A losing battle from slippery slope
THE month of March commemorating the first days of the struggle for liberation in a series of elitist formal gatherings in the capital gave the beleaguered Awami League government a feel good commercial behind which it could conveniently take refuge from the ugly realities that have befallen the dispensation ever since it took charge. Though commoners like us enjoyed no access to the elites' celebrations, we did commemorate by reminiscing about those glorious days. However, the reprieve was soon over.
Now, while the public is deviously diverted by the images of a digital future and by amorphous conspiracies for anything going wrong, the sinister scenarios continue to stealthily emerge, with a clueless government reacting to them like schizophrenics. A familiar sense of dread returns with the bestial killing of a Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activist in an intra-organisational feud over sharing of extorted money.
After a month of pious pronouncements of democracy, values of the Liberation War, the legacy of Bangabandhu, and so on, fascism was brought back into action by the feuding hoodlums of the BCL -- the ruling AL's student wing. Due to the unruly conduct, vandalism and high handedness of the BCL, the educational campuses in Dhaka are tense and restive and the imposed silence in them is eerie. Several universities, colleges and assorted institutions across the country are already closed to avoid further clashes.
In the meantime, the government's pretence of being aggrieved at these dismal developments lacks credibility because it did not take any effective measures to stop them. There is no visible concern in the government quarter, neither has any head rolled in this connection. Rather, there are reports of police protection for the BCL while they are in action. When the entire education system is on the verge of collapse, where does the BCL gather courage from to hold the nation hostage to their mischief? Who are their patrons in sabotaging the national education system? Even after the banning of BCL's organisational activities in Jahangir Nagar University, inter-group violence broke out in the university's Musharaf Husain Hall by the weekend!
An analysis of the problem reveals that, notwithstanding the AL's mealy mouthed profession of conduct different from that of BNP, it has in fact neatly taken over the BNP's unfinished agenda of plunder, hooliganism and rowdiness. Ever since the BNP's fall from grace, the AL and its front organisations chose to ride roughshod over the fallen opponents. It's a pity that the AL has learnt no lesson about the consequences of such conduct.
With the BCL openly extorting and the AL incapable of stopping them, it seems that an apocalypse is fast approaching in our socio-political scene. The AL government is too embroiled in a multiplicity of problems to take notice of it. Meanwhile, the rulers sprawl in their shiny suits, grinning at each other and sponging on the state. A weak opposition is composed of a few fighter cocks. There is no law and order, no electricity, no public service amenities, no justice. The public fends for itself. It is not known if we really deserved a tragedy of such Shakespearian dimension!
Those of us who voted in the election last year expected that the political leaders and the country's political elites, chastened by the reformatory measures of the interim government, would have learnt some lessons to be able to deliver. We also expected that the churning that the dispensation received would make them behave. But, to our disappointment, not a grain of catharsis has taken place in our archaic political culture and its medieval mould. Belying all our expectations, the point in our politics lies in unquestioned loyalty to the boss, with whom there is no room even for constructive dissent. It has unavoidably caused a stupor in our political thinking, allowing no scope for innovation.
A meritocracy lacking political sense ruled us during the last two years. It failed to break any fresh ground in spite of bright ideas. The AL government that has succeeded it is political to the hilt, but seems to be suffering from mediocrity. It appears that the AL has compromised merit and experience for loyalty, which will seldom surpass the ingenuity of the one to whom the loyalty is due. As a result, the government limps forward, often slipping off the slope it is functioning from.
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