17 minority candidates for polls
Rangamati, January 12, 2007: Leading minority rights activists and political leaders have criticised the major political alliances for nominating a few religious and ethnic minority candidates in the forthcoming general elections.
They observed that the political parties contest the polls to go to ‘power in exchange for anything’ and field a minority person only when they do not find a potential candidate from the majority community, which is ‘disgraceful’ and ‘unfortunate’ in terms of democratic equality of majority and minority communities.
The two major political combines, led by the Awami League and the BNP, and an organisation representing three religious minority communities have nominated only 17 minority candidates for the same number of seats of the 300-strong parliament.
Out of the 17, only five candidates have been nominated by the BNP. They are Nitai Roy Chowdhury for Magura-1, Dhirendra Nath Saha for Narail-1, Gautam Chakrabarty for Tangail-6, Dipen Dewan for Rangamati and Sachin Pru Jeri for Bandarban constituencies.
The fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a major ally of the BNP, was, however, still trying to influence BNP to nominate its [Jamaat] own candidate Maulana Abdus Salam Azad depriving Sachin Pru Jeri for Bandarban.
On the other hand, BNP’s arch-rival Awami League has nominated 11 minority candidates. They are: Ramesh Chandra Sen for Thakurgaon-1, Manoranjan Sheel Gopal for Dinajpur-1, Satish Chandra Roy for Dinajpur-2, Sadhan Majumdar for Naogaon-1, Narayan Chandra Chanda for Khulna-5, Pramod Mankin for Mymensingh-1, Suranjit Sengupta for Sunamganj-2, Moni Swapan Dewan for Chittagong-15, Kujendra Lal Tripura for Khagrachari, Laxmi Prashad Chakma, a vice-president of the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity [PCJSS], for Rangamati and Bir Bahadur for Bandarban constituencies.
The Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, a major organisation of the religious minorities—Hindu, Buddhist and Christian—nominated Binod Bihari Chowdhury, a leader of anti-British Raj movement, for the Chittagong-9 constituency.
Of them 10 candidates are from religious minorities and the rest 7 from ethnic minority groups.
Of the total 17, ten are from Hindu community and six from Buddhist and one from Christian communities.
The minority rights leaders strongly resented the attitude of the political parties and organisations in question terming it religious chauvinism.
CR Dutta Bir Uttam, one of the three presidents of the Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, described the picture as ‘disgraceful’. ‘We are aggrieved,’ he told New Age. ‘We constitute 2.5 crore [minority] people and the parties could have easily accommodated minority candidates in some 25 per cent of the constituencies.’
‘Now we need to think in a different way as both the Awami League and the BNP seem to be indifferent to our causes,’ he said.
He, however, evaded a question if the Oikya Parishad would emerge as a political party as it fielded a candidate, for the first time, to contest the national polls. ‘I don’t know.’
Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, an organisation working for ethnic minority communities, found the situation as an obvious effect of the tendency of the political leadership for ‘power in exchange for anything’. ‘They dream of power only,’ he told New Age. ‘I am not at all surprised that the political parties, who have hardly any commitment to the rights and welfare of the ethnic and religious minorities, have nominated a few candidates from the minority communities.’
Elbart P Costa, secretary general of the Bangladesh Christian Association, said, ‘Political parties should have nominated more eligible minority candidates.’
Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, a joint secretary general of the BNP, said, ‘The political culture has changed in last few years. In most of the cases, the major parties select candidates who are wealthy and have potential to win.
On the other hand, there are a small number of minority political leaders who have successfully groomed themselves to adapt to the changing political climate,’ Gayeshwar said. ‘The irony is that the political parties field a minority person only when they do not find an aspirant from the majority Muslim community having a fair chance to win a seat.’
‘The parties should groom potential young political leaders remaining above majority or minority bias,’ he said.
The BNP did not nominate Gayeshwar in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 elections, as well as in the ensuing 2007 polls, for either Dhaka-3 or Dhaka-9, the constituencies he sought to contest for, only to accommodate other leaders who happened to be members of majority Muslim community.
The constitution of the BNP says the party will take all-out and specific steps to create scope so that people of all walks of life…including members of the backward communities…can participate in nation-building activities.
Asim Kumar Ukil, an Awami League central leader, described the situation as ‘unfortunate’ in terms of democratic equality of majority and minority community. ‘It is unfortunate. I hope the political leadership will uphold democratic values by nominating more eligible candidates from the minority communities.’
The Awami League constitution says the party shall adopt appropriate measures ... ‘to ensure … the rights [of citizens] irrespective of religion, caste, sex, community, ethnic identity and so on….’
Rangamati, January 12, 2007: Leading minority rights activists and political leaders have criticised the major political alliances for nominating a few religious and ethnic minority candidates in the forthcoming general elections.
They observed that the political parties contest the polls to go to ‘power in exchange for anything’ and field a minority person only when they do not find a potential candidate from the majority community, which is ‘disgraceful’ and ‘unfortunate’ in terms of democratic equality of majority and minority communities.
The two major political combines, led by the Awami League and the BNP, and an organisation representing three religious minority communities have nominated only 17 minority candidates for the same number of seats of the 300-strong parliament.
Out of the 17, only five candidates have been nominated by the BNP. They are Nitai Roy Chowdhury for Magura-1, Dhirendra Nath Saha for Narail-1, Gautam Chakrabarty for Tangail-6, Dipen Dewan for Rangamati and Sachin Pru Jeri for Bandarban constituencies.
The fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a major ally of the BNP, was, however, still trying to influence BNP to nominate its [Jamaat] own candidate Maulana Abdus Salam Azad depriving Sachin Pru Jeri for Bandarban.
On the other hand, BNP’s arch-rival Awami League has nominated 11 minority candidates. They are: Ramesh Chandra Sen for Thakurgaon-1, Manoranjan Sheel Gopal for Dinajpur-1, Satish Chandra Roy for Dinajpur-2, Sadhan Majumdar for Naogaon-1, Narayan Chandra Chanda for Khulna-5, Pramod Mankin for Mymensingh-1, Suranjit Sengupta for Sunamganj-2, Moni Swapan Dewan for Chittagong-15, Kujendra Lal Tripura for Khagrachari, Laxmi Prashad Chakma, a vice-president of the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity [PCJSS], for Rangamati and Bir Bahadur for Bandarban constituencies.
The Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, a major organisation of the religious minorities—Hindu, Buddhist and Christian—nominated Binod Bihari Chowdhury, a leader of anti-British Raj movement, for the Chittagong-9 constituency.
Of them 10 candidates are from religious minorities and the rest 7 from ethnic minority groups.
Of the total 17, ten are from Hindu community and six from Buddhist and one from Christian communities.
The minority rights leaders strongly resented the attitude of the political parties and organisations in question terming it religious chauvinism.
CR Dutta Bir Uttam, one of the three presidents of the Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, described the picture as ‘disgraceful’. ‘We are aggrieved,’ he told New Age. ‘We constitute 2.5 crore [minority] people and the parties could have easily accommodated minority candidates in some 25 per cent of the constituencies.’
‘Now we need to think in a different way as both the Awami League and the BNP seem to be indifferent to our causes,’ he said.
He, however, evaded a question if the Oikya Parishad would emerge as a political party as it fielded a candidate, for the first time, to contest the national polls. ‘I don’t know.’
Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, an organisation working for ethnic minority communities, found the situation as an obvious effect of the tendency of the political leadership for ‘power in exchange for anything’. ‘They dream of power only,’ he told New Age. ‘I am not at all surprised that the political parties, who have hardly any commitment to the rights and welfare of the ethnic and religious minorities, have nominated a few candidates from the minority communities.’
Elbart P Costa, secretary general of the Bangladesh Christian Association, said, ‘Political parties should have nominated more eligible minority candidates.’
Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, a joint secretary general of the BNP, said, ‘The political culture has changed in last few years. In most of the cases, the major parties select candidates who are wealthy and have potential to win.
On the other hand, there are a small number of minority political leaders who have successfully groomed themselves to adapt to the changing political climate,’ Gayeshwar said. ‘The irony is that the political parties field a minority person only when they do not find an aspirant from the majority Muslim community having a fair chance to win a seat.’
‘The parties should groom potential young political leaders remaining above majority or minority bias,’ he said.
The BNP did not nominate Gayeshwar in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 elections, as well as in the ensuing 2007 polls, for either Dhaka-3 or Dhaka-9, the constituencies he sought to contest for, only to accommodate other leaders who happened to be members of majority Muslim community.
The constitution of the BNP says the party will take all-out and specific steps to create scope so that people of all walks of life…including members of the backward communities…can participate in nation-building activities.
Asim Kumar Ukil, an Awami League central leader, described the situation as ‘unfortunate’ in terms of democratic equality of majority and minority community. ‘It is unfortunate. I hope the political leadership will uphold democratic values by nominating more eligible candidates from the minority communities.’
The Awami League constitution says the party shall adopt appropriate measures ... ‘to ensure … the rights [of citizens] irrespective of religion, caste, sex, community, ethnic identity and so on….’
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