The good, the bad and the ugly

The bad was the Prime Minister's son vainly invoking the memory of his father. The two parties should realise that the mere mention or recollection of the name of Ziaur Rahman or Bangabandhu, as sacrosanct as it may be for many, just is not sufficient to garner votes for undeserving and loutish candidates. The ugly was the excessive dependence on Jamaat on the part of the 4-party alliance nominee and the unseemly involvement of Jamaat cadres.

It was interesting how the spin doctors of the two parties tried to interpret the election outcome for public consumption. Awami League claimed it was the victory of the people where as BNP said democracy was the ultimate winner, as if there is a contradiction between the two contentions. AL mentioned the debacle and defeat of the ruling coalition candidate implied people had lost all confidence in the government while BNP said outcome as a single city corporation poll would have no bearing on the upcoming national election. Awami League claimed credit for the success of their candidate. BNP proclaimed glory for the impartiality of the election and neutrality of the government.

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The good was the Prime Minister graciously congratulating the candidate of the opposition party on his triumph, which, unfortunately, is quite uncommon in this country. The bad was the general lack of humility on the part of the winner and grace on the part of the loser. The ugly was the Mayor got carried away with his bluster, unearthly demands and ultimatum and outrageous threats to the ruling party functionaries, knowing fully well that he will need the assistance and support of the central government to conduct the affairs of the city government efficiently and effectively. The good is that cooler head and good sense prevailed and he finally and duly acknowledged the Prime Minister's felicitation.

And in conclusion, the good is that it is a much needed and apt wake-up call for the ruling alliance. They cannot bask in the glory of the 2/3rd majority forever, taking the electorate for granted, and making willy-nilly, arbitrary, biased and questionable decisions, and self aggrandising, pompous and pretentious assertions with conceited, complacent and devil may care smug attitude towards the will of the people and good of the country.

All in all, it was not too bad after all.

Omar Khasru is an administrator at a private university