The Platform for Intellectual Bangladesh

“I believe discussion is essential to change anything in democracy. Without discussion, nothing can change,” said Nobel laureate Amartya Sen when he visited Bangladesh a few months ago. BBC Sanglap, one of the most popular TV shows of our country, has been working to bring about this change through dialogue from its very inception in 2005.     

BBC Sanglap, a weekly TV debate show, broadcasted in Channel i, has earned reputation for creating a common platform of the policy makers and people en masse to discuss the contemporary issues important for Bangladesh's development. 

Unlike a typical talk show that presents political commentators discussing the same old bi-party politics of Bangladesh with each other, the Sanglap has managed to come up with something new to offer to the audience.

Niaz Rahman, a regular audience of Sanglap and a PhD student of Dhaka University says, “BBC Sanglap is really very unique. I like it because it gives the floor to ask questions to the policy makers and all the distinguished panellists, face to face in the studio.”

The ongoing ‘BBC Sanglap’. Photos: Courtesy

This live interaction between the panellists and the audience has made this programme one of the first examples of live public debate with the policy makers in Bangladesh. Waliur Rahman Miraz, series producer of BBC Sanglap says, “We always try to ensure participation from all parts of our society. We have always ensured at least 40 percent of our audience present in the studio are female. Atleast one or two of our panellists are also always female.”

Besides live audience participation, BBC Sanglap is also credited for reaching out to the people of different parts of Bangladesh. In June 2013, on the eve of the mayoral elections in Khulna, Rajshahi and Sylhet districts, the Sanglap team travelled to each of the three cities. They organised Sanglap in these cities with the mayoral candidates as panellists and the voters as the audience. The audience bombarded the candidates with questions on what they should do to improve the living condition of the voters. 

A post-election survey by BBC revealed that 23 million people watched or listened to the episodes on mayoral elections and 78 percent of them said that Sanglap gave them confidence to determine their voting choice. Issues of recently held Dhaka and Chittagong city corporation elections were also discussed in Sanglap.

In every phase, BBC usually holds at least 40 percent of the programmes outside Dhaka. Waliur says, “We have travelled to most of the districts of Bangladesh although it is a very challenging task to take the entire shooting crew to another district.” 

However, due to the termination of current funding cycle the programme will take a pause from September this year. Fayaz Ahmed, project director, governance and rights, BBC Media Action, who has been running BBC Sanglap says, “We are trying to manage support from different organisations to continue this programme. We are hopeful that after this short break we will come back with more new features to entertain our valued audience with a resourceful programme.”  

For more than a decade BBC Sanglap has been providing the space for a free and fair dialogue between the policy makers and common people. It has been working as a bridge to connect the policy makers with people's rights.  By continuing its journey, we hope that it will create the stage for positive change in Bangladesh through dialogue and discussion; as idealised by Amartya Sen.