Political Party Reform Essential to Change the Country: Manna

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, president of the National Citizens' Forum, has said that political party reforms are essential to bring about change in the country. For this, a good government and effective leadership are necessary. He emphasized that a government and its leaders can only be good when the political parties themselves are good. If the parties have incompetent individuals, no real change will occur. Therefore, political party reform must come first, and it is up to the parties themselves to initiate these changes.

Manna made these comments on Sunday during a roundtable discussion titled ‘How Far from Reform to Election?’ organized by the Nationalist Cultural Foundation at the National Press Club in the capital.

He further noted that in order to make the state livable, change is absolutely necessary. He believes that achieving national consensus could be possible within 15 days, and that elections could be held within 4-5 months thereafter. However, he stressed that before holding elections, police reform is a must.

BNP Chairperson’s Advisor Abdus Salam stated that the reform process is currently underway with the involvement of various professionals and experts. However, he cautioned that it cannot be assumed that their proposals will always be correct. He used the analogy of tailoring to make his point: "If I want to make a garment, it is my responsibility to provide the measurements. But if the tailor makes it according to his own design, it might not fit me. The proper measurements must be taken."

Salam also asserted that politicians should lead politics and govern the state. He pointed out that sometimes an impression is created that political parties are not interested in reform. However, he reminded the audience that even under fascist rule, BNP had proposed a 31-point reform agenda.

He added that BNP has been engaged in a struggle for 16 years. However, if people believe that everything will be resolved by a movement in the last seven days, they are mistaken. He also criticized the Awami League for trying to take credit for the liberation war and for attempting to "Awami-ize" everything after the war.

The discussion was also attended by BNP’s co-international affairs secretary Nahidul Khan Sahel, Vice Chairman of the Nationalist Cultural Foundation Matiur Rahman, Professor Sukumar Barua, and former Vice-Chancellor of Jahangirnagar University Jasimuddin Ahmed, among others.