Leadership building: Mindset of top leaders

[This was published on 4 April 2014 in Dhaka Courier]

Until and unless the mindsets of top leaders of the political parties in today’s Bangladesh get overhauled, refreshed and rejuvenated with required sense of responsibility, responsiveness and accountability backed by fitting vision and mission to move with time, space and dimension, I am convinced with all arts, mathematics, technology and science, that question of birth or growth of leadership proper shall remain and continue simply as a kind of mirage in its entirety. Asking is who are the top leaders or, to speak in the superlative, who shall be considered as the top leaders in political parties? There are in fact various modes of definition and determination of top leaders as well in our perspective. Say, one may start from the leaders at the root to the top; other may choose the mid level while few may opt for the uppermost and apex leaders i.e. chiefs of political parties. Whatever the basis is, the carnal point remains the same and unique in all cases and this is the ‘mindset’, which is the sum total of such leader’s standing as a whole.

Hardly there is a debate on the assumption, analysis and conclusion that the organizational activities here in Bangladesh go on either paternalistically or matrimonially both of which having the strongest sense of dominance with identical weight, velocity and forcefulness. When we say matrimonially rule by female, called otherwise petticoat leadership/government/administration, comes to the forefront instantly. One should not fall into any confusion while using the term ‘petticoat’ in politics, administration and statecraft. To speak the truth, concepts of petticoat leadership (leadership by female) and non-petticoat leadership (leadership by male) do not make any sharp variation in Bangladesh perception and context as well since leadership, under all the circumstances, characteristically glorifies the chair concern with all sorts of essentials. Shakespeare’s saying ‘frailty thy name is woman’ is no more reflection of reality in this age and day. Rather, interestingly enough, petticoat leadership in many cases appears to be more successful, fruit-bearing and radiant. From these standpoints, if the vocabularies of petticoat leadership/government arise from the perception of the weak standing of governance and administration that should immediately or rightly be deleted from the dictionary of politics and political science. If it is not so then I must feel free to sound on a high volume that this taxonomy is a kind of innovation in a positive sense and manner and, therefore, politics and political science can safely use and carry this going beyond highly-talked-about music of gender reminiscence.

Fact is that whether the mode of running the organizations by political parties is paternalistic or matrimonial that is not the flaming issue. Point is whether there lies the spirit and determination in the minds of the leaders to go for building up leadership at various stages of the party concerned. Looking at the ongoing landscapes of the political parties in Bangladesh one may readily be tempted to draw a conclusion such as follows:

*Neither Sheikh Hasina nor Begum Khaleda nor HM Ershad nor any leader of remaining parties, ranging from small to big, are sincere and interested enough in practice to embark upon a broad-based plan to produce new leaderships in the context of continuing politics in Bangladesh. This psychology, it is assumed, grows and develops for many a reason and the leading ones entail sole dominance of the apex leaders over their respective parties that has given birth to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ voice vote in line with the dictates and wishes of such apex leaders, showing thumb, if wished, to the constitution by him or her replacing him or her in place, allowing cronyism, sycophancy, philistinism and corruptions as a dependable means to last and continue:

*Continuance of dynastic politics anyhow, which is the deciding factor to determine who shall lead the party in question after the departure, sudden or not, of such apex leader of the party concerned. In our context, in BNP it is Tareque Zia, in AL it is Sajeeb Wazed Joy, in JP it is / Roushan Ershad/GM Quader. Here age, qualification and experience hardly do matter and hence dynastic succession is the reality in the end:

  

*Since the apex leaders are not keen to leadership-building, the immediate torpedo like blast and feedback of such state of mind on the organization is inevitable and overriding. As a result, leadership-building at the mid and grass root levels are duly thwarted with all sorts of negative vices leading to stagnation in the end:

*Rise and proliferation of the system of nomination/selection setting aside and overshadowing the system of election have not only undermined the overall standing of competent and dedicated souls in the parties but  also paved the way wider for hybrid leaders most of whom are being considered  as garbage and burden under the circumstances, challenging  or not. Leaders at the top cannot evade such liabilities on any plea or lame excuse:

                       

*Fall of intelligence proper as resultant consequences of shameless tender, mortgages, sales----open or secret---- by our intelligentsia under the canopy of supports and encouragements of leaders of the political parties has meanwhile taken the country to the point of collapse intellectually closing the doors to knowledge and free thinking as a whole. Leaders feel free and satisfied to see and get with and around them so many icons of various natures, folds and dimensions. There is no denying the fact that the great debacle of the nation took place in the kingdom of intelligentsia. Shame, shame and shame: and

                      

*Democracy cannot work well at all in absence of political parties and political parties cannot work and develop smoothly and concertedly in absence of leadership(s) and, therefore, leadership(s) cannot be available provided there is a shortage of vision and mission for building up leaderships from root to the peak.

Needless to utter twice that to move with time, space and dimension in tune with arts, science, technology and religion(s) or going ahead of, first and foremost step is the mindset of the persons, here referred to as leaders’ concerned. It is believed that if the leaders at the peak of a political party prefer encouraging the making of new leaderships such initiatives and encouragements must have necessary feedbacks on the stages below, starting from middle to the root.