Sense & Insensibility
There are more things between AL and BNP
Paraphrasing the Bard of Avon let us begin with the words: There are more things between Awami League and BNP that are not given as much importance by us as they deserve for all the good reasons. And there is strong logic behind the argument that for this serious lacking we failed to build a cohesive society that should have been built thirty years ago. Too much of politics and little importance to social development are the main reasons for this state of things as they stand today.
Just look around with an open mind and see how we remain so detrimentally preoccupied with politics -- politics of who is doing what to whom! And look at the media! They are running from Ram to Rahim recording whatever rubbish they are saying in the name of politics and serving that before the nation every evening and every morning. Most of the things they say have no merit whatsoever, therefore, do not deserve the expensive airtime given to them. These politicians appear to be blissfully engrossed in their own drawing-room game, mostly busy denigrating one another before the nation in a bid to woo supporters to their camp. How oblivious they are indeed to their past horrendous deeds that has brought the country to such a mess!
It is indeed a shame that we spend so much of our valuable time talking, arguing, and fighting over such trivial issues that at the end of the day we are left with very little to think anything constructive. In our preoccupation, we never stop to think: What is the purpose of politics? What do the politicians do, really?
Shouldn't political activities be less visible, and not a twenty-four hour thing, and rather be something that is supposed to work from the background to "facilitate" economic and social growth of the country? I put emphasis on the word facilitate because that is exactly what politicians and political parties should do and not do things they are not supposed to do, like running around with tender documents for their sons.
Politicians are supposed to talk intelligently so that it reflects their deep knowledge and understanding of the plethora of development activities going on in the developed countries. They have to dress, behave, think and talk like a global leader and not like someone who just woke up from sleep in his village home.
Since the future of the country depends largely on the decisions they take sitting in parliament, they have to be extra careful in doing so. But what do we hear our parliamentarians talking inside parliament? They talk about raising their salary and perks, and leasing out government land to one another for a paltry sum in the name of fictitious projects.
To be truthful, none of them talk about how they plan to improve science education and scientific research in the country, or how they plan to harness and develop IT talents in the country to capture the overseas markets. They never come out with plans to face the possibility of losing the garment markets through developing an alternative sector to earn foreign currency. They never put forward any concrete plan for protecting the environment and our water-bodies.
In India they have a thriving jute industry and yet we have seen closing down of our jute mills one after another. Why? Because our great politicians could not come up with any pragmatic strategy to save the sector. Ironically, when jute was being choked to death, an expensive office building was built near Farmgate so that "jute experts" could sit there in comfort to destroy the sector.
There is no denying that if we cannot create a healthy society with wisdom, values, norms, morals and order lodged in the right places, elections will end up bringing in more corrupt people to power once again. On the other hand, once there is order and cohesion in society, corrupt elements will easily lose their foothold and get thrown into the gutters for good.
To set the derailed train back on the tracks it is doubly important to go ahead with the cleansing drive in each and every tier of society. Who would deny that a great deal depends on the next general election, therefore, we cannot take it lightly at any stage. The nation has to remain undivided on the question of driving away the plunderers and creating ways for the honest, hard working and dedicated politicians to steer the country on the course towards progress.
Shahnoor Wahid is a Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.
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