Deja vu all over again
History repeating itself?. Photo: Munir Uz Zaman/ Drik News
In a democratic polity a political party with big electoral win is never a boon for it might develop a jaundiced outlook. Worse, it tends to take everyone and everything for granted -- a syndrome of authoritarian impulse. But many small political outfits breed instability and horse-trading of coalition politics. An ideal equation is perhaps one where political parties of comparable strength exert their weight on politics and keep the country on an even keel. We have seldom came across that scenario. Plagued with incompetence, corruption, cronyism and arrogance, the parties squabbled ad-infinitum to keep under their thrall the country's political space. While the AL and BNP alternated power between them since the restoration of democracy in 1991, the others played second fiddle to retain their political relevance and receive the crumbs. The party holding the scepter usually ended up dismally, leaving behind failures and unresolved problems of the polity. The disgruntled public swung in desperation to the other side, considering that to be the greener pasture. The political parties also put on different garbs, coined catchy slogans and craftily evolved spanking new approaches to trick the people into voting for them again. Thus, the musical chairs of the power game went on. It is the AL's turn this time. After winning a landslide, Hasina is obviously riding the crest of the wave. Her benign gestures and posturing soon after the election earned approbation both at home and abroad. She wanted to work in harmony with an opposition humbled in the election and even offered it a part in the government. But her party's role after the election did not match Sheikh Hasina's expressed magnanimity. The first serious test came in the wake of the upazilla elections, in which the AL's excess drew flak from multiple quarters and opprobrium even from the CEC, who regretted that public opinion wasn't reflected in the election because of interference by AL ministers and MPs. Equally despicable has been the vandalism and violence by the AL's student wing, the BCL. Supposed to be front-runners of a digital Bangladesh, the BCL hoodlums seem to be pouncing on the pie now available, i.e. capturing residential halls of the universities, selling the seats, influencing the admission, and so on. This has come as a rude shock to well-wishers, including this scribe, of the AL. Yet more shocking is the reaction of the AL high command, which is merely "annoyed." Even the UN felt concerned at the post-election violence in Bangladesh. True, the AL and its front organisations were repressed since 2001. But that was perpetrated by the BNP-Jamaat goons. How and on what grounds could the AL, the country's oldest party and one with truly democratic origin, resort to the same savagery? More so, when the AL chief has herself shunned acts of revenge and is poised to turn a new leaf in our political culture. Something seems to have gone wrong with the party. Or else why couldn't a lesser electoral exercise be held properly with a political government in power when the more important national election was successfully held by an interim government. However, the new AL government is well into the business of running the country. Sheikh Hasina dispenses the ministerial berths from the perch she has ascended, makes advisers from among her favourites, and doles out plum appointments to her confidantes. The power wielders are endowed with the same characteristics in their exalted obliging positions. Cheers and it's okay. In the meantime, sycophants seeking lucrative contracts, purchase deals and big business have been lining up ever since the present government took charge. Flunkeys, hustlers and minions of bewildering varieties have already mushroomed, to make the best out of the project called "digital Bangladesh." When the government changes everything changes in government offices, seats of education, cultural institutions and even the priest delivering homilies from the pulpit of the places of worship. The only thing that dies hard is the tradition of sycophancy in the garb of public relations (PR). Look at the flowers extravaganza to welcome the new masters, the abundance of congratulation messages and ads published in the media, and the attempts to grab photo-opportunities with the masters of the day. Also look at the spate of eulogies for hitherto neglected Bangabandhu, whose greatness has been resurrected even by Dr. Iajuddin. According to cynics, he did so to preempt a possible impeachment move or legal proceeding against his corruption. Now jettisoned by the BNP, he will catch hold of any straw that comes his was. The nation, through its verdict, has questioned how a corrupt clique could overrun the land with a spoil system that blatantly privileged only the family, friends and favourites of the ruler. If the dreamer of a digital Bangla really wants to make it a reality, she has to corral this class altogether.
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