Fiction, Myth and Lie in politics and statecraft

[This was published in the leading national weekly Dhaka Courier on 23 November 2012]

Fiction, myth and lie in politics and statecraft denotes in common a say about a thing/issue/event that does not exist in reality but it bears importance to reap benefit politically depending on time, space and dimension and they are well documented and well placed in politics, statecraft and political science. And, factually noting, a political party or government, single or alliance, communist or non-communist, in a single party polity or a multi-party democracy, may opportunistically nurture one or two or all of these missile-like weapons from time to time and reap so to suit the very purposes in understanding. They may be of strong or weak nature and reputation having penchant for local, national, regional or international facet and gravity. In common parleys and usages fiction in politics and political fiction are mostly used synonymously and interchangeably. But there exists a clear line of demarcation with a concrete connotation and  these must not be taken and understood as one since ‘political fiction’ is, in fact, a subgenre of fiction that deals with political affairs and its works often directly criticize an existing society or present an alternative, sometimes fantastic reality.

Goebbels’s’ propaganda during the World war two in support of Hitler regime (that finally came to be untrue making it a mere fiction/lie) and Saddam’s information minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf’s, nicknamed "Comical Ali", cant about Iraq’s military strengths to face heroically the attack of the US-led multi-national forces on Iraq in March 2003 (very soon it came to light that the minister told a lie or made a fiction about Iraq’s arms strength before the world), US and its allies’ avowed-claim, before the attack, that ‘Iraq had made, collected and stored a pile of mass-destructive weapons including chemical one’, which Saddam might use against mankind’(later it was proved baseless), Pakistan’s propaganda that ‘Our Nuclear bomb is Islamic bomb’(here Islam has viciously been used by the regimes in Pakistan so that  members of OIC feel free to stand by her on the mission’ are illustrative enough. Furthermore, India card in Pakistan and Pakistan card in India have been being used in the most negative manner and node since their independence from the yoke of the British rule in 1947. Likewise, fiction, myth or lie in local context relates to local political point while use of the same in national perspective speaks of national political purpose(s).

Sometimes, generation of over expectations in the mind of the people in issue presenting an over ambitious program as a means to achieve immediate goals tantamount, or is close to political lie and these are very much practiced in the politics and statecraft of the developing countries. And these draw a visible qualitative and quantitative line of differences between political systems of developed and developed states. More interesting is that even the political system in a state is not immune from such differences because a political system of a state is necessarily a product of a number of sub-systems within it. Reality shows that each and every sub-system carries some specialties that need to be addressed in tune with the mood and manner of the population there. From these standpoints, political lie, myth and fiction in local contexts may be conflicting with other sub-systems in the national political I a state whereas at national level such devices and practices are one and same.

This opportunistic nursing may again be intentional or reckless or inadvertent. When it is intentional, target is well-set, when it is reckless, target remains within the zone of probability (may or may not be) but when it is inadvertent, target is hazy, undecided and uncertain. Therefore, proper use of such tactics presupposes statesmanlike vision, mission and penetration coupled with determination of goal, specificity and certainty. Under all the circumstances, riding on the horse of the moment is the central point keeping a precautious eye on national standing, image, interests and unity. Further reality is that too much use of such devices carries the risk of being counter-productive as these happened in case of Germany and Iraq.

These were practiced in the past and they are being played today more or less in every political system whether it is developed or developing or underdeveloped. Interesting enough, political parties in Bangladesh are not lagging behind in using and applying these weapons necessarily or unnecessarily to pimple each other and one another even without taking guarded note of national image, unity and interests.

In Bangladesh, statements from the rightist bloc by and large under the cap of BNP, otherwise called anti-AL plunk, made from time to time such as ‘by signing the Chittagong Hill Tracks Peace Treaty in 1997’, ‘MOU in 2010 Hasina government virtually sold Bangladesh to India( well, changed stand of BNP through Khaleda Zia’s visit to India from 28 October to 03 November 2012 has finally put an end to this fiction)’, ‘If AL is voted to power Islam shall immediately be eliminated from the soil of Bangladesh (Islam has rather been consolidated and strengthened by the ruling AL with the reassertion and continuance of Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh through the Constitution(Fifteenth Amendment) Act of 2011)’, ‘China shall come forward and stand by Bangladesh in case of a war between Bangladesh and India, an oft-quoted belief in the rightist bloc including BNP (in fact, China never do this to suit the very purpose of Bangladesh unless her interests and territorial integrity are challenged due to such war) frequently fall, depending on their very nature,  within the ambit of political fiction, myth and lie.

From anti-BNP camp mostly denoting Al-led alliance, it is held that ‘BNP is committed to Pakistan, not to the people of Bangladesh’, ‘BNP sees Bangladesh’s interests  and relations with India through the glasses of Pakistan’, ‘Begum Khaleda Zia, during her week-long visit to India from 28 October to 03 November 2012 at the invitation of the government of India, had secret talks also with the extremists in India (this was applied and played by the ruling AL Minister for Forests and Environments Dr. Hasan Mahamud with a view to passing a message that Khaleda Zia has close links with anti-Congress forces even in India). These are few burning examples of ‘political fiction’, ‘political myth’ and ‘political lie from the box of this bloc.

But as ill luck would have it, political fiction(in the sense of fiction in politics), political myth and political lie, whatever it is from single or collective  standpoint, are being played today so poorly in Bangladesh that are not at all in tune with our national standing, image, interests and unity. All these happen because the central points in politics, external and internal, are broadly missing in practice. Let there be light, more and more light in this hemisphere without a delay, I am sensing, sensing the arrival of promising generations anointed duly with the knowledge of religion, science and technology who shall be strategic and suave as much as necessary while dealing with such discovery and application of  fiction, myth and lie.