Current Affairs
Cracks in the AL Skyscraper
Polls in Sylhet proved to be victorious for BNP and disastrous for AL. Photo: Anisur Rahman
The way the ruling Awami League high command has reacted to the party's humiliating defeat in the just-concluded prestigious battle of ballots in the four city corporations has exposed turmoil in the ruling party.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been trying to glorify her government for the free and fair manner in which the election took place. Last Sunday, she portrayed the polls as "a victory of democracy and of her government".
Through the claim, Hasina, also chief of the ruling Awami League, might have tried to hide the magnitude of her party's defeat. But her colleagues in the cabinet and party however did not follow suit. They did not hesitate to speak the truth on Sunday, the same day the premier tried to rave about her government's success.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith said that the city election results gave out “an ominous signal to me and of course to the Awami League."
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said, “The impact [of the polls] will not end till the next [parliamentary] elections. It has to be considered as a warning.”
On Saturday night, immediately after the defeat of AL-backed candidates in the polls, a number of AL MPs and leaders told The Daily Star that the city results appeared as a shock to them. They did not predict such a humiliating defeat.
AL chief Hasina must have been worried, but as the chief of the camp she might have taken the strategy to put up a brave face to prevent party leaders and workers from becoming demoralised.
Photo: Amran Hossain
Let's revisit the days on which the ruling AL's power of skyscraper was built. The process began during the elections of the same four city corporations in August 2008. The AL-backed mayoral candidates had won all the posts. The emphatic victory boosted the morale of AL leaders and workers across the country. It was also reflected in the December 29, 2008 parliamentary polls in which the AL alone had won a landslide victory bagging 230 seats of the total 300. This trend continued and its local leaders excel in the upazila parishads election held on January 22, 2009. AL leaders won more than 400 out of total 481 chairmen posts.
So, the AL-led government under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina began its journey in January 2009 by building a towering power of skyscraper. People extended their wholehearted support and confidence in Hasina and her party to lead the country forward by doing something extraordinary. Hasina's government had huge forces at central and field levels: MPs and Upazila Chairmen.
Around five years after that, the results of the four city polls has appeared as a heavy blow to the AL as the party will face its rivals in five or six months in the parliamentary polls. Many AL leaders, both at the central and local level, fear more disasters awaiting the party in the coming days. The government and the party have made many mistakes in the last four and a half years. People will judge the performances of the government through ballots.
The people's latest verdict in the four city polls has made it clear that they expect good governance more than local development. The opinions expressed in ballots have also proved wrong the successive governments' strategy to satisfy them by only carrying out local development activities without paying heed to good governance issues.
Rajshahi too, went to BNP. Photo: Amran Hossain
The immediate past four mayors who contested the polls with the support of the ruling AL had carried out many development activities in their respective cities during their five-year tenure. But people have thought only of the critical national issues and the AL-led government's failures to cast their votes.
Local AL leaders say that it was the BNP's clever campaign that captured the voters' mind. In its strategy, the BNP, instead of focusing on local issues, highlighted the national issues that have rattled the government over the last few years. There are many critical national issues like share market scam, Sonali-Bank- Hall Mark loan scam and the alleged corruption centring the Padma bridge project. Besides, unruly and violent behaviour of ruling party men had annoyed locals and they reacted through ballots.
The religious issue of course played an extremely crucial role to ensure defeat of the AL-backed candidates in the city polls. Hefazat-e-Islam and some Islamic parties have carried out an energetic campaign in the run up to the polls to portray the AL-led government and the party backed mayoral aspirants as ''anti-Islam". It worked amazingly well.
All these issues will continue to give the AL some more pain as its rival will intensify their use in the battle of ballots.
Now, the crucial question is will the AL have enough time in hand to take measures to prevent the collapse of the empire of power? Grassroots level AL leaders and supporters may not find anything to feel hopeful about if they consider the party high commands' activities in the last four and a half years. The party backed mayoral candidate faced a humiliating defeat in the Chittagong City Corporation polls in 2010 to the BNP-backed candidate. Later, the party backed candidates faced defeat in the mayoral polls in Narayanganj in 2011 and in Comilla in 2012. But the ruling high commands did not take the issue seriously and revamp the party and correct the government's failures.
Hasina's government and party may take some desperate steps to face the main opposition BNP-led alliance's street agitation for a non-partisan government during the upcoming parliamentary election. The situation will then get complicated, which might even worsen further for which the AL might have to pay heavily in the next parliamentary elections.
The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.
Photo: anisur rahman
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