How the presidency was made for all the 'Yes' men!

Constitutionally, the president takes precedence over all other citizens in Bangladesh.

Explaining the enormous significance of this office, constitutional experts portray him as the symbol of the Nation who represents the Nation but does not rule the Nation.

But records portray an abysmal past of the office of the president because of the failure of most of the individuals who were elected to the office at Bangabhaban – the office cum residence of the president.

Except for Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, all other presidents elected by the parties in power since the restoration of parliamentary democracy after the ouster of autocratic ruler Gen Ershad in December 1990, unfortunately could not maintain the sanctity of the office they held.

Critics say they had all become the "prime minister's men" after being elected president.

There was a wind of change when Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed assumed the office of the president in 1996. His five-year term marked a significant change in the presidency garnering people's support and respect.

His immediate successor Prof AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury tried to maintain the image of the presidency developed by Justice Shahabuddin. But his tenure was short lived; he was ousted by the BNP in June 2002 from Bangabhaban within seven months into the office.

After Prof Chowdhury, who was secretary general of BNP when it was founded by Ziaur Rahman in 1979, Professor Iajuddin Ahmed, who retired as a teacher of Dhaka University, was picked for Bangabhaban who would bring down the presidency to a further low and would emerge later as "Yesuddin."

He assumed the office of the chief adviser allegedly on the advice of the BNP at a time when the country had plunged into political turmoil over the formation of the nonpartisan election time government in 2006.

The caretaker government led by Iajuddin failed to resolve the political crisis that had turned violent. The country was heading for a one-sided parliamentary election slated for 22 January 2007. Amid such a situation, the armed forces intervened. He stepped down from the office of the chief adviser declaring a state of emergency that continued for around two years.     

His successors Zillur Rahman and Abdul Hamid, who were elected by the Awami League, could not repair the damage to the office of the president. 

The election of AL leader Zillur Rahman as the president after Iajuddin in February 2009 seemed to be a ray of hope as his stepping inside the Bangabhaban, the president's official residence, was considered a return of a politician to the high office.

Former attorney general Mahmudul Islam in his book "Constitutional Law of Bangladesh" writes it cannot be said that the framers of the constitution did not intend to concede any discretionary power which in a given situation must be exercised by the president to save the country or the constitution from destruction.

His office became tainted with controversy in September 2010 after he granted pardon to 20 death row inmates convicted in the Jubo Dal leader Sabbir Ahmed Gama killing case. Most of them were Awami League adherents and activists.

Again, in July 2011, he granted controversial mercy to AHM Biplob, the son of ruling AL leader Abu Taher of Laxmipur and a death row inmate in the much-talked-about Nurul Islam murder case.

Biplob appears to be the most fortunate man as the president has granted him mercy for the second time in seven months. This time, Biplob's life sentence in each of the two murder cases was reduced to a 10-year imprisonment.

The clemency triggered a huge hue and cry.

After his death in March 2013, then-Speaker Abdul Hamid was elected president as AL candidate. He became the lone politician who was elected to the office twice. But during his tenure, the country plunged into a political crisis centring on the parliamentary elections to be held under the Hasina government in 2014 and 2018. 

He assumed office amid the growing political crisis that developed after the cancellation of the nonpartisan election-time government by the Sheikh Hasina government in 2011.

There was no initiative on his part to prevent the derailment of the country's democracy. Hasina held a one-sided parliamentary election in 2014 amid a boycott by the BNP and other opposition parties. As many as 153 of 300 MPs were elected uncontested without a single vote being cast. People were denied their constitutional rights by the Hasina regime. He proved to be a trusted tool of Hasina.

After his first five-year tenure, he was re-elected to the office in April 2018–months before another controversial parliamentary election. On the promise of Hasina to make the election free and fair, BNP and other opposition parties joined the December 2018 election.

But with the aid of the police and the administration, ruling party men stuffed ballot boxes the night before the election which later came to be known as the infamous "midnight election."

The president never made any comments on the quality of the election on both occasions.

He successfully completed his two terms. As no individual is allowed to hold the office of the president for more than two terms, whether or not the terms are consecutive, he had to say goodbye to Bangabhaban in April 2023. 

The election of Hamid's successor Mohammad Shahabuddin was a surprise sprung by Hasina. In less than one year of his assuming the office, the Hasina government staged a one-sided parliamentary election in January this year and seemingly consolidated her power until she was forced to resign and flee.

How Justice Shahabuddin was an exception

The first presidential election after the restoration of parliamentary democracy in October 1991 could not be unanimous as the main opposition AL nominated a candidate to contest against BNP's candidate. However, Abdur Rahman Biswas who was first elected as the speaker, was elected president defeating the AL candidate.

While he was president during the period of the caretaker government formed in 1996 after several years of political crisis, there was a serious army unrest, which Biswas, being the commander-in-chief of defence services, dealt with firmly averting a looming danger.

His successor Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed was elected unanimously as president in the seventh parliament on AL nomination in 1996.

It was Justice Shahabuddin who held the first untainted general election in February 1991.

After returning to power after 21 years, AL-led by Hasina picked him as its presidential candidate as he earned the nation's acclamation for leading the country to a smooth transition to democracy through the 1991 parliamentary polls.

A man of integrity, Justice Shahabuddin was also outspoken. On several occasions, he spoke against the culture of default loans and urged political parties to reach a consensus to disqualify loan defaulters from contesting parliamentary elections.

Violent activities on campuses by student organisations prompted him to raise his voice against it and urged political parties to sever ties with the student bodies. 

Because of his acceptability to all political parties, the main opposition in parliament BNP and its chief Khaleda Zia several times went to Bangabhaban to meet with their demands.

He did not say "yes" to everything done by the Hasina government.

Take these examples.

In January 2000, the Parliament passed the much-controversial Public Safety Bill and was sent to President Shahabuddin for his assent. But he initially refrained from assenting to the bill as it triggered widespread criticism of the provision for making offences under the proposed legislation non-bailable. It would be later used as a tool to suppress the opposition's street agitation.

After two weeks, then-prime minister Hasina, flanked by the foreign minister and law minister, rushed to Bangabhaban to meet President Shahabuddin to convince him. The president gave his assent to the bill only after the prime minister assured that non-bailable provisions would be made bailable through amendments-- an assurance she kept later.

He was not happy with Hasina's government that made him appoint two judges to the Appellate Division in January 2001 by breaking the tradition of seniority which triggered violent protests by lawyers on the Supreme Court premises on the day the newly appointed judges were sworn in.

Amid such a situation, it was reported in the media that Justice Shahabuddin wanted to quit the presidency and asked his close aides to look for a home to rent for his family.

In contrast, none of his successors raised any dissenting voices against any of the bills such as the draconian digital security law passed by the parliament.

Justice Shahabuddin, however, later became the target of verbal abuse and criticism from AL after its election debacle in 2001.

During the nonpartisan election time caretaker government led by Justice Latifur Rahman, many top secretaries and field-level police officials were transferred to ensure a free and fair election, an act strongly opposed by the AL. After the election, the AL rejected the election result claiming that the election was rigged and that the president aided the rigging.

President Shahabuddin's address at the inaugural session of the eighth parliament formed in the 2001 election also drew wrath from the AL as the party was criticised in the president's written speech for its rule between 1996-2001.

In fact, it was not the outgoing president Shahabuddin's own speech. Rather it was drafted and approved by the newly formed cabinet led by Khaleda Zia.

And interestingly, it was Hasina's government that in 1996 amended the rules of the business of the government introducing the provision for approving the president's address to the parliament by the cabinet. It introduced the provision to make then president Abdur Rahman Biswas, who was elected by the past parliament during the BNP government, say what the AL wanted to say in his address to the inaugural session of the seventh parliament in 1996.

What a president can do

According to Article 48 (3) of the Constitution, in the exercise of all his functions, save only that of appointing the prime minister and the chief justice, the president shall act in accordance with the advice of the prime minister.

But sub-article (5) says something significant about the office of the president. It says the prime minister shall keep the president informed on matters of domestic and foreign policy, and submit for the consideration of the cabinet any matter which the president may request him to refer to.

This gives him the authority to have a say over the government's businesses and on any crucial issues the country faces.

Constitutional experts however say a non-executive president may, nevertheless, possess and exercise some discretionary powers of extraordinary political intervention as a constitutional arbiter or guarantor.

Former attorney general Mahmudul Islam in his book "Constitutional Law of Bangladesh" writes it cannot be said that the framers of the constitution did not intend to concede any discretionary power which in a given situation must be exercised by the president to save the country or the constitution from destruction.

"The President having the duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, it is difficult to deny him the necessary authority in discharging the duty of preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution. The oath taken by the President in terms of art 148 obliges him to see that the Constitution is preserved, protected and defended," he writes.

For example, writes the former attorney general, the president can not promulgate any Ordinance without being advised by the prime minister. But a situation may arise where promulgation of an Ordinance becomes a necessity for the preservation of the Constitution or continuity of the constitutional process. The President may promulgate such Ordinance without being so advised by the prime minister and the doctrine of necessity will render such Ordinance valid.