More secretary, less general

 [This was published on 7 March 2014 in Dhaka Courier]

Secretary General /General Secretary of a political party is the most vital and inspiring office for a political party whether the party is small or big since he/she acts, apart from role otherwise, also as a coordinating agency between and among the executive body, departmental secretaries, district, upazila and overseas units  It is said that a party moves on promisingly and geometrically when its SG is, to the best of his/her capacity and capability, truly active and well aware of the overall veins and pulses of the party and its office-bearers, ranks and files and activists at the grass-root levels.

His overall qualifications entail so many things but the most leading ones are his/her political experience, courage, integrity, honesty, determination, patience, far-sightedness, pro-activeness, responsiveness, art of dealing, negotiation, thread bareness  backed by a variety of strong sense of forward motion,  accommodation, reconciliation, arbitration and sacrifice. To move with time, space and dimension in tune with the march of arts, science and technology and come what may not, he/she must be possessed of a befitting frame of mind. Therefore, from these standpoints, question of educational set comes and stands without a doubt as one of the prime criteria.

He/she is a man at the field-level. Being the executive head, he/she is, inter alia, responsible and accountable functionally and organizationally for carrying and implementing program, long-term or short-term., with the help of departmental secretaries, members of the executive committee, district and up zila units and other wings, associational and professional bodies Further appealing point is he/she shall never aim or strive to run the wheel of the party sitting in an ivory tower, which means keeping distance from reality, activists and politics in action. For a SG supports from the ranks and files from top to bottom in the party concerned and public image and acceptance are condition precedents. Best option to place a leader in the office of SG is ‘election, not selection’. To suit the very purpose, democratic outlook and practice of the chief of the party concerned is a priori.

But there is no denying the fact that in today’s Bangladesh SG of a political party is merely a choice of the chief of the party concerned and, as a result, all the essentials for a SG get suppressed and/or sidetracked under the feet of such chief who is almost a Sun around which rotates all the planets, satellites and so forth. Party system in our ongoing political system is also, if the truth be told, monolithic under the visor of so-called democracy and democratic order with a beguiling, forward-looking and enlightened written form of constitution and for this it is in actual fact convoluted for a researcher to call such party monolithic both from structural and constitutional point of views.

Inner-democracy, leadership building etc are reflections predominantly of the chief of the party in question. That’s why, office of the Secretary General in this day and age is  open to those who vie for winning the very mind of the chief of his/her party, interestingly and disappointingly enough, not by dint of required qualifications but mostly by virtue of nepotism going beyond limits, necessarily or not.  Cronyism and philistinism are now being fostered, nursed and geared up intentionally, recklessly or inadvertently by leaders. of the first water. Group politics or factionalism is negative in nature or marginalized because of fear of the apex leader of the party.

And as such, appointment or selection, not election is the dominating mode for giving birth to new leaderships at various stages in a political party. In the present day the most popular and qualified leaders in a party are not weighed for the office of SG since our party system is akin to our parliamentary system of government called ‘Bangladesh model’ where President, Head of State, remains subservient virtually to the will of the Prime Minister, Head of government, in all cases both politically and constitutionally whether it is logical or not, and here in a party system SG likewise remains captive to the will of the party chief under all the circumstances. Such SG is not the choice of the majority voice of the party rather his/her actual identity gets unfolded as ‘party chief’s man/woman’. More painstaking is that he/she gets elected through constitutional process, although exercise of politics and political will remains nipped in the bud. Such SG cannot but be a fish out of water and his/her overall activities revolve around the wishes and dictates of his/her appointer, chief of the party. Therefore, rise and fall of such SG does not create considerable sensation and reaction even in the ranks and files in a political party such as AL, BNL and Jatio Party. In today’s Bangladesh this is a reality, which one may hardly differ.

Having all these in right perspectives, let us look at the office of the Secretary General of Awami League that has been carrying a glorious past including the leadership of the war of liberation leading to its culmination on 16 December 1971. With a free and sovereign Bangladesh .Once this office was illuminated by the leaders like Tajuddin Ahmed, Shamul Haque, Muzanur Rahman Chowdhury, Zillur Rahman  Abdur Razzak and so on. During the leadership of Sheikh Hasina (1981 till the date) in particular this very office fell within her sole jurisdiction for which neither Tofael Ahmed nor other outstanding leader(s) was considered as SG since Sheik Hasina thought otherwise from her convenient and strategic standpoints. After the havoc of 1/11 of 2006-2008, the matter became more complicated and hazy as Hasina herself met with series of political conspiracies even by the top leaders of the party. Departure of SG late Abdul Jalil and arrival of Syed Ashraful Islam, a leader with less political and organizational experience, as SG is indeed a turning point.

Many factors worked for him including the role during the havoc of 1/11 of 2006-2008. It is also in the air (I am not sure of it) that he has a strong blessing even from the outside of the territory of Bangladesh. It was expected that Obaidyl Quader, then acting SG, would be the best choice. Obaidyl Quader, former president of chatra league and now member of Presidium, is also a favorite of Sheikh Hasina. There exists a strong impression in general that Obaidul Quader with all his honesty, sincerity, dedication and integrity, unfolded and/or being unfolded, has meanwhile emerged as a statesman. It’s his success and achievement that as well go into the pocket of Sheikh Hasina as a whole.

Needless to utter twice that Syed Ashraf is not in a position to cultivate and reap what AL needs today in the face of Himalayan challenges and dilemmas pointedly following the general and up zila elections. He is credited for soberness, amicableness and soft-spokenity, although his way of practicing sycophancy is a threat to his statesmanship. One should not miss the point that there still lies a kind of oceanic gap between him and the organization, which, it is believed, really impossible to cover in the days ahead of. Even there a saying that Syed Ashraf is a ‘visiting SG’ and he styles himself as such. I am convinced that he cannot bear the load of the office of the SG of the party like AL.

Therefore, Sheikh Hasina should give thought on this vital but unavoidable issue right now and find out someone daring enough to take the challenge politically and organizationally under the given circumstances.  She must have to take into note that taking all the loads on shoulders is not wise and practicable at all. For putting AL on a better footing going above all sorts of cronyisms at random wherein less attention is being paid to education, experience, honesty, integrity in the current mood and mode both decentralization and de-concentration of powers are call of time and to suit the very purposes, a new SG is also a call of time. May Allah bless Sheikh Hasina, AL, Bangladesh and its people!.