He said the concept of Parliament is that the opposition party will highlight the mistakes of those who run the country and force them to reconsider their decisions.
Recalling his past experience, JAP MP, Shamim Haider Patwari said that structurally this Parliament cannot force the government to reconsider its decisions. The reason is absolute majority rule. Moreover, the question-and-answer session has become a mere formality and parliamentary standing committees are not meeting regularly. A “Caesar to Caesar appeal” is now made as the chairmen of most committees are from the ruling party. Both the minister and the speaker belong to the same party. Parliamentary committees are not able to work like India and America.
Another Jatiya Party MP, Anisul Islam Mahmood said that the sorrows and sufferings of the people should be discussed in the Parliament to make it truly the center of all activities. If this discussion does not take place, then just by speaking, the Parliament will not become the center of all the activities. Otherwise, the discussion outside will be the center, the news of newspapers will get priority.
Several MPs from the ruling Awami League also took part in the discussion. Some of them mainly criticized the original opposition BNP, which has no representation in the ethnic parliament after seven of its MPs resigned from parliament in December last year.