Four loaded guns: Retirement an option?

[This was published on 13 December 2013 in Dhaka Courier and Silobreaker]

There is no denying the fact that In all the articles I have written so far on HM Ershad I tried my level best to convey a clear message to Ershad in meticulous that ‘he is a potential factor in the politics of Bangladesh and such potentiality should be nursed, geared and applied with proper mathematics, literature and technology as and when required upholding the interests of the people and nation first of all, instead of taking resort whimsically to adventurism and opportunism and thus pave the way broader for  putting Jatio Party on a stronger footing so that it can meaningfully stay, grow and continue as a deciding factor in politics and statecraft’. Today my sincere conclusion is that Ershad’s overall activities, political or not, stands for noting that psychologically, organizationally and politically he is conceivably not in a position to carry the load further more. To substantiate such toughest conclusion excepts as follows are unavoidable in the context of time, space and dimension.

‘Ershad, Jatio Party and Bangladesh’ published in the leading Weekly Dhaka Courier on 31 August 2012, my understanding about Ershad was:

‘HM Ershad is the most unpredictable personality in the politics of Bangladesh. He earned a title of ‘Cancellation of my last announcement(CMLA, which actually denotes Chief Martial Law Administrator in a martial government)’ for his quick change of mind and decision during his nine years of rule and the legacy of which he has been carrying faithfully and honestly till the date. So, at the outset, Ershad has to prove and set example that he has come out of his long time stigma of the habit of practicing CMLA.

While in power he earned fame for becoming a dreamer of developments. Even his arch critics hardly hesitate to give him credits, if not publicly but in private conversations indeed, for his successes in running the administration. People remember the developments of Ershad era. Introduction of upzila system and incorporation of Islam as state religion were his two millstone achievements, which now are well-accepted by all the leading political parties in Bangladesh. He was on all accounts a good administrator and statesman and people of these days like to see him as a statesman in the opposition as well. But, unfortunately, his ongoing standing with all his essentials and peculiarities in the politics of Bangladesh makes a sharp departure from his past glorious chapter. Sometimes he, perhaps, emotionally or inadvertently or recklessly misses to think or attach due importance to the reality that a leader like him should be above all sorts of propensities that may cause havoc to his moral standing and stature before the nation for the reason that a leader has to move and lead a life making him first of all a befitting example to the people and in particular to the rising generation irrespective of age, caste, creed and religion. Off and often he dies into oblivion that he is not only his own property but also a valuable resource for Jatio Party and Bangladesh.

Here Ershad himself is his sworn adversary whereas he is knowledgeable, experienced, sharp, cunning, persevering, articulated, soft, sober, poetic and fond of love having a childlike bent of mind. There is a peculiar kind of chemistry in him and, may be, he is/has to grapple most of the time with the disproportionate ingredients of chemical composition, knowingly or unknowingly. It’s a question of understanding of the meanings of ‘one cannot but do it’ and ‘one can or cannot do it’. Former speaks of one’s involuntary state of helplessness before his irresistible impulse while the latter is voluntary state of standing that leaves matters to his will. If Ershad is a natural prey to the former then he is not at fault setting him as a helpless human being to the dominance of ‘irresistible impulse’. If he is within the zone of the latter then he has no excuse for what he prefers to do that may malign himself with its instant feedbacks on the party. Let the truth come to light. Hardly there is any debate that people understand and see that he never feels shy of talking publicly about his privacy in life. Taking Himalayan initiative to assassinate his own character he finds pleasures as if ‘a historic self-character assassinator’ moving and rolling caring none around. Really nobody can match Ershad in this race!!

Ershad is the founder of Jatio Party. Unlike Ziaur Rahman, he, while in power, did not pay attention to the building and nursing of JP as a grass-roots political party. He rather depended heavily on army and civil bureaucracies, even though he had elected representatives both at national Parliament and local bodies. Realization of making JP a broad-based popular party dawned in his mind after the great fall of 06 December 1990. JP began to swell in a new democratic atmosphere of Parliamentary System of Government under the stewardship of veteran politician and statesman Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury who in absence of imprisoned Ershad played historic role as Acting Chairman of JP.

To speak the truth, JP started facing tribulations organizationally and politically when Ershad came out of jail after a lapse of almost six years in 1996.He became desperate to take the so-called sole hold of his party eliminating the bases of senior leaders such as Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, Moudud Ahmed, Kazi Jafar Ahmed, Shah Moazzam Hossain, Anwar Hossain Munju (who is running with a faction of Jatio Party under the banner of JP following a verdict of the court. Because of this verdict of the court Ershad-led JP now came to be known as Jatio Party) in particular. .As he has a strong inherent leaning towards suspicions, whisperings, distrusts, as he is caring sycophancy and cronyism, he without delay applied such self-destructive weapons wounding also those who were sincere and committed to JP and to him. Resultantly, he had to lose many a brilliant heavy weight within three years while others became inactive and less interested in the affairs of the party. His dam-care attitude and gesture is constantly passing message to all in the party that ‘Jatio party is mine and I am alone its decision-maker, policy-maker and distributor of posts and positions. I survive, therefore, Jatio Party survives. I am the first and last words here’. More pains-giving is that his gun is all the time aimed at the sincere, dedicated, honest stocks of the party. Nobody knows when his services are to be declared ‘required no more’. Once in 1998 Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury warned stating that ‘Ershad is tidy enough to preside over the squeezing or winding up of Jatio Party’. Let Ershad and JP realize what is the reality today in 2012?

In the write-up ‘Challenges before jail/trap-phobic HM Ersahd’ published in Dhaka Courier on 22 March 2013, I, inter alia, wrote:

‘Yes, HM Ersahd is apparently determined to survive and swell meaningfully in the politics of Bangladesh both electorally and non-electorally since he has a political party colored with catchy program, manifesto and constitution having demonstrable representations in all the parliaments since 1986 including the present one.

Now the asking is that will jail or trap-phobic HM Ershad finally leave Hasina? Or is he in actual fact free to draw a conclusion at his own? Let us see and enjoy in the face of such challenges what in the end comes from this very ambitious personality in the politics of Bangladesh’.

In ‘HM Ershad’s letters to the two ladies’ published in Dhaka Courier on 19 April 2013, realistically as well I put:

‘Ershad, despite his being the major ally of the ruling grand alliance, must be appreciated for his sincere efforts to energize the two leaders to put an end to the impasse without interference of any third party, home-grown or not. He realized in full that widening chasm between these two ladies has made everything impossible. It is well understood that such dialogue may be taken as a package too, starting from a series of meetings at senior leaders’ level to the summit level. One may view the letters otherwise as a kid of tactics and shrewdness in the context of continuing political landscapes in the country. Ershad is nowadays apparently a singing critic of Hasina administration and he promised many a time to quit the so-called grand alliance government. But, unfortunately enough, he finally came to the satiric conclusion that his disassociation with the grand alliance government might act as a sort of fuels for BNP.  This means Ershad is with Hasina because he does not like to see that BNP is voted to power.

Yes, by practicing such mysterious monopoly(in the sense of a game) Ershad has taken a side openly in favor of Hasina and his last determination to stick to it came to light when he reaffirmed this to the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Defense Ministry during its last meeting on 15 April 2013. So, the question crops up ‘will Khaleda Zia feel free to respond at the call of Ershad being fully aware of all these about Ershad? Let us recall the oft-quoted saying about Ershad that ‘What Ershad says in the morning, to the utter surprise and despair of all, he does not feel ashamed of negating it in the evening, which is in politics called a ‘U-turn policy’ and the practice has been on since the very day of his taking over power in 1982 as CMLA (Chief Martial Law Administrator).

Acceptability needs transparency while honesty is the basis of transparency and these three ingredients are fundamentally inseparable from one another. Ershad’s greatest crisis lies in his not having been or being recognized as a committed personality in the politics of Bangladesh. Neither Sheikh Hasina nor Begum Khaleda Zia is convinced positively enough about Ershad’s transparent role, which is otherwise very much sliding in nature. From these standpoints, Ershad’s letters to Hasina and Khaleda. of course,  in spite of their having been well-worded, well-phrased and well-drafted are hardly in a position to generate encouraging pragmatic responses and, therefore, it is better and wiser for  him not to wait impatiently for a long for coveted replies from them’.

In another piece titled “Ershad: An impulsive personality on all counts’ published on 11 October 2013 in Dhaka Courier also I mentioned:

‘I believe that Ershad will not miss the train this time. He knows very well that in politics time, space and dimension are the most leading factors and, hence, Jatio Party cannot lag behind. He will go for elections in the name of maintaining the continuity of constitution and democracy and he will play accordingly with due opportunistic and strategic acumen and mathematics when the crises after the elections get fomented. In all respects and on all counts our HM Ershad is the darling child of the ongoing politics in Bangladesh. And Ershad, as there is a belief in the mind of the people, has been moving being within the zone of India. Geo-politics of the day tells us that Hasina is more preferable to India for the reasons, known or unknown. Therefore, a sort of matching and synchronization between Ershad and Hasina is not meaningless from India’s standpoint.

Ershad does not care what the people think of him. He is what he is. Nobody can change him. More painstaking is that nobody in the party is in a position to raise any question assertively before him, privately or publicly. Practice in the party is that if he commits a political blunder that, of course, without forwarding any substantial logic and points, is branded ‘tactical’ by the party men. If he remains lipped-tight when his voice is needed for the interest of the country and people that is termed as a ‘historic cause’ by the party men. That’s why if Ershad nods in favor of elections under Hasina led interim government ranks and files in the party officially echo the same song as if Ershad has done the right thing in accordance with their long-cherished hopes and aspirations. Bravo, bravo, His Excellency Hussain Mohammad Ershad.

However, I am startled about such ostensible unflinching support to and confidence in Ershad by the ranks and files in the jatio party. In fact, Ershad must confess privately, if not publicly that he is alone, alone in the politics of Bangladesh, which can better be noted as follows:

I am Hussein Mohammad Ershad

Not the lord of all I survey

As the saying is being sustained and carried by many;

From jatio party to AL to BNP to all other left and right political parties

There is none to stand by me in time of distress and crisis;

Even in Jatio Party there I find a congregation of self-centered associates and opportunists

And outside the Jatio Party remain there so-called friends and allies

Not for me but for their interests primarily.

I am Hussein Mohammad Ershad

Telling you frankly also

Elections shall come and elections shall go

Perhaps I shall again be used as paw

What for, what for all are these taking place in case of me?

Therefore, let me declare candidly-------

I am Hussein Mohammad Ershad

I am alone, alone

With sincerity, commitment, love and affection

Nobody is with and around me

More painstaking is that I am told impulsive by a lot

I am Hussein Mohammad Ershad

Remaining, remaining alone all the time

Believe me or not’.

Thus, again my prayer to the creator of universe also called Allah is that ‘O Allah, bless HM Ershad to survive and live for a long in an atmosphere of responsibility and responsiveness’.

But as ill luck would have it, what he is doing now, starting from quitting Hasina-led grand alliance government to joining Hasina-led all party poll-time government to resigning from the same without himself withdrawing candidature from the constituency-17 at Dhaka (although he has ordered all Jatio Party candidates to do so, which has not yet been complied with) for the upcoming election to the 10^th Parliament scheduled to be held on 05 January 2014, can hardly be understood plausibly, mathematically and realistically. Striking all such things he has in effect tore Jatio Party into number of pieces. There is every latitude that he may again change his flexible mind to go for the said elections. Is he victim of geo-politics? Or is he victim of his own emotions, caprices and whims? Or is he victim of all? No matter what it is. What matters is that Jatio Party and its carriers, supporters and well-wishers have been suffering for a long, which should continue no more, no more.

Therefore, today all my good wishes and expectations centering iM Ershad have come down to such a point of irritation that forces me to say ‘Politics in action in today’s Bangladesh tells us to take Ershad into note, willingly or unwillingly or reluctantly, but ethics of politics warns us to be way from him’. And in tune with this let  me conclude that time is also matured enough to advise him ‘O the HM Ershad, please retire from politics and engage in writing autobiography and books, if possible’.