Is it too late to ask?

I am talking about more people who may be tired, people who are ready for resignation or withdrawal from politics. But it should be more direct, more respectable, when powerful men will take responsibility for their mistakes or failures and quit. If someone resigns in dire straits, it is actually being booted in disgrace. We are talking about resignation when still there is a choice.

I know it is not easy to make that choice, because power is addictive. But there should be more dignity in relinquishing power before getting relieved of one's responsibilities or relegated to a less important ministry. Somehow the potent potion of politics destroys personality, and turns politicians into spineless jellyfish. These tigers, who may roar in public meetings, cringe like pussycats when kicked.

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Perhaps there is too much at stake to give up power. One loses the protection of the party. Then the familiar world begins to recede. Only way to overcome the powerlessness after power is to stick together with the party colleagues in the hope to regain it. It is some kind of a cult membership, united to stand, divided to stumble. Hang tight or fall flat!

Often, the hanging verges on the pathetic. In the previous government, an army general remained a minister without portfolio until the end. Then he finally resigned from the party, when it looked more like humiliation than self-respect. We have a repeat example in this government. This time a retired air force man has got the shove, moving from ministry to ministry before becoming a minister without portfolio. This man is a fish of different kettle. He does not mind because everything comes from God. It is just that we could never accept he was God's gift to this nation!

But why not these people resign before they are reduced to such mockery? Lately, couple of ministers complained on television that they could not do their jobs because their hands were tied. What can you say? They could do everything else with both hands free, abuse of power, money making and scheming. Their hands were tied only when it came to serving this country!

In our entire history, one minister has resigned from office. If he were alive, we could ask him to run a few workshops to tell others that it is more honourable to quit instead of clinging to the job like a torn limb hanging from the skin. It is such a poor sight, such an ugly spectacle of human dignity that public figures who are supposed to uphold the institution of government make travesty of it.

So why not some of them come forward and quit? Why not start with the minister without portfolio, then the ministers who have been shuffled, then the ministers who have been baffled, followed by the failed ones, frustrated ones, disoriented ones, and jilted ones? It would not be a bad idea if the Chief Election Commissioner and his two musketeers also joined them. Frankly, amongst them three, they are the scale model of everything wrong in the government.

Here is the limited offer for those who are listening. Come resign and there will be a place in the hearts of people. The offer is valid until this October, the last day of this government in office. But it would be wise to take the offer sooner, before the stock runs out. I mean the stock of goodwill that is still out there, until people lose their patience and refuse to forget and refuse to forgive.

It might sound crazy, but it would be good to see some resignations these days. The powerful people should not wait until they are pushed to the corner, until they are made to feel that they are redundant, disposable like banana peels. It will go a long way to change our politics. It will teach the leaders, it will teach the party, that there is no power like the power of courage to give up power at one's will. Those who regret all their broken vows and the lies they have told, it is their chance for redemption. Cleanse the conscience before time runs out. Lift the burden on your soul.

The Golden Rule from the Axial Age: Do not do to others what you would not do to yourself. In politics that rule is regularly flouted as one defeats another in order to win. But the real defeat comes in the loss of dignity, when men crawl like insects in the sewage of power, caught like flies in the sticky sink. Who are these people I am urging? Some of them are freedom fighters who risked their lives for a proud country. Many of them are enlightened people, who were once inspired by idealism. All of them, to the best of my knowledge, are parents, who love their families. These are people who have lived for dignity.

If it is too late to ask, so be it. Still there is time to show that the temptation of power does not do away with dignity. It is wishful thinking that anybody would listen to this appeal. But it is a thought nevertheless, which is worth thinking. One by one many of them will become too tired of politics, falling along the wayside or dropped like hot potatoes, no longer useful to the party.

They should do it before it happens, because the most pathetic thing in the world is when hard-earned honour gives way to ribald laughter. Many years of power vanishes in the blink of an eye. What will remain are shame and guilt. No matter what is their excuse to leave politics!

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.