City corporation polls: Reasons behind BNP victory

---

Syed Jamaluddin The BNP-led 18 party alliance has also won the mayoral election at Gazipur with wide margin. Election at Gazipur was held smoothly despite some stray incidents. Their candidate has defeated his opponent with a margin of more than one hundred thousand votes. Prior to the Gazipur city corporation polls, the BNP-led alliance won the mayoral elections in Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal city corporations. The BNP-led alliance is now greatly relieved whereas the ruling Awami League is in deep trouble. Although Gazipur city corporation election was a local-level non-party election it took the character of a national election. It was a prestige battle between the Awami League and the BNP. Gazipur is the largest city corporation after Dhaka. There were more than 1.0 million voters. Awami League was not alert enough after the defeat of their mayoral candidate in Chittagong. They took the defeat of their candidate at Narayanganj casually. They did not take lessons from the defeat in Comilla and change their course duly. National issues dominated the election at Gazipur and the Awami League suffered a humiliating defeat. People will now be interested to see the outcome of next parliamentary election. An analysis of the reasons that made the 18-Party Alliance supported candidate Gazipur elections victorious is given in the following paragraphs. The Awami League is insisting that election should be held in accordance with the constitution. This means that Sheikh Hasina will remain head of an interim government at the time of election. On the other hand, the BNP-led alliance is calling for a non-party caretaker government for conducting the next parliamentary election. This has now become a popular demand. An opinion poll carried out by a leading local Bengali daily has found that 90 per cent people are in favour of caretaker government. The BNP-led alliance was successful in mobilising public opinion in favour of the demand for caretaker government and they have won the elections on this issue along with other factors. A good number of leaders of the BNP and its allies are behind the bar. Cases have been filed against them. They are not allowed to hold meetings and rallies. Government repression against them have made them popular. Demand for the release of arrested leaders has become an election issue. This was highlighted during the election. This situation contributed to the victory of 18-Party Alliance candidates in the election. People did not like the way the government protects ministers, advisers and officials from corruption charges. The government failed to take necessary steps in controlling corruption. Collapse of share market and scams such as Hall-Mark, Destiny and Bismillah Group are not being investigated and action taken properly. This gives a wrong signal about government intention. People cannot keep faith in the system of governance. They tend to go against the government. Different quarters from home and abroad sharply protested the government's recent move to take over the Grameen Bank (GB). Members of the University Teachers Association said that if the recommendations of the government-constituted Enquiry Commission on GB were implemented, the globally acclaimed institution would be destroyed. A US Representative called upon Secretary Kerry to make it clear to the officials in Dhaka that America supports Grameen Bank and its work for the poor in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world. If the government of Bangladesh continues its attack on Prof Yunus and the GB, the US government should re-evaluate the wisdom of its current push to deepen political and security ties with the current government, he said. Bangladesh needs more institutions like the Grameen and more pioneers like Muhammad Yunus. These observations on Bangladesh should not be relished by the government. Although Ganajagoran Mancha made a good beginning in favour of war crimes trial, it could not sustain its momentum in the face of the emergence of the Hefazat-ul Islam. In this context government adopted a controversial strategy against the Hefazat-ul Islam. The assault on Hefazat men by the law-enforcers gave a wrong message to the people. Hefazat reportedly supported 18-Party Alliance during city corporation elections. They certainly played an important role in the victory of 18-Party Alliance candidates in recent city corporation elections. Many concessions have been given to the Indians without ensuring corresponding benefit for Bangladesh. This has annoyed many people who took the advantage of election and voted against the government. The government should not have given unilateral concessions against promises which were found to be empty ones in the ultimate analysis. During the tenure of this government prices of essentials continued to rise. No action was taken against the syndicates. Monitoring teams were ineffective. People had no redress of their grievances. The government has banned a number of TV channels. The Daily Amar Desh, a pro-opposition newspaper, was shut down. Mahmudur Rahman, outspoken acting editor of Amar Desh, has been arrested. These are unpopular moves and have gone against the government. People protested this through ballot. Dhaka City Corporation was divided into two without any justification. This was a whimsical political decision. This was a very unpopular move. Purpose was to win elections of the divided city corporation. But ground realities are different. As soon as the 18-Party Alliance showed interest in contesting these elections, the government got scared and postponed the decision to hold the elections. It is very unlikely that the government can hold these elections during their tenure. This unpopular act was protested through ballot at Gazipur. The government has issued licences for 11 insurance companies and nine commercial banks although the market is saturated. The licences were awarded to people having connection with the ruling Awami League. In its previous tenure, the government issued licences for 31 insurance companies and 13 banks. The banking and insurance sectors need reforms and not new licences. It is very unfortunate that new licences have been given on political consideration and not on the quality and performance of the sponsors. Voters did not like government action in this regard either. Peelkhana tragedy hurt many people. People did not like the ouster of Khaleda Zia from her Dhaka Cantonment residence. The message from Gazipur has come without any ambiguity. The ruling party must go for course correction. The Gazipur debacle has come as a blow to Awami League since the district has been traditionally a stronghold of the Awami League for decades. The writer is an economist and columnist. syedjamaluddin22@yahoo.com