Current Affairs
Rise of the Third Force?
Photo: AFP
Hefajat-e Islam is now a big name in Bangladesh. Established in early 2010 to oppose women's development policy, the Chittagong-based organisation has consolidated its strength and demonstrated it through the long march and the subsequent rally held in the capital on April 6. In the present volatile political situation, the long-march has drawn huge attention. In the aftermath of the rally, politics also has taken a peculiar turn. The government desperately tried to reach an understanding with the Hefajat to prevent them from holding the long march.
The government had feared a political disaster as the BNP-Jamaat led alliance had expected the Hefajat to wage tougher agitation to have their demands met. And if it had happened, the opposition's oust government movement would get momentum and it would make April a turning point in the opposition's movement. With that hope, the BNP-led alliance extended its whole hearted support to the long march and provided food and drinking water to the marchers. Even a BNP delegation-led by party's senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain joined the rally and expressed solidarity with the rally.
The beleaguered government took some whimsical decisions like arresting some so called "atheist bloggers" to please Hefajat and unofficially extended wholehearted support to countrywide hartal and blockade enforced by 24 pro-liberation organisations and Gonojagoron Moncho to foil the long march. Dhaka was practically cut off from the rest of the country since April 5 morning as most transport workers suspended their service. In an unprecedented move, Bangladesh Railway on the night of April 5 suspended several train services "fearing attacks and sabotage".
All theses efforts were aimed at foiling the Hefajat's long march. But its supporters kept marching towards Dhaka from different parts of the country, defying the obstructions. And finally hundreds and thousands of Hefajat supporters gathered in the capital. From the rally, they gave the government three weeks' time to meet their demands, including a new law that will impose death penalty for maligning Islam and a stern punishment to those they call atheist bloggers. Otherwise, they threatened, they would lay siege to the capital on May 5.
The Islamists also called a daylong hartal for the April 8 to protest the “government efforts” to obstruct their long march. The strike was enforced more or less peacefully.
Besides, Hefajat will hold rallies in Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Brahmanbaria, Faridpur and Bogra in this April to drum up people's support to its13-point demand.
The show of strength aimed at mounting pressure on the government to have their 13-point demands fulfilled has given some crucial messages to the country's politicians and people.
Members of Hefajat-e-Islam pour into Shapla Chattar. Photo: AFP
Despite huge provocation from some quarters and obstruction by the government, Hefajat did not react violently and did not go for tougher agitation programmes right now. It was learnt talking to some leaders of Hefajat that they did not want to be used by any political party. The BNP-led alliance of course would have politically benefited had the Hefajat announced tougher agitation programmes like non-stop hartal or sit-in for several days. Such programmes might not have benefited the Hefajat. So, its policymakers want to go ahead with its agenda in a well orchestrated plan. The organisation is working to expand the Hefajat network countrywide by forming committees at district, upazila and union parishad level. The target is to include Islam loving people in the committees to intensify the movement to "protect Islam".
As per plan, the organisation will not turn into a political one despite the presence of many senior leaders of some Islamist parties in the committee. The organisation will gather its strength as a religious force to achieve a bigger goal in future.
The long march and subsequent rally have inspired the Hefajat's policymakers as they believe the Islamist forces have been united under the banner of Hefajat after a long time. They now want to further strengthen the unity. It is true that their unity will matter much in the current political culture in the country where both the major parties-- Awami League and BNP--are ready to do anything to go to power.
Hefajat leaders are considering the prevailing situation an appropriate time to do so. The Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist force in the country, is now going through a crisis. Its top leaders are facing war crimes charges. It will be difficult for Jamaat in the days to come to reach people as an Islamist force. So, this is the time for Hefajat to rise as the Islamist force.
And the behaviour of ruling Awami League and the main opposition BNP will also largely determine Hefajat's success. The confrontational culture in politics, which is an outcome of animosity between the AL and BNP, will continue providing fresh opportunity to Hefajat to expand. Will it be able to emerge as the third force?
The way the government and the BNP-led opposition behaved centring Hefajat's long march is worrying. The government has messed up the whole thing to prevent the opposition from taking any political mileage from the long march. The government has seemed to have surrendered to some extent to the Islamists. The government looked very weak. The campaign launched by the government that Jamaat instigated Hefajat to take to the streets and investing huge amounts of money will not yield any positive result for the government. Through this sort of campaign the government has tried to undermine the rise of Islamists, which is also quite dangerous. The government needs to reassess its strategy to tackle the Islamists. The government policymakers should ask themselves if they really believe that Jamaat is instigating Hefajat men to wage a movement against the government. If it is true, then why didn’t Hefajat launch tougher agitation programmes from the April 6 rally in the capital?
The BNP on the other hand was engaged in an unholy game to take maximum political mileage from the Islamists. It is really a shame that the party, which failed to intensify the anti-government agitation due to its organisational weakness, now depends on others to carry out its own agenda. Hefajat has in fact taught the BNP a good lesson.
The country's political situation is not the same as it was before April 6. Policymakers of the AL and BNP and all social forces should explore ways to contain the rise of Islamists. The practice of true democracy can be one of the best ways, which is almost absent in the AL and BNP.
The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments