Old wine in a new bottle won't do

The showdown between two groups of the same political party at Milonghat ferry point of the river Bangshi in Savar exposes the prevalence of the degenerative politics for which the country has paid through its nose. Ever since the ouster of the government that established the monopoly of partisan politics even at the grassroots level by backing its notorious elements, the vacuum created by their departure did not take long to be filled by the counterparts of the now dominant political party. The confrontation at the Bangshi's ferry ghat (point) is not the only such incident of internecine feud within that party. Here the lessee of the ferry point found in an extortionist of his own party an aggressive rival with no qualms about defying the directives of the party high command.

Reportedly, the rival demanded an extortion money of Tk500,000 from the lessee which the latter refused to pay. Without getting the money he demanded, the extortionist was creating obstruction to operation of the ferry service for some days. On Wednesday last, armed with locally made lethal weapons alongside pistols he led his gang to the spot and assaulted the lessee who happens to be the general secretary of the Jubodal of ward number 6 under the Savar municipality. Still the lessee did not yield to the illegal demand. This prompted the extortionist and his gang members to get on board the two trawlers used for ferrying people and assaulted the boatmen before taking away the vessels.

It is at one point of the showdown, local people came to the scene and the invading group leader pulled out the firearm to fire shots. No pushover, the Jubodal leader also threw challenge, "Come and shoot, if you dare". Most likely the local people's arrival on the scene made the invader flee but not without his booty---two boats used for ferrying people. Otherwise, it could escalate into a bloody confrontation. Mercifully, this did not happen here.

But not all internecine clashes end without claiming lives. It is most worrying that hardly a day passes without report on bloody clashes between rival groups of the party with the best prospect of capturing power in the next general election. It is clear that much as the top leaders may have urged the party followers to avoid the thuggery and monopolised extortion that made the immediate past ruling party unpopular and detestable, the tendency in wide areas of the country paints an undesirable picture. Many such elements have started behaving as if their party is already in power! Worse still is the fact that even ouster of a number of such wayward followers from the party has failed to arrest recurrence of similar incidents or acted as a deterrent. Failure to rein in those elements gives rise to a kind of parallel economy for social parasites to feed on and thrive.

Its implication is likely to be negative for the party. Rival political parties will seize the opportunity to discredit it. Voters will not be pleased with the party that cannot control its devious followers. Apart from this concern for the party, such developments go against the spirit and principle of the July-August uprising. It is not for nothing that the architects of the movement often reiterated that the mass movement was not waged only to install another oppressive ruler in place of the ousted fascist. This sentiment has gained strength by this time and the people hope for a systemic change not just a change of government. It is because of this, so many reform commissions have been constituted to bring about the desired changes in the system of governance.

Political parties are expected to reform themselves in order to fall in step with the reform initiatives. Old wine in a new bottle won't do. The people have long suffered at the hands of unclean and oppressive politics. They deserve better and those willing to woo voters must prove their sincerity, dedication and intellectual integrity---qualities that are in demand for a fresh journey on course of building a new Bangladesh based on democracy, social justice and equal opportunity for all.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com