Pseudo-innovation in Dhaka

The passion for taking Bangladesh back from the grip of near-self-immolation was in evidence at the premier of a documentary called Deshantori (The Migrant), in London in early February. Currently causing a stir among Bangladeshis both in and out of the country, Deshantori explores the deep frustration of today's young generation. It also asks why, 35 years after independence, a generation that was once making sacrifices to create a nation is now making sacrifices to leave the country by any means. During the discussion that took place after viewing the film, blame for this dynamic was invariably aimed at Bangladesh's political parties. Indeed, the parties form a topic – and target – that has been on the lip of every Bangladeshi in recent weeks.

As Dhaka's military-backed interim government gets on with its anti-corruption agenda amid cautious cheers from the public, Bangladeshis at home and abroad are arguing over what kind of government system can both be functional and deliver for the long-beleaguered people. With civil-society leaders moving towards a more hands-on political approach at the same time as politicians are being thrown in jail for alleged corruption, Bangladesh seems to be going through its biggest round of political shifts since the restoration of democracy in 1990. There was a widespread sense of the surreal when, during the first week of February, agitated MPs from the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who otherwise could never even sit together for a meeting, were suddenly packed up side by side in micro-buses and taken to Dhaka's Central Jail. The tables had turned. As news-paper story after story is published detailing the misdeeds of the immediate past BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government, the picture that is emerging is not pretty. It portrays a reckless regard for rule of law and for Bangladesh's institutions. Whether the transgressions were as monstrous as misappropriating thousands of crores of taka and crippling the power sector by taking massive bribes from incompetent companies, or as relatively paltry as localised stealing of relief material, the fingerprints of former ruling-party MPs seem to be everywhere.