The ongoing crackdown against corruption will be universal at all!
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Photo: Barta24.com
The arena of socio-politics is now very busy with corruption. At this time, public enthusiasm for any sensational incident is not limited to tea chat as before. In the realm of social media, any interesting topic becomes 'viral' on social media platforms like Facebook and is instantly flooded with 'likes, comments and shares' of countless people. It is spreading across the world in minutes to hours.
As our expatriates are scattered around the world, they are also getting an opportunity to react to the corrupt. As a result, the illegal wealth of corrupt people, wherever they are in the country or abroad, is coming to light instantly. Therefore, everyone believes that what used to be heard as Divine Justice or the judgment of nature is now becoming a reality. In recent months, the sensational corruption scandals that have emerged in and around some of the most notorious corrupt officials appear to be opening up many new avenues of social science research.
We can see that there is a huge psychological crisis ever since the revelations of the amazing illegal wealth of other former and current government employees including former army chief General Aziz Ahmed, former police chief Benazir Ahmed, NBR officer Matiur or most recently Abed Ali, a former driver of the Public Service Commission. Change is beginning to come.
These people, who are discussed and criticized to cover their corrupt character, did not find a place among the common people even though they tried to arrange religious and social workers. Rather, their hypocrisy has become clear to everyone. As in the past, the public efforts of the influential to protect the corrupt are not very active now, it is well felt. Fearing that the influential may also be trapped, they may not extend the hand of blessing as before.
But the question is, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the National Board of Revenue (NBR) or other related organizations are showing or being forced to show the activism now, where they actually were in the recent past! If we assume that in the formula of 'Enemy's enemy is friend', some enemy of the corrupt may have given the information to the media and encouraged them to publish the report; but before that, where was the activity of these institutions! With the title of 'clawless tiger', they were killing people's tax money for years!
Among the measures taken this time against corruption, the case of confiscation of the assets of the corrupt in favor of the state with the intervention of the court seems to be very promising. But how long this hope of the general public will last, that is the big question!
A lot of things are being heard in the mouth of ordinary people in the past few days. They seem to have quite a watchful eye on the ongoing events. Common people are saying, if the amount of illegal wealth of a few government officials and employees is this, then what amount of illegal wealth can be acquired by the policy-makers who control them! Needless to say, the general public has no question about the validity of this question. According to them, if this crackdown on corruption can be made universal and if it is possible to confiscate the assets of all the corrupt people caught in favor of the state, then it is not impossible to collect money equivalent to the national budget for several years.
But we can well understand that reality does not run in a straight line in favor of common people's opinion. We know that those who influence and gain illegal wealth in the current society and state of Bangladesh are not only members of the administration or the law enforcement forces, but these 'powerful' have violence in every sector of the society and the state. These big fishes are present in all sectors.
Above all those who manage the society and the state from the policy-making level, those politicians are above this debate! Citing countless examples from the past and present, it can be said that politicians are by no means exempt from the ongoing debate on corruption. But if we evaluate the events of the last few months, it appears that the political people are not seeing much in this grip.
That is why it is not unreasonable to raise the question in the public mind that the ongoing anti-corruption crackdown or strict stance of 'zero tolerance' has not yet become universal. Therefore, we hope that there will be an all-out campaign to catch those who have stepped up to acquire illegal wealth through corruption; not against any specific class! Only then will this so-called 'hard stance' be unquestioned.