Politics
Going Alone
In her televised address to the nation on October 18, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has proposed the formation of an -all party election-time government and urged BNP chief Khaleda Zia to nominate her party MPs for inclusion in the interim cabinet. Hasina however has left some crucial issues unanswered. She has not specified the size of her proposed cabinet and its scope of work or who would head the cabinet. It's also unclear from her speech when the interim cabinet will be formed though it is supposed to start functioning on October 27 the day the 90 days timeframe for holding general election begins. Ruling AL leaders however have been maintaining that Hasina will remain at the helm.
The BNP-led 18-Party-Alliance has used it as an opportunity to question the premier's proposal. Many civil society personalities and jurists who tried to support the PM's proposal to begin talks to break the political stalemate also spoke of the speech's vagueness. Many ruling AL leaders were also in the dark about the proposal, as it wasn't discussed at any forums of the party. Components of AL-led alliance, too, were not consulted beforehand. So, they were also in the dark. And Jatiya Party, the key member of AL-led alliance, openly spoke about the lack of clarity of the premier's proposal and decided to meet her seeking explanation. As per the decision, JP chief HM Ershad and some of his party leaders met Hasina on October 21 at her official residence Gonobhaban.
The meeting's outcome turned out to be rather unpleasant for both the AL and JP. Leaders of the AL and JP who were present at the meeting knew very well what they talked about. But, immediately after the meeting the AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told journalists that JP would compete against the AL in the next elections if BNP boycotted the polls; if not, the alliance would remain unchanged.
But next day JP Chairman HM Ershad held a press conference to protest Ashraf's remarks. “The remarks were untrue and baseless. We want to live with our own identity. We will not participate in the election to empower anybody,” said Ershad.
Ershad's outburst undermined the image of Ashraf and his party. People now wait for Ashraf's reply to Ershad's accusation. If Ashraf remains silent, it will prove Ershad's accusation true. And this may undermine the AL's credibility further.
If the AL depends on Ershad to set a strategy to fight the BNP-led alliance in the polls, it may appear as a blunder for the ruling party. Ershad, the deposed military ruler, is famous for being an unpredictable man. So, he might leave the AL-led alliance, whenever he deems it fit.
The way the government imposed an indefinite ban on all political programmes like rallies, sit-in programmes, human chains and processions in the capital also demonstrates its nervous and fragile state of mind. It also exposes Hasina’s growing isolation in politics. Many AL leaders and ministers had been in the dark before Dhaka Metropolitan Police imposed the indefinite ban just a day after the prime minister's speech. In private conversation, many AL leaders questioned the decision to impose a ban. Members of AL-led alliance also denounced the decision and demanded that the police withdraw it immediately. Along with civil society personalities and jurists, they maintained that the ban would worsen the situation further.
The wave of criticism has failed to force the government to withdraw the police ban on political programmes in the capital. History tells us that such repressive measures never benefits the government, rather they favour the opposition.
Khaleda has made it clear long ago that her party will never accept Hasina as the chief of polls time government and will not participate in the parliamentary election if it is held under a Hasina-led government. On the other hand, Khaleda on October 22 proposed a non-party election time government headed by a respected person who will be chosen on consensus by ruling and opposition parties. She also proposed that ruling and opposition parties will propose five advisers each from the advisers of the previous caretaker governments of 1996 and 2001.
While the proposal sounds good, both the AL and the BNP will find it difficult to nominate five advisers each for an election-time government as some advisors of the previous two caretaker governments will be unavailable.
When his attention was drawn to this reality, a BNP policymaker said the proposal was not discussed in detail at the party's standing committee's meeting. The two top leaders– Hasina and Khaleda– are running the show according to their whims and fancies, paying little heed to the growing political crisis.
The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.
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