Sense & Insensibility
Will losers reject election results?
THOSE veteran election-mongers have gotten their best three-piece and designer pajama-kurta (politician brand) washed and ironed to go to the Election Commission (EC). They have sniffed the hint of election in the air, like those seasonal migratory birds that can sniff winter in the air and know where to go when.
The veritable veterans know it is time to go to the EC. The ice is beginning to thaw in the frozen political North Pole, polemic is about to begin!
By all indications, we are slowly but surely moving towards the general election, scheduled to be held at the fag end of the year. We have been assured and reassured by the chief advisor, the army chief and the chief election commissioner (CEC) about holding of election in time and we see no reason why they should dilly-dally about it. The CEC has even declared, quite emphatically, that he does not want to go back on his pledge and then retire with the khetab of "National Betrayer." He made his point there.
Then, last Thursday, none other than the Law Advisor AF Hassan Arif said that emergency would be relaxed before the City Corporation election, and totally lifted before the national election. That, coming from the law adviser's mouth, should lift up the morale of the politicians and their supporters who are gearing up for the election.
This is also an occasion for some of the veteran corrupt politicians to feel elated at the prospect of managing party nomination (Qualification: money, muscle power, good record of beating the hell out of the opposition), contesting the election, and coming back with renewed vigour to plunder.
The progress achieved so far in preparing the voter list (4 crore done) and the ongoing dialogue between EC and the political parties are indicative enough that things are going as per the Roadmap. It is expected that by October the voter list preparation work will be completed. If so, then why some politicians have so much distrust on the EC? Even Awami League did not hesitate that much to contest the 1970 election organised by the then Pakistani military junta!
These politicians, having no better way to draw public attention, holler every now and then for an early election and handing over of power to the people's representatives. But why are they so sure that people this time would elect them to power once again after what they have seen in the last ten years?
Even LDP, which is kept alive through bottle-feeding, has demanded announcement of the election date! That's uncanny, isn't it? As if election is the only magic bullet to solve all our woes and follies! No one talks about party manifesto in public!
The obdurate question that keeps coming back to our mind is, what will happen if these political parties of questionable past and bleak future get rejected by the voters in the election? Will the losers accept the results with dignity, or will they accuse the EC of "managing" the elections? Worst, will they say, as they are saying now in many words, the election has been staged to put "the chosen candidates to power?"
Evidence? BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said on Friday last that a scheme was on to destroy BNP, and that his party would not take part in any "managed election." Now, that is tough word, old chap, and you better come up with proof that the coming election would be a "managed" one. But, will you say the same thing if BNP comes out victorious with maximum seats in its bag?
Such words are tantamount to accusing the EC of partaking in some sort of conspiratorial scheme and, therefore, should not be taken lightly. It tells aplenty the decades-old mindset of the politicians of this country, who remain fixed on elections and becoming ministers. For them the road ends there.
Food for thought. Once elections are held and once emergency is withdrawn and once politicians find "earth under their feet," is there any guarantee that they will not take off the mask of civility they are wearing now and expose their true face -- the lean and hungry face -- once again?
Why do I say this? Politics and anarchy are synonymous in this country. And, to be candid, anarchy is in the blood of some politicians and they have come this far in politics through resorting to anarchy. They pass off anarchy as "biplab" -- revolution. And, don't forget, they do biplab for the people, to safeguard the rights of the janata!
Whenever they sense defeat in an election, they go out on the streets shouting slogans, demanding cancellation of election results and setting vehicles on fire. Awami League did it, BNP did it, others want to do it. These people cannot take defeat gracefully, and they never try to find out why people did not go to cast their vote for them.
Bottom line. These so-called public representatives, in reality, do not represent the common people. They live far away from them, in body and in mind. They are actually party representatives. They survive as long as the party survives. Individually most of them have no standing among the people. As a result, when they get defeated in an election it often means the end of their career.
This time around, if a party gets rejected by the people in the coming election, its survival issue will be put on the anvil. Therefore, parties will come up with all sorts of trickery under the sun to remain in the rat race.
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