Pied pipers of our politics
HUMBLED in the last general election the once arrogant BNP still licks the wounds of its defeat. The party is in total disarray, with no visible initiative to reunite or reconsolidate the party split during Begum Khaleda Zia's incarceration. Amid post-electoral Awami bashing, party activists are closely watching the denouement of the catastrophe that has befallen them. In the meantime, the ruling Awami League also isn't faring any better. Mired neck-deep in the mess left by the preceding governments, it will take them far longer than many anticipated to put the polity back on the rails and devote itself seriously to the business of governance.
Common sense is not at all common -- so said Bernard Shaw. Quite in keeping with the dictum, the AL has created problems that defy commonsense and could have been avoided. When the country is still reeling under the shock of the Pilkhana tragedy and the public has been waiting with bated breath to see the mystery of it unearthed, an issue such as Khaleda Zia's house doesn't enthuse the common people embroiled in the hard issues of life -- the lack of water, power and essentials at affordable price.
Although the BNP's potential has not totally petered out and the party has, in effect, got a shot in the arms with two of its heavyweights getting elected in recently held by-election, its comeuppance is far from over and the party is yet to be fully exorcised of its stigma. After the revelation of BNP-Jamaat plunder of the country, corruption charges are still pouring in involving BNP men holding high offices -- like speaker Zamiruddin Sircar who, it is alleged, squandered public money illegally while in office.
However, the AL's continuing mistakes and failures on several fronts are the BNP's biggest assets for building an agitation and redeeming itself from the ignominy it is besmirched with. In the words of the prime minister herself, power is not a permanent settlement. Yet the powerful are digging deep to stay on, only to be disillusioned by the validity of Sheikh Hasina's golden words of truth. The incumbent's folly, in most cases, paves the way for the opponent's triumphant return.
Napoleon needed Caeser and the Gaellic Wars, and Churchill the Nazis, to rise to the greatness each achieved. Sheikh Hasina, with the attempt on her life in the tragic episode of August 21, 2004 and assorted other misfortunes, garnered disproportionate political mileage and a sympathy wave leading to her electoral landslide.
It cannot be predicted whether Begum Zia's ouster from her 6, Mainul Road residence in Dhaka cantonment will provide her similar political advantage or not, but her voluntary abandonment of its "ownership" will. She has enough, including a posh house in Gulshan, to sustain herself for the rest of her life. If the BNP plans to use this issue to fire its first salvo for taking to the street it will surely misfire.
The Awami League has just completed its first one hundred days in office, and produced a mixed bag. The prognosis for the days ahead is fraught with a bewildering variety of imponderables, given the dismissive style of its governance. Unless, through serendipity of sorts, or through things turning positive fortuitously, the AL's journey through its mandated period is likely to be a roller-coaster ride. The Awami solidarity in power has always proved to be a myth, and its implosion over issues like the much derided upazila bill cannot be ruled out. Neither can the forces behind the war criminals, whose trials are on card, be underestimated. They are lurking in every nook and corner of the administration to scuttle the process and upset the apple cart.
And sooner than before we will start hearing the familiar tune played by our political pied pipers amid the din of distant drums, with the streets heated up by both sides over the issues and counter issues.
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