The saddening parties of our polity

[This was published on 11 April 2014 in Dhaka Courier]

No political party in today’s Bangladesh is in a comfortable standing to lead and run a government befittingly to suit the very purposes of the overall interests of the nation in pursuance of the respective manifestos, program under the canopy of widely publicized vision and mission keeping tune and tempo in the milieu of local, national, regional and global landscapes. Reasons, according to the grapevine or reality, are many but mostly recognizable, sustainable, considerable, agreeable and acceptable ones are mushroom growth and escalation of cronyism, philistinism and sycophancy and, as a resultant consequence, fall of quality, merit, morality, norms and values after the style and speed of the law of inverse variation are overshadowing our promising present forecasting great danger signal no-10 or above for future, immediate or remote.

A political party survives, lasts and continues depending on the overall organizational strength, program and activities of its activists from top to the bottom. If there resides any gap at any stage of such ties, party is bound to suffer accordingly. Time-oriented initiatives upholding the hopes and aspirations of the people or the target group(s) should be considered as a priority case. Merely beating drums without having any weight and importance cannot be appreciated at all. Truth is that a political party must not depend on its past glorious chapter being blind to the present as past is an inspiration but life of a political party gets consolidated and strengthened when it tags itself with the issues and problems of the present. Here the question of leadership and statesmanship arises predominantly.

Leadership and statesmanship are mostly neglected or avoided at almost all stages of political parties. Concept of ‘sun-like leadership’ is a reality indeed. It means the apex leader is a sun (star) and everything below him/her rotates around him/her after the very principles of star-planet-satellite relations. Exercises of human intelligence, logic and understanding applying necessary arts, science, mathematics and technology by the person(s) below  might be taken as an offence by the leader/person just above and the process is on up to the zenith. A kind of regimentation has been imposed on the exercise of inner democracy and growth of leadership depends merely on the will and whim instead of procedures and perkiness. Constitutions of political parties, to speak the truth, are groaning under the feet of those who matter at various tires of political parties. A sense of suffocation runs and prevails making all mechanical or to say in the best robots. There is no denying the fact that both politically and organizationally, our political parties are now totally shattered, bankrupt and vulnerable. Deconcentration in the name of so-called decentralization is a reality in the free, independent and sovereign Bangladesh. Negative British legacy is mostly preferred. Centripetal and centrifugal forces are concentrated in the hand of the topmost leader of the party concerned. In our age and day, one may feel free to call this mortifying state of standing of our political parties a variety of famine for the off and often diversion, derogation, sweeping, overriding, juxtaposition and/or swindling of vision, mission and determination.

                                             

There continues famine everywhere starting from education to industry to agriculture to governance, democracy, transparency and establishment of human rights. Honesty, fairness and justice are falling and wither away even chillingly to the Himalayan standing and firmness of dishonesty and unscrupulousness. Nobody bothers and cares meaningfully. Everybody is busy with himself/herself at the dire negation of common interests. Interest(s) of a person is/are more important and targeted as a rule. Political parties failed, failed miserably to make them stand before the nation as dependable and viable problem-solving agencies of diverse natures, folds and dimensions. Doing politics or getting associated with a party symbolizes one’s weight and prestige trampling the affirmed spirit of dedication and service for the causes of the people and country as a whole. Thus, sliding of politics into politricks and superfluous dependence on fictions, myths and rumors on issue(s) of vital concern because of lack of politics proper and so forth have inevitably made political parties infertile, unresponsive and unworkable on all counts.

When I recall the name of a political party, I wonder and feel without a delay a sense of acute suffocation since the overall activities of a political party here in Bangladesh hardly fall within the domain of politics proper. Malice, caprice, whim, perverse antagonism etc are so vibrant and vehement for which increasing dominance of negative aspect of politics is getting upper hand. Politics of ‘yes’ and/or ‘no’, not politics of compromise, assimilation and accommodation even on serious national issue(s), upset the whole theme and essence of politics making political parties enemies to each other and one another. An activist of BNP is essentially is a declared enemy to an activist of AL. Matter becomes so serious and deplorable when it is found that this very political association affects also family ties, friendship, social and religious domains and activities.

                      

While the phenomenon is disgraceful in the shade of opposition, it is more devastating and aggressive in the camp of position where roots of power in a state lie. Time is knocking at the door to awake us to look at the state of standing of our political parties so that we can refresh and rejuvenate the very concept of political party in its entirety. Politics is a noble practice; political parties are its carrier and the persons with and around political parties are known as the torch-bearers upon who rests the life and death of political parties. Let Sheikh Hasina, Begum Khaleda Zua, HM Ershad and others in the ranks and files understand and realize this truth. Let them come to a sense that today is not the last day and, hence, something must have to be sown and done for tomorrow. Let them have the profoundest self-inspection and enquiry so that they are well remembered after their departure from this planet. Let our leaders and statesmen in our context called ‘Bangladeshi model’ be bold, promising, sacrificing, visionary and missionary to infuse blood into the current respective political parties and thus stand by the nation as true friend, guide and philosopher matching befittingly in the setting of time, space and dimension. Let us reiterate the saying that ‘to lead and run a government in an atmosphere of democracy and human rights, there is no alternative to political parties’. Therefore, let our political parties be the real carriers of our national interests going beyond parochialism, short-sightedness and antagonistic state of footing to each other and one another.