By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: Especially among leaders of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), old habits die hard — they must anyhow blame India for their own acute problems of governance at home! Take the recent violent agitation launched by garment factory workers which caused a standstill in Bangladesh for days.
Not surprisingly, after several days of massive labour violence that resulted in the loss of millions of dollars of garment export earnings, Bangladesh’s Home Minister Mr Salauddin Ahmed now alleges that ‘conspirators’ from across the border’ were among those responsible for the mayhem, in Mirpur, Ghazipur and Narayanganj areas. The police, he claimed had identified outsiders and infiltrators who had continued to attack and destroy garment producing units, even targeting the men in uniform in some places! Massive violence continued even after the Government had announced the acceptance of the basic demand of the agitating workers –the appointment of a new board to recommend an immediate increase of their salaries and other benefits!
Observers attending a recent official presser noted that while India and Myanmar were Bangladesh’s major border sharing neighbours, there was no doubt that Dhaka was accusing India without naming it, for the troubles that had occurred — and not for the first time! The Dhaka-based establishment has a record of blaming India among other things, for manipulating the water releases from its dams/reservoirs without notice, which causes massive monsoon floods! Along with Mr Ahmed, Bangladesh’s Labour Minister, high officials and police officers were also present on the occasion, so there could be no mistaking the message the ruling BNP was trying to convey.
Up to then, over 70 arrests had been made, for the disturbances. The BNP Government, said the Home Minister, would take strong action against ‘instigators’ who had effectively disrupted the normal lives of people through roadblocks, repeatedly clashing with the police, physically attacking and damaging factories wherever possible in the affected areas. Garment industry circles said that at .its peak, nearly 700 units had been forced to close.
Apart from routinely targeting the big bad neighbour India to Bangladesh’s West, the other major perpetrator of the troubles, said the Minister, was of course, the ousted and currently banned Awami Leaguers. But most of league’s cadres and supporters had been arrested or driven underground, while thousands had fled to India.
However, Ahmed stuck to the BNP’s predictable script, where blaming the league was mandatory in any political controversy involving India, never mind if the accusations levelled were real or imaginary. As usual, the Minister gave no factual details of how the ‘miscreants from across the border’ had illegally crossed over with arms etc to create trouble and why the matter was not taken up officially with New Delhi. Former league Ministers and other pro league elements had been actively involved in the unexpected outbreak of violence and the BNP government would not spare any of them, warned Ahmed.
Trade Union leaders, who joined official efforts to call upon workers to restore and resume normalcy and production, alleged that the long spell of inflation had badly hurt the 17,00,000-odd workers, most of whom were not highly paid. Ever since the war in Ukraine and later in the Middle East broke out, inflation had been hovering around the high 10% level, which had hit even the middle class very hard. There were media reports in Bangladesh explaining how even people earning Taka 50/55000 a month, suddenly found themselves going into debt in recent times, as the cost of fuel, food and ,fertilisers as well as transport and medicines, continued to move northwards relentlessly! Despite good export earnings and remittances, the two main pillars of Bangladesh’s economy became unstable and the exchange value of Taka relative to the US dollar fall alarmingly.
These problems affecting the economy had been mentioned in some detail by Western financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, in their recent reports. Worse. Corruption had grown among a section of Bangladeshis abroad, who were earlier sending remittances regularly. Some resorted to illegal ‘Hundi’ arrangements to secure more value for the US dollars they earned, ensuring their own gain but at the cost of their country’s economy! Like most others hit by the continuing financial crisis and with no improvement in sight, no wonder the majority of garment industry workers took the agitational path…
They could not be accused of trying to force the government’s hands at a crucial time either.. The sad working conditions prevailing within the Bangladesh garments industry are too well known internationally. In an industry dominated by a women-dominated workforce, even child labour continues to be used, despite the government’s best efforts to stop such practices.. Time and again, Western buyers of Bangladeshi garments had warned and often stopped their imports for short spells, to force Dhaka based authorities to clean up their act in the spheres of labour relations and human rights.
Clearly the prolonged economic distress among the Bangladeshi working class had figuratively speaking, broken the backs of most active workers. They are now demanding a starting salary of at least Taka 30,000 monthly, but no one takes the figure seriously, never mind that passions are running high
Along with divisions among officials as to how to deal with the aggressive, angry workforce, there were major divisions among factory owners too, There were allegations that some factory owners had encouraged the violence leading to the forced closure of many units, so as to pressurize the already hard pressed BNP Government. The apex body of Bangladesh Garment producers, the BGMEA was more worried about the huge losses already incurred, mounting to loss of the industry’s credibility and possible cancellation of foreign orders. There had been anxious queries from many foreign buyers. The eventual losses could well rise to billions of dollars, not to mention major near term problems in the process of securing fresh orders, repayment of old bank loans and insurance-related issues.
The need for the Government and the industry to work closely together in the future .even as the mills reopen and workers resume production, the management will have a hard time handling higher labour costs, while the government would face a hard time urging upon impatient, angry workers , not to expect too much of a wage increase.
How will all this pan out with the BNP government with the return of Awami league Chief Sheikh threatening to return sometime next month and the demonstrably uneasy relationship with big neighbour India? The overall political fallout from the unsettled conditions of the present, are too complex at the moment. New Delhi has to be vigilant in the next few weeks before Hasina’s departure for Dhaka. (IPA Service)
