There was a time when in every walk of life there were men and women who rose to dizzying heights of professional excellence, yet led austere lives. Politics was a blessed vocation. Till 1970, some of the best minds were drawn to politics. They had no goal except fighting for freedom and economic emancipation of the people and reaped no reward except imprisonment.

Without either prejudice or favour to anyone, mention may be made about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Moulana Bhasani, comrade Moni Singh, and a host of other patriotic leaders in the country, as well as contemporary Indian leaders like Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Kamraj, who left examples of dedication and service in the interest of people to be followed by others.

Rajendra Prasad stepped down in 1962 after serving 10 years as President of India. He retired to Sadaqat Ashram in Patna where, as the story goes, he shared a common toilet with other inmates, because he did not own a house any where in India. When Kamraj died, he left behind a dozen shirts and dhotis, and a few hundred rupees. Bangabandhu left only one house in Dhaka that has now been turned into a museum. Moulana Bhasani had no house in Dhaka.

Such examples are legion. In every part of Bangladesh, one could point to a freedom fighter, a trade union leader, a communist or a social worker even who lived frugally and died penniless. Many of them belonged to political parties and were regarded as politicians. Because they devoted their entire life to the cause of the people they were icons and their pictures adorned many homes.

Consider the sea-change that has taken place in the political landscape of the country in a matter of about 30 years. Politics is no longer considered a service. Over the past three decades it has become an industry. We not only have full-time politicians, we also have full-time student leaders who are no longer young, many of them are married and have children and live in posh houses in the city. Apparently, they do nothing else. They do not hold full or part-time jobs or own businesses or practice professions. They enjoy commissions from business magnates and corrupt persons, namely extortionists, traffickers, and smugglers. They eat, drink, and sleep politics merrily.

Being full-time in politics breeds an attitude. An attitude towards money, power, the law, and fellow humans. A full-timer with no known source of income expects others to give him money and devises ways and means to make others feel obliged to give him money. There are hundreds who live off money provided by far sighted businessmen. There is an unwritten code that no one ask questions like: How does this person live in Dhaka? Who pays for his suits, shirts, and shoes, his house, car or day to day lavish expenses?

More starkly true, it is because of politicians' attitude in bending law to suit their convenience that the country now bleeds. In consequence, callousness, indifference and connivance or rather defiance of law have become a Bangladeshi trademark Analyzing the dismal trend, one would see that the present dismal situation is the handiwork of these self-serving politicians who in their greed for money and perpetuation of power have put the whole country on hold. That brings us back to square one.

Sure enough, we don't have the rule of law. We have rule by law. There are laws, but the administration and keepers of the state are above the law. Among the full-time politicians there may be some exceptions but examples these days are rare. By and large people regard full-time politicians as a menace to civil society. But no democratic society, as we understand it, can do without political parties or politicians.

Undeniably true, political corruption as well as corruption in the highest levels of the administration is now a buzzword in the country and has sent shockwaves across the world causing fast dip in donor assistance. Politicians must now understand that rhetoric can neither feed the people nor keep the nation marching towards prosperity and stability.

Power and glory ultimately come from economic muscle and that is the greatest challenge a sensible government must strive to attain. Unless we can imbibe the age-old credo that honesty, hard work and commitment bring its rewards, the whole society is doomed to destruction. True, in a society that increasingly covets money over glory, a politician's job has lost its luster.

The situation prevailing in the country prompts conscious citizenry to suggest some guidelines worth being discussed and adopted in the parliament.

First, term limits on holding public office: No one should be allowed more than two terms or 10 years as MP, Minister, or Prime Minister. That practice if enforced by legislation will help groom a new breed of politicians.

Second, yearly public disclosure of assets and liabilities of Ministers, MPs, and party functionaries, including assets and liabilities of spouses, children, and grand children.

Third, prosecution for not filing income tax returns with a mandatory prison term, followed by electoral disqualification. To the best of our knowledge, nobody has been sent to jail in the country for an income tax offence till this date.

Unless we can resurrect politics in the country as well as curtail this greed for power, money, and influence, the country will be heading towards a catastrophic end. Let us not hope that Churchill's gloomy prophecy about granting independence to this sub-continent be coming true in case of Bangladesh in such a spectacular way.

Sir Winston Churchill vehemently opposed granting independence to India. He was not convinced that Indians could manage their own affairs. He said to the House of Commons in 1946: "Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, and freebooters. Not a bottle of water or loaf of bread will escape taxation, only air will be free and the blood of the hungry millions will be on the head of Atlee [the then Prime Minister of Britain].They will fight among themselves and India will be lost in political squabbles."

Sadly enough, it is after 58 years of granting independence to India and partition of this sub-continent and 34 years since gaining a free Bangladesh, we should reckon how much we have been able to prove ourselves an exception to Churchill's derogatory comments. At that time, many among us, quite older now and some already dead, dismissed Churchill's dire prophecy as rantings of an imperialist monster. But today a thinking that looms large in people's mind of whether power has been handed over to people unfit to govern and the country has been ruled and run by men of straw lacking in vision and pragmatism.

In analyzing the sorry state of affairs and other ills that plague the nation and thwart its march towards a self-sustaining economy, one is at once reminded of an old Chinese saying,: "A fish rots from the head downward." This is exactly the situation prevailing in the country. Writing off the period from 1947 to 1971, when we were under another form of colonial rule and when this tiny land of Bangladesh was dominated and ruled by Pakistani bureaucrats and army generals, as simply a nightmarish and traumatic experience, we must subject ourselves to serious self-criticism and self-analysis for our way of governance during the last 34 years.

The country from the beginning till now has suffered from leadership crisis that ultimately led to a bad political culture of hatred, greed, sycophancy, animosity, lust for power and influence. The two groups -- politicians and people -- are from the same country, but they could well be from different planets. Post-election scenario and activities symbolize the gulf between the people and politicians who profess to serve them.

To quote Aleksei Kiva, a reputed historian: "Extraordinary times require extraordinary governments. Especially the role of the chief executive rises sharply in periods after wars, revolutions, major social cataclysms, and with deep crises. Either power is strong and able to solve the task facing society or it fails. There is really no alternative."

Our leaders in propping up democratic governance failed at the nascent stage in targeting the priorities to be taken up in the face of all challenges. These priorities, as they were in the earlier days, are educational opportunities for all, containing population explosion, healthcare for all, agricultural revolution and, last of all, creating employment opportunities for the teeming youths coming out of the universities and colleges, by setting up industrial bases of sorts (mini and macro) and info-tech centers at different locations of the country.

The country is now virtually in the doldrums. As the mud flies thick and fast, all manner of subterfuge is in evidence: filthy organizations with dubious policies, and distortion of facts are liberally being used to influence the voter. People have lost faith in politics and government. As election time gets nearer, government efforts to speed up pace of ADP implementation has actually turned slower due to red-tapeism and delay in decision making.

As reports are available, the ADP implementation in July to October, the first four months of FY06 was 6 per cent less than that in the corresponding period of FY05. Most disquieting, reports carried by some dailies indicate that hefty funds are being released to party stalwarts to finance vote bank politics. Unhappily, the chief executive, including ministers and party spokesmen talk glibly in meetings and rallies about the achievements made by the coalition government during the last four years in a situation when people are struggling for survival, dying in shivering cold, going without electricity and clean drinking water, and motor-able roads in the country side.

When they talk, they assume that the average Bangladeshi is an idiot. So they list achievements that would not be considered achievements even to anyone with minimum powers of discernment. For me, the most poignant image on the Victory Day 2005 was the sight of barefoot and half-clad children selling the national flag, rajanigandha, and roses at different intersections of the Sheraton to Zia Airport highway. They were mostly small children, boys and girls, but many carried smaller children in their arms as they worked from dawn to dusk on our most important holiday, nay a day of national jubilation.

One day, if we are lucky, we will get a Prime Minister who will dare to explain why more than 35 independence days on, this is still the face of the Bangladeshi child.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.