The people of this country and the whole world witnessed the transfer of President's power in an unprecedented and honorable way in the history of Bangladesh. His Excellency President Mohammad Abdul Hamid was given a royal farewell in a grand state ceremony at Bangabhaban after handing over of power following completion of his 2nd term.
According to Article 50(2) of the Constitution of Bangladesh, a President "shall not hold the office of President for more than two terms, whether consecutive or not." Mohammad Abdul Hamid was the 20th and 21st president for two consecutive terms according to this article of the constitution. Abdul Hamid handed over power to Sahabuddin Ahmed the 22nd president on April 24 (2023).
By this, the dream of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to establish a stable state and political order has been implemented under the leadership of his worthy daughter honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On April 30 Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva lauded the development of Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina in terms of law and order management, infrastructural development and good connectivity.
According to political scientist Francis Fukuyama, there are three elements of a modern political order—'a strong and capable state', 'rule of law' and 'accountability'. Political scientists like Samuel P. Huntington and Francis Fukuyama have pointed out the serious problems in establishing 'political order' in changing societies. Bangladesh is no exception in this regard. Here too many problems have been and are still being faced on the way to establishing political order. Despite all this, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government have been able to deal with them successfully and establish 'political order' or 'politically disciplined system'.
Francis Fukuyama in his book 'The Origins of Political Order' states that good political society is very difficult to achieve and much needs to be done to get it right. The positive message from it is that if reaching political order is a haphazard business, it means there are many ways to get there. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has reached that stage by dealing with the haphazard tasks on the way of establishing political order in the desired way of the people! This is proven by the fact that the 21st President handed over power to the 22nd President in accordance with the constitutional provisions.
In this context it is also pertinent to mention that an elite political culture of bidding farewell to the outgoing President after the handover of official power has been established by first escorting the outgoing President to the gate of Bangabhavan accompanied by musical ensembles and then formally escorted by the SSF to his Nikunja residence.
In the present paper, the transfer of power from the 1st to the 21st president is explained briefly on the basis of the approach of political order.
After the formal and legal declaration of independence by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was elected absolutely by the people, the war to establish the independent nation-state of Bangladesh, for the Bengali nation, began. On April 10, 1971, elected representatives formed the first government of independent Bangladesh based on the declaration of independence by Bangabandhu. This government was sworn in on April 17, 1971.
The first president of Bangladesh was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In his absence, Syed Nazrul Islam served as Acting President from 17 April 1971 to 12 January 1972.
As such, Syed Nazrul Islam was the second President. The great architect of this nation-state, Bangabandhu, returned to the independent homeland of Bangladesh on January 10, 1972. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the gem of the eye of Bengali nation, tried his best to strengthen and enable this war-torn state to establish rule of law and accountability.
He has also achieved significant success in this regard. But for this he had to face many complex and difficult obstacles. Bangabandhu overcame these obstacles in an admirable manner. Which people were supporting spontaneously.
If we consider according to the perspective of political order, then we can roughly classify the situation of Presidential succession into two categories. In the first category are those representative governments who are interested in establishing political order in Bangladesh.
And in the another category there are those rulers who encourage the creation of political disorder or political chaos or anarchy in Bangladesh. This chaotic forces are pro-Pakistani.
During the tenure of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth presidents and from January 25, 1975 to August 14, 1975, the sixth President held the responsibility of managing the power of the state for the establishment of political order in Bangladesh. They were the followers of the spirit of liberation war and inspired by the ideology of Bangabandhu. Those who served as Presidents during these periods were wholeheartedly involved in the efforts to establish political order in independent Bangladesh.
The declaration of independence by Bangabandhu, the formulation of the constitution in 1972, and the election of the Jatiya Sangsad in 1973 bear proof of this. Everything was going on according to the will of the people.
But since the defeated forces of liberation war and lovers of Pakistan assassinated the elected head of state, father of the nation Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975 and seized power illegally, the efforts to establish political order were dismantled.
Since then, the terms of the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth presidents have been in the hands of the forces of political disorder or forces of political chaos or anarchy or mainly the Pakistan lovers in Bangladesh.
On 6 December 1990, the then Vice-President Maudud Ahmad resigned and Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed was appointed as the new Vice-President.
General Ershad resigned on the same day and Shahabuddin Ahmed took over as acting president of the country. The fourteenth president was Abdur Rahman Biswas of BNP. Political disorder was one of the characteristics of this period. This continuity of political chaos or anarchy continued during the tenure of sixteenth President Dr. AQM Badruddauza Chowdhury, the seventeenth President Barrister Muhammad Zamiruddin Sarkar and the eighteenth President Professor Dr. Iazuddin Ahmed. Zillur Rahman assumed power as the 19th President on 12 February 2009 after being elected by the Jatiya Sangsad. He went to Singapore for medical treatment on March 14, 2013. The Speaker of Jatiya Sangsad at that time Mohammed Abdul Hamid assumed the power of Acting President.
On 24 April 2013, Mohammed Abdul Hamid was elected by the Jatiya Sangsad and assumed the position of the 20th President. After the end of the term of the 20th President, he again served as the 21st President from 24th April 2018 to 24th April 2023 and handed over the Presidential power and responsibility to the 22nd President His Excellency Shahabuddin Ahmed.
After the above brief analysis about the transfer of power during the term of the first to twenty-first president, we can conclude that when the political forces interested in establishing the political order get the public support of having the state power of Bangladesh, then the story of the transfer of power of the president or the prime minister is fair and constitutional.
On the contrary, when forces of political disorder or political chaos or anarchy or political forces disinterested in the establishment of political order are able to seize state power or came to power, then the disgusting and despicable history of the transfer of power of the President or Prime Minister is written down.
Professor Arun Kumar Goswami, Director, Center for South Asian Studies(CSAS), Dhaka; Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, and former Chairman, Department of Political Science, Jagannath University, Dhaka.
