Making politics difficult, birthdays and ...

Therefore, they hollered: "Politics must not remain an easy undertaking in this country anymore." It has to be made difficult. And so they did. They made politics difficult for some all right, but made it rather too easy for others. These "others" are the people who are on record for having taken up arms to foil the creation of Bangladesh. But the great leaders loved them immensely as they had useful connections in countries in the west.

So, at the clarion call these blessed others crawled out of their dens, wore their rumpled choga and chupkan, and sat beside the great leaders exposing their full set of dental blemishes before the camera. They got a new lease of life. They found ground under their feet -- the same feet that kicked lifeless bodies of freedom fighters with demonic elation.

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Henceforth, the process of making politics difficult began in full swing. People were being picked up from total obscurity and given the opportunity to fly the blood-soaked national flag in their limousines. It was being done in total defiance of the ideals on the basis of which Bangladesh was created. People's hearts began to bleed anew. They watched the defilement of the parliament house in utter disbelief. It indeed became difficult for the true leaders of the people to do politics.

Well, that was about making politics difficult. But, one thing that we are not informed of is whether the great leaders had also hollered at the same time: "We shall make birthday celebrations difficult."

Our curiosity stems from the fact that during the lifetime of the great leaders we never heard of any gala birthday parties thrown for their near and dear ones. No, not even a small birthday party with family and friends! Not even a small cake to celebrate the day that so miraculously coincides with the date of assassination of another great leader of the country!

Why didn't the great leaders order their men to fetch a cake that weighed one hundred pounds for the occasion? How come? Is it possible that some qualm, some compunction, was left in the great leaders in spite of everything? Intriguing, isn't it? Isn't it worth delving deeper into the labyrinthine mystery? Intrigue, thy name is politics!

The semi-finals are ahead
The game of politics is heading fast towards the semi-finals after the successful and eventful quarter-finals, played in Gulshan, at night under floodlights. The games have been tough and fraught with fouls but no one dared to show red cards to the players breaking the rules. After all, the players are big names in the game. They are the most highly rated players in Bangladesh, and therefore they cannot be touched.

There are accusations from the spectators that most of the games have been fixed, where huge sums of money have exchanged hands. Therefore, no one can predict at the moment which parties would win at the semi-finals. In the meantime, the suspension order on the oldest player in the tournament has been lifted and he came out of the courthouse smiling. His unruly followers raised slogans inside the courtroom despite a ban on such activity. One wonders what would happen when these elements would become a part of some future government.

According to the gossip mongers, the youngest player in the game of politics, the prince of the Windy Castle fame, is planning to buy the oldest player of the country before the semi-finals for his team. Why not go for Beckham? No, the gossip mongers say the prince is not interested in Beckham. He is ready to pay a huge sum for this old player who has a mind-boggling career record. And it is said that the oldest player is overwhelmed by the offer. He is polishing his boots and ironing his jersey to go to the center field once again.

It appears to some game watchers that though the prince is young, yet he is playing the game with great skill and plan. He has speed and an unpredictable strategy of attack. He carefully plans his game and suddenly charges forward to score points. Some people feel he is aiming to become the Maradona in the game of politics in Bangladesh. Only, one has to watch out for the "Hand of God" while he goes on scoring points in the game of politics.

On the other hand, the opposition team that is also vying for the Election Cup 2007, is likely to play the same elderly lot of players who seem to be a bit out of steam at the moment. Though they are doing a lot of huffing and puffing to get back to shape, they will have to do much more than that to look intimidating enough to play the finals with the team of the prince.

Granted that the opposition team has many superstars and skilled players, who have vast experience and commendable track record, yet they will have to learn some new tricks of the game to score against the team of the prince. They will have to learn to do fouls once in a while, and feign injury before the goalpost to outwit the referees. Without such tricks up their sleeves, the opposition team will find it tough to win the Cup. So readers, wait for the semi-finals.

Shahnoor Wahid is a Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.