[This was published in Dhaka Courier
on 28 June 2013]
Prof. Hasan Hyat, a leading Bangladeshi political scientist in Asia,
has been in the most moribund frame of mind to understand and experience the waning
state of politics in Bangladesh that is, inter alia, being grasped and
overshadowed with the unfair, spiteful and mortifying trends of character
assassinations wherein both the leaders and activists in the major political
parties namely Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are
vying each other and one another in snowballing modes and frequencies. Hardly
there is any debate about the genesis of such character assassinations, which
lies predominantly in the rampant and reckless creation and delivery of hybrid
leaders who are being nursed and fed under the silhouette of the blessing of
top leaders mostly the chiefs of the respective political parties and, as a
result, merit, qualifications, processes and recognition, political and
otherwise, for becoming a leader have been made subservient to sycophancies,
so-called submission and philistinism. Consequently, character assassination in
politics has emerged as a necessary appendage that has as well now been
recognized as the basis and syllabus of such hybrid leaders.
Neither
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the President of AL, nor Leader of the
Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia, also the Chairperson of BNP, appears to be
serious in reality in their respective approach to fasten, beautify,
circumscribe and strengthen their pledges,
responsibilities and responsiveness. Creation and fostering of Leadership and
statesmanship are all but a far cry in nowadays Bangladesh. At present, negative
development of leadership in these parties in particular has become a cause of
perennial concern and tension for all. How is to stop it? Who are persons to
play the right role in eradicating all the curses from politics in order to put
politics and leaderships at various strata on trek? Should somebody come from
the sky or should there be initiatives from foreign lands and global bodies
like UN, European Union and so on? Or should there be right initiatives at home?
Or should there be initiatives both from home and abroad? All these asking are revolving
in his mind seriously even when he was having chats with friends and associates
in a marriage ceremony at hotel Radisson in the capital city Dhaka.
‘Why
are you so pale and exhausted’ asked one of his friends Mr. Rouf, a business magnet in Bangladesh. ‘Nothing wrong at all,
dear brother. I am really worried about the state of character assassinations
in the politics of Bangladesh. Even, to our utter surprise, Parliament is not
free from such practice’ replied Prof. Hasan
Hyat. ‘What’s your idea about all these’ said Mr. Kasem Malek, a lawyer. ‘That is not a matter of expression of one’s
thought in an isolated manner rather let us see all these in a broader
perspective collectively’ said Prof. Hasan Hyat. ‘Well, why aren’t you then roaring
communally against these negative vibration and escalation? noted Mr. Adnan, an architect. ‘With due
respects to you all, I must say that time is matured enough to overhaul ourselves
and invest befitting energy and required resources in quest of such
collectivity’ dementedly’ added Mr. Munjurul
Karim, a retired civil servant. ‘I do endorse your view whole-heartedly’
recorded Mr. Adel, a senior surgeon
of national repute. ‘I must say that the continuing tempo and temper of character
assassination inside and outside the Parliament have reached at such a point
that it has really become impossible for us to enjoy the debates and talks in
parliament in a family atmosphere’ voiced Mr.
Zaman, a sociologist. ‘Yes, more interesting and pains-generating are the free
style exercises of vulgar, indecent and defamatory words by some of our women
parliamentarians’ aired apprehensively Mr.
Shafiquar Rahman, a banker. ’I wonder how the leader of the House and the
leader of the opposition maliciously practice un-parliamentary languages
against each other. What does the nation particularly the rising generations
learn from and feel about them? retorted
Mr. Ahahduzzaman, a Prof. of
Psychology. ‘There should have definite guidelines in this regard. Yes, Speaker
of Parliament herself being a woman may play a role here’ opined Mrs Jharna Roy, a housewife. ‘There is
no denying the fact that this 9th Parliament is a glorious
Parliament also for the reason that all the leading three offices of Parliament
have been chaired by three dignified ladies namely Sheikh Hasina, leader of the
House, Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the Opposition and Dr. Shirin Sharmin,
Speaker of Parliament. Shouldn’t they sit together to prepare a broad-based
guideline so that people may feel free and comfort to listen to the speeches of
the Member of Parliament’ held Mrs.
Najma Chowdhury, a celebrated female business entrepreneur. ‘It is not
clear to me why you are all blaming politicians for such gloomy scenarios. This
should be viewed from overall enduring standpoints in today’s Bangladesh. Our
society is almost rotten morally, ethically and intellectually. More
frustrating is that today the brain of the nation called educated,
well-informed and cultured part of society (of course excepting few) is not
playing positive role at all. One may be retarded to draw a line of clear
demarcation between the psychologies of the educated and the non-educated.
Self-interests under various camouflages are now a reality. The words such as sacrifice,
dedication, honesty, perfection, credibility, patience, philanthropy and so on
are in our day disappearing at a cumulative rate and frequencies’ commented Mr. Mazharul Islam Khan, a novelist.
‘In
fact, character assassination in today’s politics is a burning issue undeniably.
I do agree with all of you that its very root is the reckless delivery of
hybrid leaders that causes two things immediately. One is the negation to the
senior leaders who have risen to their current standing through lot of sacrifices
and perfections including facing imprisonment and persecutions from time to
time. In practicing such negation these hybrid leaders at their respective
stations choose sycophancies, philistinism and all sorts of black ways and
routes to last and continue. They invest their time to create mistrust, gaps
between or among the politicians in various forms and dimensions. They are poisonous
without a doubt. Other is that by doing all such things they finally take the
party away from its targeted vision and mission. This does not go unchallenged
politically because elections to national and local bodies do face and carry
the inevitable loads of the feedbacks of these hybrid leaders. Recall and look
very carefully that neither Bangabandhu nor even Ziaur Rahman allowed such
reckless delivery of hybrid leaders setting aside the weight and importance of
political leaders proper. This is also a reality that delivery of hybrid
leaders may be tolerable to some extent but its abundance cannot be positive
for any political party and politics. But as ill luck would have it, today both
AL and BNP under the guardianship of their respective chiefs are making the
gates wide enough to give birth to hybrid leaders. Needless to say, they have
started paying for such stupidity’ articulated Mr. Akmal Hassain, a retired politician. ‘But let us first of all
know from Prof. Hasan Hyat about the
definition and explanation of character assassination in politics including
Bangladesh’s state of standing in this regard in the comities of nations’ told Mr. Saber Ahmed, Editor of a leading
Daily.
‘Well,
character assassination in politics and reckless delivery of hybrid leaders
therein are closely related for which both need to be defined, explained and
discussed in short for our easy understanding and consumption. A hybrid leader
is he who without having any potential political background and qualification
to become a leader of a political party gets chance to become so all of a sudden
because of the choice and favor of chief of the party concern. It works
similarly at local levels as well. The first and foremost tasks of such leaders
are to find necessary ways and means to survive, last and continue. Since they
are not welcome by the activists in respective party, they immediate decide to create
gaps and misunderstanding between or among senior leaders and pursue the same
in the ranks and files in the party. They get busy in most of the time to pave
the way for their acceptance and recognition. Money and other necessary means
act as their strengths and links. To earn money and other resources they
without a delay get engrossed in mal-practices and unfair means making the fair
atmosphere of politics contaminated and venomous.
Truly
speaking, character assassination is the attempt to discredit a person through
damage to his or her personal character. This tactics is often used to harm an
individual for spite or personal gain, in situations as small as a classroom
rumor mill, or as large as a national election. When character assassination is
attempted through the use of lies, gross exaggeration, or misrepresentation of
facts, it may be considered slander or libel, and may sometimes result in legal
charges. Having been in lie with this, character assassination in politics implies
assassinations of one’s character politically (pointedly a political
personality indeed) by diverse ways and means through disclosures and
presentation of one’s activities of many a nature and form which so far has remained
in dark otherwise. In general, the goal of character assassination is to cause
some harm to the target as a result of the stories or rumors. For instance, in
a political election, a candidate may try to damage an opponent's reputation by
claiming he or she is estranged from family members, or has a history of
marital affairs. The rumors spread do not necessarily need to be related to the
issue at hand, such as whether or not the targeted individual would make a good
mayor or governor; instead, they need only to cause voters to question whether
the target adheres to culturally acceptable moral and personal standards.
Character
assassination is frequently associated with political and public figures, and
has long been a mainstay of election drama. In mid-20th century America, during
the height of McCarthyism, many innocent people found their jobs terminated for
the mere suggestion, without proof, of Communist affiliations. Election
campaign advertisements, while often skirting direct accusations, frequently
stress negative aspects of a candidate's character in order to create a more
flattering picture of his or her opponent.
Modes and forms of character assassination usually entail
Mudslinging, black propaganda, Fair Game (Scientology), pittuna infamante,
McCarthyism, Hollywood blacklist, Damnatio memoriae, Smear campaign, personal
attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_assassination)
In
all the religions in the world character assassination is strictly forbidden.
Islam is very much vocal about it. During the Prophet's time, there were
certain people in Madinah who wanted to defame a member of the Prophet's
family. It was a case of character assassination. At that juncture the
following verses were revealed: "Those who desire that indecencies should
spread among the believers will have a painful chastisement in this world and
the Hereafter. God knows, and you do not know" (24:19).
According
to Islamic teachings, character assassination is a heinous crime. An act of
this kind is against humanity, against ethical values, and against Quranic
teachings. Those guilty of any ethical crime of this nature will be severely
punished by God Almighty. If you criticise someone on the basis of undeniable
facts which will stand up to objective scrutiny, you are acting lawfully and
are exercising your moral rights as set forth in the divine book. If your
intention is good, your action will be treated as promoting reform. Moreover,
you will receive some reward from God Almighty.
But
if you are abusing someone, or using unethical language or immoral language
without any evidence to support what you say, then you are committing a crime.
The use of abusive language against anyone, which has no factual base, is an
act of character assassination. No one has the right to use such language.
Criticism based on facts is constructive, but making allegations without any
basis in fact is the worst kind of crime. In this regard, two courses are open
to all: if an individual has an accusation to make against anyone and he has
undeniable proof in support of what he has to say, then he is allowed to
express his views. If, on the other hand, he has an adverse opinion about
anyone, but has no evidence to support his negative remarks, then he has to
remain silent (http://www.cpsglobal.org/content/character-assassination-crime).
There
are lots of verses in the holy bible ob character assassination such
as---------------------------------------
Ezekiel
22:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes
There
are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the
mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst.
3
John 1:9-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes
I
have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself
first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what
he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he
refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them
out of the church.
Matthew
23:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes
So
practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they
preach, but do not practice.
In
Bangladesh context, the overall political landscape has become so grave that
both the leaders of the house and the leader of opposition in Parliament have
been attacking each other with languages so irresponsibly and whimsically that
has given birth to a culture of character assassination in the politics of
Bangladesh even on a negligible issue. Following the apex leaders activists in
the ranks and files in the AL and BNP have meanwhile crossed the limit of all
sorts of decencies and evenhandedness. More pain-generating is the role of few
MPS of AL and BNP, most of them are female. Nobody likes it and even MPs of AL
and BNP condemned such practices and asked the Speaker to take drastic action
say, pecuniary penalty and expulsion from Parliament against those who are
taking pride shamelessly by doing and sticking to these.
Is
it enough to voice simply against such practices? Definitely, it is not.
Initiatives must come from Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia. If they stop
assassinating each other’s character politically inside and outside the
Parliament (Shiekh Hasina is currently on all counts beating the drum of
character assassinations more aggressively than Begum Khaleda Zia) and pass
instructions to the leaders below not to take resort to character assassination
any more then a probable outcome shall start flowing instantaneously. One may
talk of Speaker’s role but she would never succeed until and unless these two
apex leaders pass necessary green signals to the respective folds’ elaborated
Prof. Hasan Hyat.
Everybody
shared and cheered in the same tone and mood the explanation by Prof. Hasan
Hyat while NGO leader Shamim Ahan, who was listening to the conversations
carefully sitting very near to Prof. Hasan Hyat, now opened his mouth adding ‘Real
is more ideal than ideal itself. I am sure that neither Sheikh Hasina and nor Begum
Khaleda Zia feels free to allow and follow a line of conclusion in this regard
since they are very much convinced from their respective standpoints that such
character assassinations shall be more supportive for them in the coming days.
Therefore, let us get ready for being loaded with the music of character
assassinations in the politics of Bangladesh before, during and after the
general election to the 10th Parliament and let us moreover pray to
Allah for generating good sense in line with leadership leading to
statesmanship in Sheikh Hasia and Begum Khaleda Zia’.
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