Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 809 Mon. September 04, 2006       Letters to Editor BNP's policy Asif Shah Mohammed Vanderbilt University Today the BNP lost one of its biggest supporters and apologists - ME... While I understand that my one vote probably may not count for much in the upcoming elections, but we supposedly live in a democratic country, and it is my right and privilege as a concerned Bangladeshi citizen to openly criticise what I feel to be just plain wrong in the ruling party's decision. For the past 13 years, I have lived in the United States, and watched the political playing field in my country from afar, but in my heart and in my mind, I have always kept its interests and image at the top. Today, I feel a sense of trepidation, coupled with anger towards BNP's shenanigans. The main trigger event for this has been the inclusion of former president Ershad into t its alliance for the upcoming elections. One of the main reasons that in the past I have refrained from supporting the AL, has been because I always felt to some extent an element of hypocrisy in the AL's actions. With this decision by the BNP, they have now proven what many other people have always said, but I always refused to agree with, that they're no different. After spending almost nine years from 1982 to 1991 trying to bring down the Ershad government, on charges of corruption, and ineptitude, it does not befit the BNP to ally itself with Ershad. If that is what it takes for BNP to win in the elections, it is just plain wrong. And now, with some of the senior members of the BNP complaining, they're going to remove those members from the party. What kind of democracy is that, where you are forced to comply with every decision of your party, fall in line or be forced out? How is this different from President Bush's "You're either with us or against us" statement? While the BNP joined forces with the Jamaat and other religious fundamentalists, and then slowly made every concession to their junior partners in the past five years, slowly but surely eroding our standing as a secular nation, I kept quiet, and even apologised for them in my discussions with others. When everyone around me questioned the ethics of the party, and branded it as being corrupt at the very top, I made apologies for them. When people accused the BNP of protecting and giving shelter to its own miscreants and other anti-social elements, while beating and rounding up those of other parties, I sat back and watched. But I cannot any longer. To those of you who care about this party, and care about the country, I say to you, it is time we stopped making excuses for its misdeeds and inaction. I can no longer accept the paradigm that "You have to do what you have to, to ensure victory, if we do not take these actions, the opposition will." Today, you have lost my vote and my support, BNP.