Window on Asia
The Winter of Discontent
Acold wave is blowing all over the country. I once wrote that cold is gold for Bangladesh. It is the time for fresh vegetables of all kinds which originally came from temperate countries. In winter, export of vegetables from Bangladesh can be a big business. It will be a highly labour intensive programme, considerably augmenting incomes of small farmers. But how do we do it? Vegetables will all perish waiting for the ferry boat. There may not be enough cargo space. Domestic flights of Biman have all vanished and there are too few international flights. No modern grading and packaging facility is available and specialized cold stores for vegetables are also not in existence. Large scale export of fresh produce calls for highly efficient management support services.
How such management systems should be developed?
No body has an answer since the winter of discontent is spreading like a thick fog all over the country. It is a blinding fog. It is a poisonous fog. Like the poison gas, it would cripple the people and vegetables shrivel out in the field. Millions of small acts of business, new initiatives in the production of goods and services, innovations and new opportunities are the basic ingredients which combine and interact with each other to promote sustained growth and development of the economy. Unfortunately, in the foggy winter of discontent, politicians out perform everybody else and manage to drive out of circulation all acts of business and growth. Hartals instead of business take over the cities and hoodlums instead of orderly traffic dominate the streets.
The months of Ramadan is basically off season to brutal, agitation induced politics of pure Bangladeshi vintage. It is the month of preparation through rounds of iftar parties and series of hectic party meetings. The stage for an open political confrontation with no holds bared is now under preparation. It will be a very carefully crafted stage, outlasting enormous quantities of rubber bullets and tear gas shells which would inevitably pour in like rains - once Eid holidays are over. The Opposition is getting ready with the single point campaign (the ideal they were seeking since the last general election) - "Down with the Government".
There are all the indications that the Opposition has so far managed to zero in on a single issue: the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace agreement . It is not a question of what is right or wrong. The force of propaganda is of vital concern. Repeating the same statement, times without number, the strategy is to create serious misgivings in the minds of a small section of the people, in particular, those who live in the CHT. Nazis in Germany perfected the techniques of such vicious propaganda, first by creating strong antagonism between the Germans and the Jews. Following the same technique, it was possible to create animosities between the hill people and the settlers.
Starting therefrom, the basis of agitation has been expanded. Now it is no longer a problem in the south-east corner of the country; the issue has been blown up to the possibility of a division of the country and the denial of the rights of the people in general in order to bestow unwarranted favour to a small minority. The relentless propaganda gathers in speed and its own momentum. As a result, no rational explanation is necessary after some time. The Opposition is now clearly of the view that the peace agreement is anti-people and therefore ought to be rejected. Otherwise, government will face a mass agitation. At the same time, the propaganda machinery keeps on working over time - nurturing a core group of supporters who would come to believe that it is true that the country will be divided - we will perhaps lose the country. Interestingly enough, the movement would very soon no longer aim at obliteration of the agreement but downfall of the government itself.
Last time, it was Magura. This time it would be CHT. Politicians always work in the name of the people. They are always careful in safeguarding the facade of belonging to the people and fighting for the just cause of the people. In reality, ordinary citizens of the country are slaughtered at the altar of politics. Growing vegetables is infinitely more important than spreading the poisonous fog in the winter of discontent. But who cares? Politicians are leaders and then there are supreme leaders of the countless leaders underneath. The supreme leaders can never be led; they must always lead.
Mahatma Gandhi often used to say, " There goes my people, I must follow them because I am their leader". This is the true definition of a leader. Unfortunately, we have no such true leader who follows the true interest of the people. A genuine leader of the people of Bangladesh will not plant the seeds of discontent in the holy month of Ramadan. It is an entirely unholy act. Instead, a true leader will promote the planting of winter vegetable seeds for augmenting the income of the small farmers, who have neither the time nor the inclination to agitate in the streets of Dhaka.
On the other hand, political understanding is a two-way process.
An unbending attitude would inevitably imply that the two-way process would become too stiff and therefore break. If it breaks, then we reach the point of no return which in other words, is chaos and disaster. It may be recalled that such an unyielding attitude beginning with the Magura incident led to disastrous consequences for the people and the nation. Till today, we are not fully recovered from the shocks of Magura.
One of the two leading parties must yield - be magnanimous - and it is the party in power who can afford to do so. It is neither a sign of weakness nor of defeat. When the Opposition asked for the round table conference, the other party should have immediately agreed. It is also claimed by the Opposition that the agreement is unconstitutional. Why not get the agreement reviewed by the Supreme Court? At least in one vital aspect, the issue would then be finally settled. If necessary, stay the implementation of the agreement for 30 days; in which case the leading Opposition party will have no option but to join the parliament and participate in the debate on the agreement.
Interest of the people is supreme which is being continually hampered in the world's poorest country. How a political party after leading the nation to independence in 1971 can afford to do so? Bangabandhu, practically immediately after his release from the jail, went straight to Islamabad to attend the Round Table Conference (OIC). Bangabandhu did not refuse the President who put him behind bars in the first place. Why not? Because, as the true leader, he knew that was not in the interest of the people of whom he is the leader. He followed Mahatma Gandhi's principle of being led by the people.
Awami League should look into its past - its long chequered history of almost half a century - take lessons and be led by the people.
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