[This was published in the weekly PROBE on 13 October 2012. Abridge of
it was printed in the Financial Express under the title ‘Bangladesh suffers from leadership deficiencies
on 26 September 2012, Bangladesh]
Political
leadership is a product of the politics in a country depending on time, space and
dimension. Politics, from the extreme point of view, aims at the well-being and
development of the people in a state keeping rhythm with bi-lateral, regional
and international overall landscapes and realities with all the possible
limitations and opportunities therein. Therefore, each and every country
maintains and holds politics and political system that are by and large pointedly
called home-grown/home-made. Hence, there must be marked differences between
two countries even if they belong to the same system of government whether the
system is presidential or parliamentary. The carnal point that makes political
leadership distinct and distinguishing is its vision and mission, Bangladesh
has no immunity from this virtual certainty and thus political leadership here
in Bangladesh nearly comes to be known as ‘Political leadership after
Bangladesh model’. In plain language, this model comes possibly from the factual
appearance of the following-------------------------------------
a.
Politics in
Bangladesh is still within the zone of antagonisms, opportunities and
privileges instead of mutual understanding, tolerance and sacrifices amounting
to responsibility (visit author’s article ‘Moot point is political leadership’
at http://sinhaearthblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/moot-point-is-political-leadership.html);
b.
The
nation is diametrically divided into two opposed camps, one is led by AL and other is headed
by BNP. This has given birth to the politics of ‘yes and/or ‘no’, which implies
if AL says yes to anything then BNP utters no to that immediately without
giving thought to the weight, importance, necessity and practicability and vice
versa. Consequently, long-coveted ‘national consensus’ on major and burring
issues, internal and external, has become a day dream under the ongoing mode
and pattern of politics(visit author’s article’ Three-phase national consensus
formula: Bangladesh Perspective at http://sinhaearthblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/three-phase-national-consensus-formula.html).
Interestingly enough, there is a unique consensus between them from the seat of
the position and the seat of opposition in Parliament since they
opportunistically speak in the same voice and tone while in such standing. This
may rightly be called a kind of ‘consensus behind the curtain.
c.
Because
of this division nearly all sectors from professional to non-professional
bodies, associational to non-associational organizations, think-tank to
non-think-tank entities, NGOs etc have come under the umbrella of these two
parties and politics of alliance is revolving around them. A sense of
politicization is hunting all emotionally or whimsically. This has further
developed undesirable currents and trends at the disregard of right and/or
wrong. What AL and BNP say that’s binding on all under their respective
umbrella. Today, ‘brain-mortgage’, ‘brain-sale’ and ‘brain-tender’ are on in
full swing. Alas! Bangladesh,
alas! fast falling conscience. Should we be contended with such negative
landscapes of independent Bangladesh?
d.
All kinds of
negative cronyisms, philistinism and commercialism are rampant here providing,
helping and sustaining a corruption-friendly environment from bottom to the
top;
e.
Politics has been
made prey to commercialization and consequently almost all the key decision-making and law-making bodies, elected or not, like Parliament,
Council of Ministers, Council of Advisors have been captured by so-called
industrialists, traders, hoarders, bank-loan defaulters etc evicting ‘tested
politicians’ from there;
f.
Religion plays a
very important role in the politics of Bangladesh. Even political parties
in the left fold are very much aware of dealing their politics showing
befitting respects and honor to the necessity of religions of various kinds for
their existence and continuance. Once leading left leader Mujaffar Ahmed voiced
publicly that ‘a man can be religious in private life at the same time being a
communist in politics. Therefore, communism is for the worldly life while
religion is for the world after death’. Leaders of the leading parties
including petticoat parties Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party are
to a large extent mathematical in weighing and using religion, if a need
arises. The very basis of Indo-phobic Bangladesh
at the mass level is religion upon which rests the foundation of Bangladeshi
Nationalism as opposed to Bengali Nationalism, two leading currents in the
politics of Bangladesh.
Former President and Jatio Party Chairman HM Ershad incorporated ‘Islam’ as state religion by the Constitution
(Eighth Amendment) Act of 1989 and this has been contained and strengthened assertively
in the Constitution (Fifteen Amendment) act of 2011 by the incumbent ruling
secular political party AL as well.
Ironically enough, people here
are on the whole religion-fearing, not religion-performing perfectly in most of
cases in the true sense of the term. Practice and application of religious teachings
and lessons at micro and macro levels from the standpoints of honesty,
dedication, sincerity and transparency are not so manifest in the life of the
people, although all these are highly desirable for the overall integrity,
individually and/or collectively. On all accounts, Bangladesh is a widely claimed
moderate Muslim country where, in comparison with other countries, maximum
tolerance and harmony between or among the different and diverse religious communities
are ensured and upheld (visit author’s article ‘Missing link in politics and
statecraft http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=131583&date=2012-06-03)
;
g.
Democracy means, mostly
ostensible at this juncture, free and fair elections to Parliament aimed merely
at going to power’. This narrowest understanding of democracy is itself a
threat to the understanding and having taste and fruit of democracy in its factual
form and manifestation. No importance in practice is attached to the free and
fair elections to local bodies in line with the elections to Parliament.
Election Commission is yet to emerge as a Commission standing on its own. It is
still under the command of the PM’s office and is wrought with limitations,
inherent, administrative and political; Distrusts, suspicions, misunderstanding
to each and one another are on in a vibrant mode and manner for which the
inevitability of non-party, neutral care-taker government came to be accurate
for Bangladesh.
Despite the verdict of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court about the
cancellation of the Non-Party CTG incorporated by the Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment)
Act of 1996 by the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act of 2011, the issue
appears to be remaining alive because of the demand of the people at large
including major opposition BNP and its allies. Politicking---manipulation of votes--- by the
party/alliance in power, visible or invisible, is hunting the very mindset of
the political parties in the opposition camp. As a result, all the three
elections under non-party CTG (number will rise to four if the Shahabuddin led
CTG is included) were rejected by the defeating parties dubbing them unfair,
conspiratorial anyhow. Confidence-building between or among the political
parties and leaders is beyond doubt tops the list of the burning issues of the
day and, hence, such issue cannot be resolved judicially. Even the full
judgment of 16 September 2012 could not emotionally set aside the necessity of
such CTG for another two terms covering elections to the 10th and 11th
parliaments.
h.
A party is run
here on a dictatorial mode and manner. Absence of inner democracy in a party,
despite its having a lively, up to date constitution, is a reality here in Bangladesh. All
powers are directly or indirectly, formerly or informally, are concentrated in
the hands of the chief of the party concerned. No committee of a party or its
wings or affiliated or friendly bodies from local to national levels can be
given birth to without the will of the chief of the party concerned.
Realistically speaking, here a party means to amounting to the sayings and
doings of its chief. It is indeed autocracy of the highest order under the
cover of’ cosmetic democracy’(also visit at http://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_27-01-2011_State-of-leadership:-Bangladesh-perspective_110_2_5_1_1.html;
i.
Leadership at the
peak of a political party is decided and determined in line of succession in the leading political parties and, accordingly,
a dynastic rule has become a binding rule in all the major political parties in
Bangladesh including AL, BNP and Jatio Party( because HM Ershad has also appointed
his younger brother GM Quader acting chairman of Jatio Party so that in case of
exigency or vacuum, he may step into the shoes of his brother Ershad, founder
of Jatio Party);
j.
Chief of a party
in the opposition in parliament also concurrently holds the office of the
leader of the opposition in parliament while the same is true to the chief of
the majority party in parliament who not only keeps the office of the chief of
the party concerned but also becomes Prime Minister. Thus, while in power all
the three chief offices are captured by the chief of the party single-handedly
and whilst in opposition all the two chief offices are held by its chief of the party alone; and
k.
Process of
leadership having a touch of statesmanship is not duly attended here as a
result a kind of stagnation is persisting alarmingly in these areas. Therefore, all together have given birth
to a model of leadership called ‘Bangladesh model’, Resultantly, when we say that X is a good
leader in the politics and statecraft of Bangladesh, it passes a message that X is a leader definitely after
Bangladesh model. In fact, no political party in Bangladesh is functionally
ready to run it politically in consonance with its declared constitution,
manifesto and electoral pledges on the one hand and on the other, which is the
resultant consequences of the former, no party is ready functionally to play
role in Parliament and run a government by demonstrating and establishing leadership
with statesman-like qualities in expectation of the needs of the people..
So, if these are the realities then what best else are left
for us. Let us sound, sound loudly where, where are Bangabandhu, father of the
nation, Nobel Laureate Rabindrahnath Tagore, Rebel poet Kazi Nazrul, freedom
fighter Ziaur Rahman and many in the hemisphere? Let us sound, sound loudly, where,
where are the dedicated, scarified souls of the war of independence and war of
liberation? Let us echo where, where are our living sector commanders (fie!
many of them have listed themselves as earthly personalities including with a
stigma of Hallmark financial scam)? Let us echo where, where is our
long-cherished ‘Golden Bangladesh’? All behold, behold, and behold the state of
politics, leadership and statesmanship in today’s Bangladesh. Should we at this
instant lament or wake up?
Yes, I believe we should wake up, wake up and guard against
all these happenings that are taking us back as if we are moving unjustifiably
towards a black hole .Let our leaders, upon Almighty Allah, come forward
honestly and fairly to take these challenges
without any delay. People are waiting for such leaders for a long.
Let Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Shah Moazzam Hossain, Dr.
Khondaker Mosharf Hossain, Dr.Moyeen Khan, Jamiruddin Sarcar MK Anowar Hannan
Shah, Dr. Osman Farooq, Goeshwar Roy and others in the same fold and line in
the opposition come forward and stand by the nation as national leaders not
merely as political leaders of BNP. HM Ershad, chairman of Jatio Party and
former president of Bangladesh, has a brighter chance to emerge and stand as a
‘third force’ in the electoral politics of Bangladesh with his tested leadership
and indomitable zeal for developments, although his party is suffering from an
acute shortage of statesmen at this very moment. Let HM Ershad, Kazi Jafa, barrister Anisul
Islam Mahamud, Mostafa Jamal Haider, Kazi Feroz Rahid, Ruhul Amin Haowlader in
Jatio party stand by the nation as leaders of the time. Let Anowar Hossain Munju and Sheikh Shahidul
Islam, respectively chairman and secretary general of JP, play more conspicuous
role from their standpoints.
Role of Dr. B. Chowdhury, president of Bikalpa Dhara and
former president of Bangladesh,
and Dr. Kamal Hossain, chief architect of the Constitution of Bangladesh and
now president of Gona Forum, are not in a becoming tune with the hopes and
aspirations of the people at large. These two stalwarts have confined their
role mainly in making statements from time to time. Are not they depriving Bangladesh
nauseatingly in this matter? Left political parties of various folds and
ideologies are at a marginal edge on this point, although Rashed Khan Menon,
Hasanul Haque Inu, Munjurul Ahsan, Mojahidul Islam Selim are markedly visible
while the right political parties including Jammat-e-Islami are habitually
following BNP frequently without having any perceptible breakthrough in this
regard.
Let Motia Chowdhury, Nurul Islam Nahid, AVM (Rtd.) AK
Kondaker, Obaidul Quader, Syed Asraful Islam, Latif Siddiqui Mohiuddin Khan
Alamgir and MA Mannan in particular play their role as expected by the nations
in line with their oath of offices truly. Let other members of the Council of
Ministers be rightly responsive and committed to their obligated role for serving
Bangladesh.
Let Tofael Ahmed, Abdul Jalil, Sheikh Selim sound properly from the crinkle of
AL, although the voice of Surenjit Sen Gupta, a minister without portfolio, is necessarily
or unnecessarily always in the air (he has recently been caught in a belt of
suspicion of integrity for a financial scam of railways that caused him fall
from the Council of Ministers).
Let our intelligentsia, think-tanks and civil societies of
various shades, opinions and backgrounds in particular get rid of the
oft-quoted stigma of practicing ‘brain-mortgage, brain-sale and brain-tender
and stand by Bangladesh to add their valuable inputs to the birth of political
leaders up to the expectations of the people and Bangladesh. ‘Third force’ in
this region being away notably from the folds of AL and BNP is a call of time.
Therefore, right or wrong, democratically speaking, Sheikh
Hasina and Begum Khaleda, two leading political leaders after Bangladesh
model, are the welders of powers from their respective seats of position and
opposition in an alternative course of action. And May Allah bless Shiekh
Hasina, Khaleda Zia and HM Ershad, another leader after Bangladesh model, in
meticulous so that they may be committed and sincere with a renewed vow truly
to the flowering of leadership in Bangladesh from their respective standing and
platforms.
Yes, to comply with the mission and goal of producing
leaders, first and foremost condition is to activate the sleeping constitutions
of the political parties in practice at the respective party levels, to
constitute ‘Shadow Government’ in the opposition in parliament as an
alternative platform to the party/alliance in power and gear up the speed of
the truthfulness of the members of the Council of Ministers, individually
and/or collectively, to the oath of office. All such initiatives are in a
position to create a congenial atmosphere for a better ‘Bangladesh
model’ in politics resultantly paving way for more forward-looking leaderships.
This is a dictate of leadership that it should not sigh a sigh of relief being
product of the politics of time, space and dimension rather it should make
relentless herculean attempts to move ahead of time, which is called
‘forward-looking leadership’. Therefore,
fights are two in nature. One is to move with time, space and dimension and the
other is to move ahead of time. When a country lags behind time, space and
dimension, it is the bounded responsibility of leaderships both position and
opposition to play a role to make attempts to put it on rail first. When it is
on the rail of time then come the tasks of taking it forward more. Let our
leaders all bear in mind that all of us have to leave this ephemeral world
today or tomorrow and the posterity shall not forgive us if we fail to leave
behind glorious traditions and foundations.
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