not too late to change course, and not only its legacy but also the sustainability of good governance post-elections depend on it.
Bangladesh now stands at the threshold between gridlock and reconstruction — the Chief Adviser must set a specific month for the upcoming elections and do so without hesitation.
An orchestrated whisper campaign now paints Bangladesh’s July-Revolution youth as saboteurs of democracy. The allegation is as thin as it is dangerous, for it misunderstands both their mandate and the moment the nation inhabits.
Is it for the Interim Government to arrogate to itself the sole power to determine the time-frame for elections?
The public may want elections sooner rather than later. But elections without reform threaten to make things worse, not better.
BNP should be careful what it wishes for. A post-Yunus Bangladesh may create more problems than it solves.
Let us step back for a moment and ask ourselves what it is the Bangladeshi people want at a time like this
