May 16, 2008
Everybody, every single person in this planet Earth is very eager for the unification of BNP. Newspaper staff writers, TV talk show chattering class, civil society commentators, and even prothom-Alo/Daily Star are eager to see BNP united as soon as possible. And BNP’s reformist leadership (Whose philosophy is to reform BNP to get rid of dynastic politics, corrupt princes etc) are yelling day and night; “at any cost…Je Kono Mulye..” BNP must be united under Khaleda Zia. The ‘reformist’ AKA DGFI-ist leadership are making predictions like BNP will be united before certain date and the newspapers are publishing stories of imminent unification. Seems like BNP unification is the spectacle of the century and children are being put to sleep rhyming that BNP will be united in the morning.
I really don’t understand why there is such a national desire to see BNP united. Parties split up, they join hands; these all are commonplace politics of Bangladesh style. Why suddenly there is so much pressure on Khondokar Delwar Hossain to do kola-kuli with ex JP leader Hafizuddin, ex NAP-ex UPP leader Mannan Bhuiyan, ex generals Mahbub and ZA Khan etc?
May be I am paranoid, may be not. May be I am over-reading it, or misjudging it. Time will judge us. But here is how I see the so called ‘unification’ process;
1. When you see Daily Prothom-Alo or Daily star are actively promoting BNP unification, this ‘unification’ thing must not be anything good for BNP.
2. It is absurd when everybody is so silent ( and disguisedly happy) with the Election commission’s blatantly partisan role in establishing a DGFI made splinter fraction as mainstream BNP and so happy at the inhuman treatment on Khaleda Zia’s family, but suddenly very anxious to see BNP united under Khaleda Zia. Didn’t Prothom -Alo wrote editorial demanding arrest of Khaleda Zia?
3. Why the reformists want to get ‘United’? We thought they wanted to build a new political order free of corrupt and dynastic despots. Why they would want to come back under the despot leadership?
…and these will be my advice to Mr Khondokar delwar Hossain
1. You are fighting a very uneven battle and so far you have guarded the fort quite effectively. Please don’t budge to these so called ‘Unification’. It is not unification; it is in fact ‘castration’ move. Amir Hossain Amu/ SS Gupta/ Tofael/razzak have already castrated Awami league. The turncoat reformists will flood BNP meetings, occupy media on behalf of BNP and totally turn BNP into a chaos. And more worrisome is that once reformists can make a way back into the fort, you and Rizvi will be arrested and naturally the leadership center of gravity will tilt towards the nexus of disguised DGFI-ists ( Hannan Shah, Goyeshwar Roy, Nazimuddin Alam) and rabid reformists ( Hafiz-Mahbub-Osman faruq-Kamal Yousif).
2. BNP will be a much better entity (only composed of 1 st generation BNP activists who started politics with BNP or who grew up with BNP’s student wing) free of turncoats in the DGFI-ist camp. Every single of the claimed 35 MPs who betrayed the party, have a stronger/more popular BNP nomination seeker in their constituency.
3. As you have always said, BNP indeed is already united. Believers in BNP ideology have not left the fort unguarded despite all possible fear mongering or torture. Bringing those turncoats will dilute BNP’s current ideological base and pave the way for further backstabbing, treachery, chaos, hazy vision in the future.
4. Let 2007-2008 be the last year of turncoat politics in Bangladesh. Let’s not pardon these turncoats. Once a traitor, always a traitor.
5. And please keep saying NO to the so called ‘unification’. It will be a political suicide for BNP.
6. Lets not try to go back to power next year. I’ll have the same advice for AL too. Let’s Moeen Shahib and his party take over via a Shamsul Huda election. The governance next five year will not be very easy. Let the turncoats get lynched by the suffering, empty stomach mob.
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May 18, 2008 at 4:36 am
Rumi bhai, I get the feeling that Delwar shaheb and Rizvi shaheb would understand what you are trying to say in the last point. These guys were not all that powerful when BNP was in power. They didn’t walk the corridors of Hawa Bhaban. They were not in any position to affect BNP’s responsibility for 1/11 (and yes, conspiracies or not, BNP leadership cannot avoid responsibility for this mess). They didn’t get the perks of power as much as the turncoats (or the jailed ones), and yet they stood by the party because for them politics is more than ‘must get to power as soon as possible and do whatever it takes to stay in power’. These guys probably can see the bigger picture. They probably can see that there will still be a Bangladesh we need to fight for after the 3rd week of December.
But will the others think that way? And by others, I don’t mean just the turncoats. I mean 100 or so MPs who didn’t side with the regime, who signed petition demanding Mrs Zia’s unconditional release, but who are afraid that if the jatiyatabadi vote remains divided they’ll lose to AL. Will these guys take that kind of long-term view? Or will they succumb to the same short-term logic that led to their acceptance of Tarek’s young turks (many of whom joined the ‘reformists’
or the now-reformist ex General Secretary?
After all, the ‘fundamentals’ is still a unified jatiyatabadi team under anyone is more than competitive against Awami League.
May 18, 2008 at 6:37 am
Minimal political brain should tell the BNP MPs that the best escape route for BNP from this mayhem is an AL government.
May 18, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I agree with your broad analysis. In addition to exorcising BNP of ex-JP leaders (many of whom were actually the original turncoats) and energising the party with ex-JCD leaders (not cadres and non-students, but genuine student leaders from the 1980s), I’d also want to see a revived JCD so that 20 years down the track we don’t have to see another attempted hijacking of BNP.
May 19, 2008 at 7:34 am
I have never though of the unification that way. Very good point, indeed, Rumi bhai. However, what makes me also worried is that along with end of ‘turn coatism’, 2008 may also be the last year of any kind of pluralism in opinions inside the party. Any one disagreeing with the mainstream i.e. Khaleda Zia will be termed as traitors and be shut out. I am talking about genuine dissidents rather than the opportunist ones like Mannan Bhuiyan. What will be their future? If Tareq Rahman makes a come back in BNP, will there be any room for opposition from the other leaders who genuinely may feel that having TR as BNP head may be bad for the party? Seeing the fate of Hafiz et al, they will most likely be quiet, no? Shouldn’t the parties have room for people with a wide array of views on issues?
May 19, 2008 at 9:10 am
Asif
I need to explain myself a bit more about my take on current day politics. Will do so very soon.
But about your worry in the comment let me explain what I feel. I also strongly feel for pleuralism and and check and balance in political-national decision making. It is indeed very essential. Not wanting that will be like “defending the indefensible status quo”.
But criticizing the leader while she is deposed and breaking the party in collusion with military intelligence agency in not the right example of pleuralism. This is turncoatism/opportunism. We have to define pleuralism from this sort of opportunism/turncoatism. In 91-96 BNP government the only major voice of dissent was Nazmul Huda and in 2001 govt it was Maj Akhteruzaman. It is a culture that has not developed in our politics. And I don’t see it solely as the fault of the two leaders. When major decisions are taken, these leaders frequently ask the mini cabinets about what they think. When I met Col Oli in Michigan, he told me same thing. Be it purchase committe, be it cabinet meeting, be it standing committe meeting, be it election board meeting; Khaleda would ask repeatedly whether anyone has any objection or any comment. Everybody remians quite. And sometimes when Tareq-haris changed decisons later, these senior members did not bother to protest or raise the issue in higher forums.
We all agree that status quo need to be broken. And my viewpoint is that that does not happen on gunpoint or from top down aproach. Political base will make this happen given the country gets the time to grow and mature.
May 19, 2008 at 10:26 am
When Hafiz-MV gang moved to venture their ‘ideas’ with the help of ‘force’, many applauded and saw it the end of KZ and a new ‘BNP’. While entire KZ family behind the bar, they had no influence in either direction. And they have been out of causing influence for more then years. Why then Hafiz and gang could not built a new BNP? Why this would be fault of KZ and her family?
Could it be that Hafiz and gang simply are losers with no visions or even an iota of understanding of how to move within Bangladesh politics? Could it be they lack smart to understand how to make changes in political party for the goodness of nation without collaborating with ‘forces’? Could it be they are simply traitors and opportunities who had no other agenda but simply to taste more power? Could it be they are simply cowards who have no guts?
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What does public says about Hafiz and gang? That is exactly where so called self claimed ‘pundits’ are having heart burn and crocodile cries saying like ‘look what happened to hafiz when he stood up’ and ‘no one would dare to say anything to prince TZ in future’. TZ still in jail and some are already pissing their pants off.
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Truth is some of these ‘self claimed pundits’ are simply liars who have nothing but hatred. Anything they write or predict is simply based on mouth full of lies and hatred. They know well that Hafiz and gangs are no better then jailed BNP leaders, but they still insist on them. Why? Simple reason, they only want KZ and TZ to be gone. They keep their ‘human rights’ banner down and sit for an enjoyment of false cases and inhuman treatment. These ‘pundits’ simply hates them and have lied so much about them, returning of KZ would be a major slap on their face and their entire deception and self proclaimed superior understanding of Bangladesh politics crumbles.
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Good news is public and BNP supporters can sum up the characters of their party leaders and understand who ‘Hafizs’ are. They also know what kind of people cries for Hafiz. Hafiz’s political charisma born in BNP and his perish would be by his own doings and by the supporters of BNP. Mentioning or blaming TZ for Hafiz-MVs misery are old stories and are defunct now.
May 19, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Thanks Rumi bhai. Agree with your points. Not only breaking the status quo not working with a top down appraoch, it is bound to fail when you lose the trust of the people, thanks to personal ambition. We know by now there is more than breaking the status quo that’s involved in the current engineering which is Moeen’s shaheb’s own personal ambition.
May 21, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Rumi bhai, I think the situation within AL is more complex than simple ‘opportunism’.
If you follow the developments within Awami League, Hasina always doubted Tofail because he did nothing on 15 Aug 1975 (he was the head of Rakkhi Bahini). Razzak left the party disagreeing with her. After 1991, Hasina had to accept these guys in key roles, and it was these guys that led the 1995-96 andolon. After 1996, Hasina tried to wrest control of the party from these guys with new leaders like Saber Hossain, and ‘dynasty’ leaders like Nasim. An uneasy truce existed between Hasina and Razzak-Tofail since 2001. What you see now is the manifestation of that 30 year old rivalry.
In this sense, Tofail-Razzak are different from Hafiz-Mannan-Mahbub. Hafiz-Mannan can change sides and join the king’s party if it suits them. When Tofail-Razzak betray Hasina, they do so because they genuinely believe they are the true Awamis/Mujibshenas.
May 22, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Asif, wouldn’t the best chance of pluralism/reforms within the parties be provided by a rebuff by the voters? Suppose BNP under Tarek were to suffer a convincing loss in a free and fair election? Would BNP grassroots still hold on him?