Govt winning people's trust: Anti-Discrimination Student Movement

The interim government led by Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus has started winning people's trust and confidence, which was shattered during the immediate past regime, mainly because of its inclusive approaches in making decisions about state affairs, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement has said.     

Talking to BSS, female coordinators and frontline female protesters of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement came up with such an evaluation of the 92-day-old interim government that came to power on 8 August through a mass upsurge.    

Immediately after taking charge, the interim government took some measures, including reshuffling the administration, taking action against corrupt people, rehabilitation of the victims of July-uprising, formation of reform commissions, and restoration of confidence of international communities, especially the development partners, according to the student movement.

They suggested the government take steps to break market syndicates to bring the commodity prices to a tolerable level, ensure the security of each citizen, preserve the memories of the mass upsurge, and ensure proper treatment of injured people.       

"Such immediate measures have helped the government earn the trust of the countrymen irrespective of their beliefs and ideologies … and it is the most significant success of the interim government," said Nusrat Tabassum, a key coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.  

"There was no record of winning such trust and confidence of the common people by any government in the past," she added.

Nusrat praised the government's two major approaches—reviewing the decisions or correcting mistakes and giving enough value to the public's views.

"The previous government used to ignore what common people think or want; rather they used to give very irrational alternatives whenever demands were raised by people on something to change or improve," she added.  

Since the interim government is sympathised to the pro-people issues, the people, with huge expectations and optimism, have been rushing to the student coordinators, protesters, advisers as well as government officials for solutions, said Nusrat.

Spokesperson of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Umama Fatima said democracy requires citizen trust in government to function effectively but the country faced a crisis of trust over the last one-and-a-half decade due to the authoritarian approaches of the past regime.

"Keeping trust in the government, the people have been safeguarding the government, which has been strengthening the government's role in fulfilling the countrymen's expectation of establishing a society free from discrimination," she added.  

For example, Umama said, "During the floods or poor law and order situations, we saw how people stood by the flood victims, sacrificed lives to save others, managed traffic, cleaned streets or spent sleepless nights gathering in groups to maintain law and order".

Due to the citizen's trust in the government, she said the inflow of remittance has witnessed a rise significantly as the migrant workers are now sending money through banking channels instead of other illegal means, boosting the country's forex reserves.    

However, Umama suggested the government to be more communicative with the general people to beef up reforms for restoring stability and a proper working atmosphere in public entities to ensure smooth service delivery.

Rupaiya Shrestha Tanchangya, a protester who was active in the movement from the very beginning, praised the government for taking opinions from people with diverse backgrounds before formulating policies or making decisions.

"I've never seen that any government was taking people's opinions irrespective of their beliefs and ideologies the way the interim government is taking about various state affairs," Tanchangya said.         

Movement's coordinator from Eden Mohila College Shahinur Shumi said, "People's aspirations and expectations are very high to the government as it comes through sacrifices of lives of general people. So, the government should give more focus on pro-people issues".

Sumi stressed taking pragmatic initiatives to address the price hike of essentials and ensure the security of the common people.

The interim government's immediate and successful responses to some crises, including flood, public security, and price hikes have helped it earn people's trust, said Nazifa Jannat, central coordinator from East West University.   

"The government should work on a priority basis to ensure the security of each citizen at each corner of the country and take immediate and stern actions to terminate all the market syndicates from their roots, said Nazifa.

If the government fails to address the problems related to its citizens' basic needs, it will lose people's trust," Nazifa said, adding, "People will lose their patience if they don't see visible improvements in solving problems of the people."