When zero credibility is preferred to risky victory
The leader of the ruling 4-party alliance, the BNP has, as well, not lagged behind to pinpoint, in public and private meetings, the far-reaching consequences of the approaching parliamentary elections on the destiny of the nation.
Understandably, the opposition has viewed the polls as one involved with its life and death question.
The outside powers, that is our donor countries, have so much valued the polls for the sake of saving the fledgling democracy of Bangladesh.
On the other hand the BNP has weighed the elections in the interest of retaining power at all costs with the motive of perpetuating it.
Whereas foreign dignitaries have repeatedly emphasised upon 'a level playing field' to make the coming polls of 2007 credible to the international community, the BNP leadership seems to have already built up a massive network to hijack election results. Some of its manipulations are outlined below:
a) The government has raised the retiring age of the higher judiciary to get its own man, the last retired Chief Justice K M Hasan, as the Chief of the caretaker government (CTG). Incidentally, Justice Hasan served as an ambassador during Ziaur Rahman's rule. He was a member of the Advisory Council of the BNP.
b) Justice M A Aziz was appointed the Chief of the Election Commission. By now he has provided plenty of partisanship in initial election works. Though, ultimately his achievement stands nullified by the court.
c) The nullified draft voter list has shown the total number of electorates for the upcoming polls at 09.13 crore which figure borders on arithmetical absurdity. Mentionably, earlier the High Court ordered for updating the voter list. But the Chief Election Commissioner defied it at ease.
d) For the first time in the history of election in Bangladesh Upazilla Election Officers were appointed. Incidentally a large number of them happened to be from the old Chhatra Dal cadres.
e) As coming from the print media, Election Officers with strong BNP link are being sent to join important Election Offices in the metropolis.
f) The vital institutions of administration, police, lower judiciary etc. have already been grossly politicised.
g) The BNP is learnt to have pooled a staggering election budget running into several thousand crore taka.
h) The President of the Republic is partisan. Though rendered powerless in normal time, he is elevated to be the most powerful functionary even controlling and commanding the army during the caretaker government.
In fact the above measures as taken by the alliance government led by the BNP are too exposed and excessive to admit the main opposition combine led by the AL, which is also no less itchy to go to power, to participate in the forthcoming polls. To offset this machination the 14-party opposition alliance has been demanding for the last few months for a charter of reforms in the CTG and EC. Till now the government has responded negatively terming it as unnecessary and a conspiracy of the main opposition AL to create chaos and confusion in the society. The main opposition has threatened that it would not participate in the government engineered polls. Nor it would allow such designed election to be held.
The US, UK, other donor countries have repeatedly sermonised, with some degree of seriousness, that both the government and opposition should sit together and settle their scores through dialogues. Thereupon the BNP leadership has some times uttered its willingness to participate in dialogues with the opposition. But it seems more of a lip exercise.
What may come off in days to come? The alliance government may pass out the rest five months of its tenure practising wiles and guiles. The incoming CTG may have no option than holding parliamentary polls according to existing rules of the constitution. It is not fancied that the main opposition headed by the AL will join the polls to sound its death knell.
The alliance led by the BNP may come out victorious in the polls like a walkover taker. Its credibility, at home and abroad, will be a big zero. It may encounter miseries to be pulled down under the weight of no acceptability.
Is it that the BNP leadership is bereft of the minimum wisdom that a government cannot be run with a zero credibility on its scoresheet? Particularly the BNP has in its memory afresh the infamous February election of 1991. Then why does it tend to repeat another such fiasco?
Probably because the BNP leadership has been able to sense that if a somewhat unbiased election is held its (BNP's) victory may prove to be risky. Some of the grave symptoms are:
a) By now the people are convinced that most of the legislators of the BNP are financially corrupt.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. b) They have alienated themselves from the party grassroots level activists of their own constituencies.
c) The BNP-led government has grossly mismanaged, particularly towards the end of its present tenure, some of the vital sectors of the administration depriving the people of basic amenities of life like water, gas, electricity, fertiliser etc.
d) The government failed miserably to contain the skyrocketing prices of essential items believed to be resulting from the manipulation of syndicates alleged to be manned by BNP high-ups.
e) In some cases like when local people resented demanding electricity at Kansat, water at Sanir Akhra, BNP leaders woefully failed to meet the situation patiently and maturedly aggravating the condition causing damage, destruction of property and loss of lives of the people in police excesses.
f) When it was time for the government to deal with issues involved with people's interests, the government agencies concerned ignored it without realising that it might develop into a time bomb.
g) The government gave indulgence to, if not patronising, the rise and growth of religious militancy until it became too strong and widespread.
h) Almost hundred percent people are against religious militancy.
i) The government must be given full credit for apprehending the top militant leaders Shaekh Abdur Rahman, Siddikul Islam 'Bangla Bhai' etc. But why their godfathers are being spared whose identity is perhaps known to everybody is a question raised even by the top dignitaries of the donor countries based in Bangladesh.
j) There are plenty of serious factional feuds at the grassroots level of the BNP.
k) The BNP is sometimes severely jolted by rebel voices of higher rung like MP Abu Hena of Rajshahi, MP Col (retd) Oli Ahmed of Chittagong etc.
l) Feuds between the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami over seeking nomination for the next parliamentary polls are sometimes seen raging in the public.
m) The citadel of administration, the Secretarial, may explode as the maliciously ill-treated, promotion-benefit-deprived officers and employees are learnt to be trying to regroup themselves.
n) The government has image crisis internationally.
o) The government suffers from an identity crisis. Mention-ably, Bangladesh cherishing the ideals of democracy, nationalism, secularism, social justice was born of a bloody war in 1971. The alliance government stands for a religion-based moderate Muslim state. How can these two can be reconciled?
In fact, the BNP leadership is in a dilemma to choose between two miseries -- a) earn a walkover victory with zero credibility and b) participate in fairly fair election battles where scoring victory is risky. The BNP leadership seems to be tilting towards the first option in the light that defeat means outright departure from power whereas a walkover victory, though with nil credibility, will give the party a space to breathe and invent design and strategies as to how it (BNP) can hold on to power to the exclusion of political enemy, the AL.
BNP may dodge past the remaining five months of its tenure denying the main opposition demand for electoral reforms. Nevertheless, there is a reserve rule of the game. And where the game is parliamentary polls and the field is the whole terrain encompassing Bangla-desh the top committee is constituted by the people fully empowered to decide.
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