In the ennui that invariably follows election jubilation, promises made during campaigning can quickly turn into whispers. All too often, this happens even before the bunting has been folded neatly away. Throughout her campaign in December, the promise of a 'Digital Bangladesh' was a slogan continuously repeated by the Awami League leader and prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. But as it is true for all good political slogans, the particulars of what exactly a 'Digital Bangladesh' would look like were, and remain, frustratingly vague. The idea is to develop a digitalised Bangladesh by the year 2021, the 50th anniversary of the country's independence. But what does this mean? When the concept first began to be bandied about, this writer had envisaged fishermen being able to throw computerised nets into rivers, which would digitally calculate which fish were mature enough to catch. But that does not seem to be what any political leader has in mind.
One way or another, the slogan was successful in capturing the imagination of many voters – particularly young first-timers who constituted one-third of the electorate. But one has to decipher Sheikh Hasina's speeches to try and understand what Digital Bangladesh is all about. During one gathering, she announced, "the Awami League-led Grand Alliance has set the vision of 2021 for the youth. We want to build a Digital Bangladesh, where people will get developed lives, free from crime and misrule, to face the challenges of the 21st century." From the sounds of it, Digital Bangladesh seems to point to something other than smart computers. After all, technology is not a requirement to get rid of crime and misrule. At the same time, a society that values justice, and whose politicians have integrity (rather than millions of dollars in overseas bank accounts), is the precondition to achieving these goals.
Perhaps another of Hasina speech will offer some additional definition? During a gathering in Dhaka, this is how she presented the new digitalised country: "Bangladesh should be developed, and emerge with dignity in the global arena. We will make Dhaka a modern city, free of criminal activities, traffic congestion and power, water and gas outages. And we'll improve communication with other parts of the country." She added, "We will build a developed country full of possibilities and free of poverty, where all will have access to health care and education. There will be food security, so no one is deprived of food, and the challenges of the 21st century will be faced boldly." There is nothing in that to disagree with, except it does little to explain the contours of a Digital Bangladesh. There is certainly no mention of e-governance, computerised schools or the use of advanced information technology to deal with the annual floods.
In a country in which electricity is as rare as girls from poor homes completing their high-school education, Digital Bangladesh is emerging as nothing but a piece of election gimmickry. It appears to be aimed at capturing youth votes and the support of those hoping to get beyond the personality politics that has dogged the country since the War of Liberation. This writer eventually tested out the 'new' technology, and e-mailed the Bangladesh government a request for a bit more information on this new undertaking. Not surprisingly, there was no response.