Sense & Insensibility
Dissection of political parties
It seems our destiny is intertwined with the political parties of the country. We shall go up if they perform well. We shall go down if they fail. We could not yet evolve a system where we could run the affairs of the state without the meddling of the burgeoning groups of corrupt people who go about flashing cards of various political parties.
We are yet to find upright and courageous leaders like Tajuddin Ahmed, on whose shoulders we had leaned with great confidence in 1971. Where have men like him gone? What do we have now? What kind of political parties do we have at present? Let us have a look at them and judge for ourselves.
When a political party falls into disarray, and its upper floors begin to shake dangerously, then is the time for one to look at its foundation. If the base is found to be built of low quality cement, brick and rod then nothing would make it last long. The hurriedly built foundation would wobble under the pressure of the floors above, and one day it would implode with a mighty sound and spectacle.
Usually, the upper floors of such parties are crowded with people of questionable antecedence who join it to make crores in the shortest possible time. Eventually, they take the party down with the weight of the black money they thus accumulate. The top-most chamber, where the brain is supposed to be, is found to be either empty or fatally damaged.
In our anatomy, we have discovered the existence of four kinds of political parties in this country and taken the liberty to dissect them one after another. The first kind is a political party that removes a senior person from the Home Ministry to appoint a corrupt-to-the-bone, half literate, half smuggler-half politician, who would do and undo things at the beck and call of the young Turks in the party. That he did without batting an eyelid, and lied his way through the press after every meeting with the senior-most officials of the law enforcing agencies.
Being in charge of the Home Ministry, he would gladly negotiate with murderers -- Taka100 crore for safe passage out of the country! Then he would say he has discovered a Hindu JMB terrorist! Next he would smile and say "Go" to killers to throw grenades on a public meeting of the opposition. And then he would pull out a ghost and spin an incredible story to dodge the press!
The first kind is a political party that would allow anybody with ill-gotten money to become MP, and allow him to plunder the state resources. The first kind is a political party that would see a gravedigger's son becoming a billionaire in five years just by being near the feet of the chairperson (it is hard work indeed). This is the kind of party that would look the other way when Tarzan of the Forest would sell off thousands of trees and animals to make a few crores. This is the kind of party that would look the other way when question papers of civil service examinations would be found on sale in New Market.
Then you have the other kind, the second kind of political party, that has a solid foundation, built years ago, with good quality cement, bricks and rod, but never could add many floors above with shiny tiles or stone slabs. Once upon a time, such parties had plenty of brain on the top floor, but over the decades have lost the luster because the surviving leaders lacked brain and relied on "trump cards" for gaining political mileage.
These leaders had taken everything for granted when they were in power. Actually, they were afflicted with a disease called "Complacency" that gradually robbed them of their vitality and zeal for a fight when it mattered. Before their eyes, nondescript people, people having no past record of doing politics, built parties and seized power.
Such a party, in their desperation, would go to any length to go to power and, accordingly, negotiate with deposed autocrats, debauched technocrats and deformed religious groups. The second kind is a political party that would line up men and women with no political past and yet ask them to pay money up front in exchange of nomination. The more the merrier. Necessity is the mother of negotiation.
The second kind is a political party that had failed to send the killers of their leader to the gallows, and put the war criminals on trial. They are now crying hoarse for the same, forgetting their own inability to do so. This is the second kind of political party that suffers from brainlessness thereby forgetfulness of the gross mistakes made by them, and of the wheeling and dealing of the big brass in the party.
The third kind of political party that we have at the moment began on a shaky foundation decades ago on flawed premises. These parties look expressively different from the first two kinds as far as ideology, language, allegiance, attire and approach are concerned. The first two kinds do not have an ideology anymore, other than, of course, going to power and enjoying the perks to the hilt. The third kind, on the other hand, has an ideology and a mission. They are ready to wait decades to fulfill that mission. The third kind is a political party that lacks brain in the upper most floor hence they suffer from the delusion of being the sole agent of religion in Bangladesh.
There is yet another kind of political party in this country that does not have any ideology, vision or mission. They are built on the surface, having no foundation whatsoever so that the weak structure above can be shifted any time. In fact, these parties willfully want to exist as B-Team, and negotiate with the bigger parties when it comes to joining them to form a government. They remain happy playing the role of scavengers, like the hyenas do after a big kill -- lapping up the entrails.
There are many of them at the moment and many more are coming up here and there as the season is perceived to be good for sprouting. Time will tell when such parties would become mature enough to go for the big kill. Their prowess will be put to the test in the upcoming election.
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