Political Role ? ? ? ? ? ?.

Desk News. Rumin Farhana MP spoke in Parliament, or rather held up a mirror to the government a complete political roast. Right at the start of her speech, she said the government’s 3 priorities for the first 180 days were fixing law and order, reducing commodity prices, and ensuring energy. Then she began holding them accountable one by one. On law and order, she took a sarcastic jab at the Home Minister and brought up his eloquence, saying: _“It wouldn’t be bad if we had 64 Home Ministers for 64 districts in Bangladesh. The situation is such that one Home Minister isn’t enough. Even if we appointed one for each district, I doubt people’s trust would come back.”_ Then she turned to the Minister of Power and Energy, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, and said, “Honorable Speaker, what more can I say about energy ? People say, and I quote the critics, ‘Tuku comes, Tuku goes, comes and goes.No one knows how long they stay.’ Electricity feels like a guest, when it comes, no one knows when it will leave.” Next she went after the promise of employment, hitting where the government has little room to maneuver, “The promise was 1 crore new jobs. But instead, thousands of people are losing jobs. Factories are shutting down. So forget new jobs, people don’t even know if their old jobs are safe anymore. It’s all ‘Allah knows’ at this point.” Then she brought up the market, “There’s no vegetable below 80 taka. The price of eggs has gone up several times. Rice prices have gone up too, especially Miniket rice, which they say ‘the rich eat.’ When even that doubles in price, ordinary people go to the market and, without being rich, end up paying rich people’s prices.” After that she talked about TCB lines. Here she said what feels like the country’s most popular new institution is “the line” “Line to buy rice, line at TCB, go to the market and clutch your head at the prices. The middle class doesn’t go shopping anymore. They go to negotiate with the market.”_ Beyond all the sarcasm and jokes though, one thing has to be admitted: Rumin Farhana’s way of speaking is different. She mocks, she taunts, but in that taunting she puts the government’s promises side by side with reality. Knowing how to question in Parliament, knowing how to create pressure with words — that’s Rumin Farhana’s biggest strength. And one special quality of hers has to be acknowledged, For the ministers, her speech is a Q&A session. For the people, it’s free stand-up comedy.