POBNEWS24, Desk report Oct 1,2021 :
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. However, there is nothing wrong with this, there is no benefit without the loss of Bangladesh.
- In 1938, the United States passed a law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act, banning all propaganda that protected foreign interests.
- It is illegal for any party or their supporters to carry out any political activity unless they are listed as foreign agents in the United States.
- The law carries a 250,000 fine and up to five years in prison if convicted.
- It is a skill. A fierce battle broke out on September 17 in Jackson Heights, a Bengali-dominated shopping area in New York, USA. On the one hand, the United States is a supporter of Awami League, on the other hand, it is a supporter of BNP. On this occasion, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh arrived in New York. Supporters of both sides were heard to say, ‘Hold on’. Many people must have seen the video of the clash on Facebook. Luckily, there were no tables or chairs at hand. Earlier, a chair-table was broken at a five-star hotel in Manhattan without noticing the presence of an honorable guest at a party reception. There, of course, not two parties, but the supporters of one party were intoxicated to occupy the field.
The question is, whose interest is being protected in the name of the political party of Bangladesh and the mudslinging in the name of politics on foreign soil? Many of those who are waging a war of attrition, not just in the name of protecting the interests of the country and the nation, are foreign (i.e. US) citizens. As a result, they do not have the right to vote in Bangladesh. If they were intelligent, they would be involved in mainstream US politics, with the potential to gain in the end. As a foreign branch of the political party of Bangladesh, it is not possible for them to gain any leakage as an appendix. Manchi, some of the leaders, some of them are picking radishes. But what is the benefit of Paikpara Ainuddin?
Many of them may not know that it is illegal for these parties or their supporters to carry out any political activities unless they are listed as foreign agents in the United States. Not only in the United States, but also in Bangladesh, there is a law that no political party in the country can have its branches or factions abroad. According to the law of Bangladesh, no party registered with the Election Commission (EC) has the opportunity to have a branch outside the country. The Act on Representation of the People in the National Assembly Election Act mentions the conditions of eligibility and ineligibility for registration of a political party in the EC. It said that if the constitution of a party provides for the establishment of a party outside the territory of the country or the management of an office or the formation of a branch or committee, then that party will not be considered eligible for registration.
-
Illegal in the United States
No matter what the law is, who cares! Almost every major party in Bangladesh has an office here. Their job is the same throughout the year, when the team leaders from Bangladesh come to the airport with flags in hand and arrange a formal reception. Besides, the leaders have to pack their bags before preparing for the chase. All this is part of their ‘job description’.
But the whole thing is illegal. It is not possible to campaign on behalf of any other political party in the United States. Let me first explain the law. In 1936, the United States passed a law banning all propaganda that protected foreign interests, called the Foreign Agents Registration Act. This law has since been changed more than once. The point of this law is that anyone sitting in the United States running a political campaign on behalf of another country or engaging in activities that serve their interests must be listed as ‘foreign agents’.
There is a historical context to the adoption of this law. We are talking about a time when Adolf Hitler was in power in Germany. Caucasians, that is, white people are the best, he is preparing for a world war with this slogan. His doctrine crossed the Atlantic and came to the United States. White supremacist political ideology has always been popular in this country. At the root of slavery was the belief that white people would dominate blacks, a God-given right. In the United States, as in Germany, white supremacists welcomed Hitler as their new pioneer. Overnight, more than one political party was formed in imitation of the Nazi party. One of them was the German American Bond or the German American Federation. On February 20, 1939, they held a rally in Madison Square Garden, New York. About 20,000 Nazi Americans took part in it. The then President Roosevelt was deeply disturbed by the activities of the Nazis. With his personal support, the Foreign Agents Registration Act was passed in the US Congress in 1936.
If found guilty, fine
The Foreign Agents Registration Act identifies four types of individuals or entities as foreign agents. These are:
1. Foreign government,
2. Foreign political parties,
3. Any party or organization established on foreign soil and operated from abroad, and
4. Foreign nationals.
It is not that they will not be able to run any propaganda on American soil. However, they must be registered with the U.S. Department of Justice as a foreign agent and must report their income and expenses and all activities at regular intervals. These listed foreign agents can legally lobby for any foreign state, government or political party. If a U.S. citizen is also engaged in the protection of foreign interests, he or she must be legally enlisted for that work. At various times, the Bangladesh government has hired lobbyists in exchange for money, each of whom has had to list himself as an agent for Bangladesh.
Needless to say, no Bangladeshi party that has set up its foreign branch in the United States has felt the urge to enlist as a foreign agent in compliance with this law. The law carries a লার 250,000 fine and up to five years in prison if convicted.
Not so. Many engage in various political activities, mainly to raise funds from the United States. But instead of carrying out these activities directly in the name of foreign political parties, they resort to a little cunning. Take the Indian Congress or the BJP. Both parties have been working openly in the United States for some time. To avoid legal trouble, they use ‘Overseas Friends of Congress’ or ‘Friends of BJP in USA’ instead of their real names. They have not seen the need to enlist as foreign agents for so long as they call themselves ‘friends’ of foreign countries as they are not a foreign branch of any party. But Overseas Friends of the BJP was forced to list itself as a foreign agent when it was accused of participating in the 2020 US election campaign. As far as I know, This is the only group in the subcontinent that has been listed under US law. Pakistani parties have also continued to use their original names without heeding US law. Such as People’s Party USA or Pakistan Muslim League N (or Nawaz), USA.
Whose profit, whose loss
I don’t know about India or Pakistan. However, all the foreign branches of the major political parties in Bangladesh are based in Dhaka. In the discussion, it is the central leaders who decide who will be the president and who will not. As a result, in many cases, people who are under the watchful eye of the central authorities in Dhaka are kept in the leadership of the party branch instead of the people who are popular with the local leaders and workers. This led to dissatisfaction at the local level, creating factions. Anger among the supporters of these factions eventually turned into clashes and chairs and tables were broken. Apart from this, following the traditional political trend of Bangladesh, there is a chase between the supporters of Awami League and BNP on foreign soil.
I don’t know who gains by keeping the branches of Bangladesh’s political parties abroad, but there is nothing wrong with that. The image of Bangladesh was tarnished on foreign soil due to retaliatory incidents. Immigrant Bengalis fell into this trap. They are despised not only by other Americans, but also by their own children. Instead of real pride in Bangladesh, disgust and rejection are born in the minds of these children about the homeland of their parents.
It is very easy to change this situation. Since Natai is in the hands of the leaders of Dhaka, they can stop the spread of their party’s branches abroad at any time if they want. You can announce, no, we do not have any branch abroad. The only thing they can do for Niden is to instruct their supporters to enlist as foreign agents in accordance with US law. Instead of following the Indian example and thinking of forming a federal branch of your party, you can also think of setting up an organization of supporters or friends of your party abroad. The biggest thing they can do is to give the responsibility of these organizations to a competent and intelligent person instead of the tail people. It may reduce the number of such clashes in public.
