Nurturing the demon

His strength diminished after the mass upsurge in 1990 and later because of the court conviction that disqualified from contesting any election. But he's still the head of Jatiyo Party that now commands about 7.5% of the popular vote.

For almost a decade this retired army general, posing as a liberal democrat, lorded over the country, surviving scams, mini coups, and political isolation. Indisputably, Bangladesh suffered major set-backs under Ershad. If this leader, during his nine year rule, had taken the time to devote himself to nation building activities, then this country would have surpassed Malaysia and Singapore on the economic and social fronts.

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Strangely enough, from the end of July all political life in Bangladesh has shrunk to a single man and single question: should BNP or the 14-party opposition combine induct Ershad and his moribund JP, now divided into several factions, into their fold for vote bank politics?

In a spectacular but not so surprising stance, BNP Secretary General Tarique Rahman accompanied by State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar met Ershad at his Baridhara residence and asked him to join the BNP-led coalition in the forthcoming election. Icy horror crept over people in the country as they saw over the electronic media, these young stalwarts of the BNP, oblivious of the national sentiment about Ershad, rubbing shoulders with him and asking him to join their fold.

As knowledgeable circles indicate, there are about sixteen court cases against Ershad and he has been convicted in two cases. However, he got his prison term reduced by paying Tk 3 crores. There are some amusing adages going around the politics of third world countries such as "politics make strange bed-fellows" or "the ends justifies the means." But how far these sayings apply to Ershad's case is a question to be pondered very seriously.

Asking Ershad to join the fold of any of the main political groups who launched a crusade against his misrule, killings, abuse of power, and misappropriation of public money would amount to clearing him of the charges brought against him. In legal parlance, it would suggest the cases against him were unfounded and a political vendetta to settle old scores by person or persons or political parties inimical to his position of power and influence. There are also reports of the alliance government considering or rather agreeing in principle to dispose of, within a month, all pending cases against the JP chairman to win his support. Supposedly, they are even contemplating offering him the post of president if the alliance government comes to power.

BNP bagged 193 seats in the last parliamentary election, which is much more than the required 151 seats to form a government, and added 23 more seats to their fold from the Jamaat-e-Islami, increasing the strength to 216. But, the preposterous act of bringing Ershad into their fold, despite the fact that the fallen dictator had a tainted past and was convicted of malfeasance in the state business by the court, might convey a message that ethics, morality and the rule of law have evaporated from the state.

In the BNP's bid for forging alliance with Ershad, what people are seeing is the political party's gamble for power. Even as the country continues to simmer, a dangerous game of scoring political points is on. The BNP leadership, much to its shame, has thought fit to win the fallen dictator's support to recover its lost ground.

With the main conflicting issues like electoral reforms and caretaker government unresolved, updating of voter list work remaining flawed and the forthcoming election conducted in an atmosphere charged with tension, like in Magura and February 1996, it seems that any election would end up with no legitimacy, which would be another calamity and yet another chance for us to see, reflected in the suffering and tragedy it will bring, the utter uselessness of the government, particularly in times of crisis.

As one who had hoped that the malaise would end and the country would light up with the power sector bought under the PMO, I have found to my dismay that the new power boss's bold stance against corruption and his initiative to follow rules and regulations in the decision making process has visibly angered the vested interest group and became counter-productive.

His actions regarding the Meghnaghat-3 450 megawatt (mw) project, tendering process of Sirajganj 450 mw project, and tender finalization of Sidddhirganj 240 mw project, to say nothing of the flaws and corruption in the Khulna power plant renovation work and awarding further plant construction job to Harbin that already earned a bad name with their flawed Tongi- 80 mw power plant construction that tripped 75 times in a year after it was declared ready for operation, have bounced back on him.

Happily, with the prime minister playing the big stick, he still retains his position, but the dynamism that the retired army general in civilian dress exhibited might have evaporated in the meantime.

It's frightening that not once in their addresses to the nation in meetings and rallies did the stalwarts indicate that they understood the problem was not of money but of mismanagement, corruption, and inefficiency. It was true of fertilizer distribution, sugar import and lentil price hike, it is true of the present power sector doldrums, and it has been true of every disaster or crisis situation we have ever faced in the country.

Time and again we have seen measures so deficient as to be almost futile. That's because stalwarts in the administration never appear to understand, or pretend not to understand, that no matter how much money we put in a project, it ends up being wasted because of the total insensitivity, corruption ,and inefficiency of the administration they run.

The worst example before us is the alleged Tk 14,000 crore that got wasted in the power sector during the last four and a half years. Our national newspapers have published investigative reports that should have jolted the people in authority to sit up and launch corrective measures. Our TV channels have been playing an even more important role by projecting details of what is happening in different sectors of the administration.

People wonder why the alarm bells that started ringing in the corridors of power much earlier could not wake them up to see the ground realities either in forging alliance with discredited politicians or in arresting price spiral of essentials or the menacing situation in the power sector.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.