Reasons for widening chasm between Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia

[This was published in Dhaka Courier on 15 March 2013]

it possible today to have a free and sovereign state in the comity of nations where the leader of the house in parliament (at the same time being Head of the Executive branch (Prime Minister) and chief of the respective party) and the leader of the opposition in parliament (also holding the office of head of the respective party) do not see each other’s face even do not talk on a matter of national, bi-lateral, regional and international importance, appeal and dimension? Yes, to the utter surprise of all, it is possible in Bangladesh, a member of developing countries with a population of 160 people in south Asia. Hence and therefore, it deserves to be attended, discussed and focused not only for the people of the developing countries including Bangladesh but also for others in the planet earth.

On point of opening dialogue to reach at an amicable, accommodative and acceptable solution to hold elections to the immediate next 10^th parliament, likely to be held between October 2012 to January 2013, both Sheikh Hasina, two times Prime Minister of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and leader of the house  including the present one(Parliament), and Begum Khaleda Zia, former three times Prime Minister and two times leader of the Opposition taking the existing one(parliament) as well, still remain rock-rigid not to make a breakthrough budging a single inch from their respective line of stands. More shocking is their non-responsiveness to the calls and requests being made by political leaders, think-tanks, intelligentsia, NGOs, professionals of various natures, backgrounds, forms and dimensions from national, regional and international bodies, forums and organizations including UN, OIC, EU, USA and India. It is on record in history that all attempts almost under the similar circumstances in the immediate past failed to knock at the conscience, political or otherwise, of these two female leaders as a result of which the nation had to meet with the not-within-constitutional episode of 1/11 in 2006, which came to be known in the political history of Bangladesh as the ‘era of army-backed non-party, neutral Care-Taker Government’ and same is feared by many at present whatever the Constitution contains because of the addition of clause  A to  the Article 7 through the Constitution(Fifteenth Amendment) Act of 2011.

 In this day and age it is a foregone conclusion that until and unless these two leaders feel free to talk to each other or establish tie between themselves no development may be possible in this regard since the politics of today’s Bangladesh, one may like it or, is rotating around them and centering them. No leader or group in AL and BNP dares to raise voice against the line of the respective leaders. Therefore, the smoldering asking is what really does make them detached from each other not only politically but also socially, culturally, religiously and otherwise?

Yes, answer is apparently not far away and it includes may a reason. Some are political while others are personal in character. Interestingly enough, it is experienced and believed by the majority that personal reasons are dominating over the political ones. Leader’s dishonesty, corruption, undemocratic practices etc are not taken negatively by the party concern even if the proofs are documentary, sustainable and indubitable. Here apex leader of the party concern remains symbol of honesty, unity and glory for the party as it is held religiously that mistakes and wrong doings are made for others’ vested advice or mischievous acts. Therefore, let others suffer for passing ill advice, doing ill act and thus pray for the all-out exemption of the apex leader(s) of historic importance.

Politically, AL and BNP are standing on such fundamentals that go in opposition to each other entailing pillars like nationalism, secularism and socialism and so forth. It’s a common credence of the defeating party/alliance in the electoral politics of Bangladesh that the victory of the winning party/alliance is just a product of rigging, open or secret, and manipulation backed by national vested groups and foreign powers. Both AL and BNP suffer from this very dysentery of electoral politics for which not a single election in independent Bangladesh since 1972—whether it is under a party-run government or under a non-party, neutral care-taker government--- can be termed as free and fair. In a parliamentary democracy this is called negative politics and our two female leaders of the two major petticoat parties AL and BNP have been carefully nursing, propagating and sustaining this kind of negative politics. There is no denying the fact that sticking to negative politics in the mode and manner of religion cannot but play a role to widen distance between the ranks and files of opposing parties in the realm of confrontational politics. As ill luck would have it, it has already taken the shape of Tsunami in case of Hasina and Khaleda making them residents of two political islands.

Personally both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia have, to the dismay of almost all, become avowed adversary to each other by and large unnecessarily. For Hasina personal causes include inter alia (a) Begum Khaleda Zia’s redetermination of the date of birth on 15 August correcting the old one recorded in the school certificate (there are three date of birth and the matter is now pending judicial decision at the court) that now publicly clashes and undermines the date of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of the nation, .along with all the members of the family minus Hasina and Rehana who were then out of Bangladesh. This does not mean that the date 15 August is pointedly fixed only for the birth of Bangabandhu and so nobody would or should be born on this very day. Rather it signifies that Khaleda Zia might have done it to overshadow the significance of the day in the light of the overall consequences of the overthrow and tragic death of the father of the nation. (b) Cancellation of the allotment of the house at Dhanmondi at road no-6 by the Khaleda government, which was given to Sheikh Rahena, youngest daughter of Bangabandhu, by Hasina Government in 1999 and laying there foundation-stone by the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia herself for construction of a building for Dhanmondi  Thana and (c) It is deeply believed for a number of reasons, factual or not, by Sheikh Hasina in particular that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the plot of the upsetting and killing of Bangabanbdhu since it is Zia who finally came out as the sole beneficiary of the event of 15 August 1975 and (d) a kind of phobia has been hunting the very mind of Hasina that BNP particularly Khaleda Zia and her son Taraque Zia are determined to exterminate her to make the political field unique and non-contesting in all possible modes and manners and to suit this very purpose the great grenade attack was in a different way made on her on August 21, 2004. The attack left at least 23 dead and injured many others. Sheikh Hasina, who had been speaking at a rally protesting blasts against the party’s workers in Sylhet in front of the AL’s headquarters at Gulistan, Dhaka, was saved because Allah wanted her to survive. This factual phobia has further widened the gap between the two leaders.

Reasons for Khaleda’s personal wounds on the other hand entail among others (a) her eviction from the cantonment house, which was allotted to her in the manner of lease by the Ershad government showing due respect to the late Ziaur Rahman’s family and weighing outstanding consideration to him, a military-freedom fighter hero who even without any link to AL and Bangabandhu came forward heroically to declare war of liberation on behalf of Bangabandhu on the very night of 26 March 1971 (b) Drives by Hasina administration, judicial or otherwise, against her (Khaleda Zia) and her  sons Tareque Rahman, senior vice-chairman of BNP who is also considered as the immediate next successor of the dynastic leadership of BNP, and Arafat Rahman, a businessman without an active political affiliation, for having committed alleged corruptions of various natures and forms during the period of BNP’s second rule in 2001-2006.

Above all, the two leaders are vocal against each other using all the time indecent words and sentences. Sheikh Hasina is widely known for using her tongue off and often without taking much care and decency. Holding tongue (in normal sense) is a difficult job for her for which she had to listen to music from the Supreme Court of Bangladesh during the period of her first rule in 1996-2001.  Khaleda Zia follows a tactics of talking less but this practice is now also broken seriously as she is following the footstep of Hasina, sometimes going more than her(Hasina). This tradition of speaking ill of each other has swelled geometrically in the nerves and veins of the ranks and files of AL and BNP.

Both Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia in the meantime showed their excellence in establishing a superb tradition of boycotting parliament while in opposition at the same time beating the drum for a responsible opposition while in power. Thus they are carrying a load of double-standard policy towards parliamentary democracy. To them leadership means leadership of the party concerned as a whole. Building of consensus on Issues of national, regional and international concerns and importance get secondary importance to them. Looking these from the respective partisan approaches has become a practice. Hence, the question of statesmanship either from the set of power or from the seat of opposition is not regarded as overriding priority even under the circumstances of gravest nature, form and dimension. ‘Going to power through so-called democratic mode and manner and then doing so-called good for the nation using public money and offices have become their basis and goal of politics. To them opposition means opposing the government while position signifies do whatever you like ignoring the opposition in parliament. Concepts and differences of ‘legal sovereignty’ and ‘popular sovereignty’ are not well attended in most of the cases and time as a result article 7 remains and stays as symbolic ornament of the constitution.

In a democracy ‘dialogue between the position and the opposition in parliament’ is both fundamental element and concern and the matter is more serious and important in a parliamentary democracy since here parliament is composed of three elements namely position, opposition and the president. It is assumed that in our perspective realization of demands depends on the strength shown in the street, not on the logic and argument sharpened with knowledge, experience and intelligence that get raised and placed in parliament. Accordingly, favorable environment for dialogue leading to mutually rewarding benefits remains mirage. All attempts in the failed previously and the same are being foiled today despite requests from home and abroad. It is on record that Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia do not talk to each other, always avoid attending any occasion where there is a possibility of such happening like religious festival that may include milad, offering prayer for departed soul(s) etc and do not they even feel shy of assassinating each other’s character publicly.

Needless to say twice that time is moving fast and Bangladesh should not lag behind the race. Politics is for the well-being of the people and country and in the context of time; space and dimension politicians must have to realize this truth profoundly than ever before. Therefore, Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia being the apex leaders of the two major political parties in Bangladesh should no more be away from each other prioritizing the personal woes and wounds in politics. Let them come out of these limitations preferring respective political visions and missions in full at the denial of national approach based on consensus of their political parties without any ambiguity and sluggish. Let them be loadstars truly after the spirit of statesmanship to take Bangladesh to her cherished goal and destiny called ‘Golden Bangladesh’. May Allah bless us all.