BNP regroups but existential crisis remains
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
N.M. Harun
The fifth national council of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), held on December 8 at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre, was a grand show. It was a testimony to the charisma of the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, and the resilience of the workers and leaders of the party.
All attention of the council was focused on the BNP's absentee leader, Tarique Rahman, who, with bail from the Supreme Court, is away in London for treatment for the past 15 months -- in a sort of self-exile. [Tarique was made senior joint secretary-general of the BNP in 2002 when such a post was not even there in the party constitution. This was done in recognition of Tarique's clout in the party and the government in the aftermath of the 2001 general election. Tarique was the boss of the now-disbanded Hawa Bhavan, then an elite structure parallel to the official organisation of the BNP. Hawa Bhavan was reputed to have masterminded the electoral victory of the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in 2001 and, subsequently, operating as an alternate power house to the Khaleda-led government itself. Tarique was arrested by the army-led joint task forces during the emergency government, in March 2007, and was allegedly tortured in custody. He got released on bail from the Supreme Court in September 2008 and went to London.]
In the run-up to the council, it was leaked out in the press that the council would make an amendment to the party constitution to create a post of senior vice-chairman and the council would elect Tarique to that post. And Tarique would be second only to Khaleda and lead the party in her absence -- Tarique would be Khaleda's heir-apparent.
A melodrama was, however, waiting to take place. A video-recorded speech of Tarique was played at the inaugural session of the council in which he clearly said he was not yet ready, physically and mentally, to re-join active politics. Tarique said:
l I have heard that many of you have raised demands for my participation in party activities. But this will solely depend on the overall political situation and the condition of my health.
l I am still undergoing medical treatment. I don't know how long it will take to get full recovery.
l In my exile, I engage myself in soul-searching and analysing the situation and thinking about directly participating in party activities. Pray for me.
The councillors not only prayed for Tarique but also amended the party constitution and unanimously elected him senior vice-chairman within hours of his speech. In fact, this was the only election that took place at the council; Khaleda had already been declared re-elected chairperson, unopposed; and the council authorised Khaleda to fill up all the other party posts including those of the standing committee, vice-chairman, secretary-general, and the 251-member central executive committee.
[On December 13 -- five days after the council -- Khaleda retained Khandaker Delwar Hossain as the secretary-general on a temporary basis, named 19 members of the standing committee, one senior joint secretary-general and seven joint secretary-generals. It is not known when the task of naming all the office-bearers and members of all the committees will be completed.]
Thus, in so far as the restructuring of the BNP in its fifth national council is concerned, it seems the main concern of the party leadership was to fulfil a desire of Khaleda Zia. She, with the acquiescence of the council, has now all but passed on the political baton of General Ziaur Rahman, her husband, to their son, Tarique Rahman.
With Khaleda being visibly eager as well as desperate to chaperone her son to party and national leadership, the BNP, as an organisation, will henceforth revolve round Tarique. This is a big gamble.
Tarique is no longer his old self -- the boss of the Hawa Bhavan, exuding confidence, power and authority. By his own statement, he is now physically handicapped, traumatised by the bitter experience of the emergency and mentally broken. He is also morally weakened, in public perception, by the Hawa Bhavan-centric controversies and scandals. He is, besides, burdened with court cases.
How this demoralised Tarique, in his new incarnation as the heir-apparent of his mother, will respond to the new challenge of leading the BNP from the front, is anybody's guess.
The BNP said in its election manifesto of 2008 that it faced an 'existential crisis' in the wake of the 2007 emergency. It was referring to the danger of disintegration the party faced during the emergency period. With the holding of the fifth national council, the BNP has completed the process of regrouping. It is now a rejuvenated party, organisationally.
But, a political organisation for its sustenance and development is dependent on its politics and ideology. The politics and ideology of the BNP are embedded in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution -- the Islam-pasand post-1975 polity. The basis of this Bangladeshi Islam-pasand polity is the counter-revolution of August 15, 1975. The extant post-'75 polity is now under serious threat of its very existence.
The trial of the perpetrators of the August 15 counter-revolution has been completed and they are now on death row. The present government is committed to annul the Fifth Amendment and restore the pristine fundamental principles of state policy: Bengali nationalism, democracy, socialism and secularism. The present government is also committed to try the war criminals which will deal a death blow to religion-based, that is, Islam-based politics.
It is obvious that if and when the present government carries out its political and ideological reforms programme, the BNP will face an existential crisis, in the political and ideological sense. The BNP, in its present political and ideological shape - Bangladeshi nationalism which is a euphemism for Bengali Muslim nationalism -- will have no constitutional place in the possible emerging political matrix based on Bengali nationalism and secularism.
The just-concluded fifth national council of the BNP did not pay any attention at all to the political and ideological issues in the changed context when Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League have returned to power with more than three-fourth majority in the parliament and when secularism is winning, globally, against religion-based politics. The BNP is behaving like an ostrich, apparently trusting that the looming storm of political and constitutional reforms of the present government will blow away.
harun1943@gmail.com
The fifth national council of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), held on December 8 at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre, was a grand show. It was a testimony to the charisma of the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, and the resilience of the workers and leaders of the party.
All attention of the council was focused on the BNP's absentee leader, Tarique Rahman, who, with bail from the Supreme Court, is away in London for treatment for the past 15 months -- in a sort of self-exile. [Tarique was made senior joint secretary-general of the BNP in 2002 when such a post was not even there in the party constitution. This was done in recognition of Tarique's clout in the party and the government in the aftermath of the 2001 general election. Tarique was the boss of the now-disbanded Hawa Bhavan, then an elite structure parallel to the official organisation of the BNP. Hawa Bhavan was reputed to have masterminded the electoral victory of the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in 2001 and, subsequently, operating as an alternate power house to the Khaleda-led government itself. Tarique was arrested by the army-led joint task forces during the emergency government, in March 2007, and was allegedly tortured in custody. He got released on bail from the Supreme Court in September 2008 and went to London.]
In the run-up to the council, it was leaked out in the press that the council would make an amendment to the party constitution to create a post of senior vice-chairman and the council would elect Tarique to that post. And Tarique would be second only to Khaleda and lead the party in her absence -- Tarique would be Khaleda's heir-apparent.
A melodrama was, however, waiting to take place. A video-recorded speech of Tarique was played at the inaugural session of the council in which he clearly said he was not yet ready, physically and mentally, to re-join active politics. Tarique said:
l I have heard that many of you have raised demands for my participation in party activities. But this will solely depend on the overall political situation and the condition of my health.
l I am still undergoing medical treatment. I don't know how long it will take to get full recovery.
l In my exile, I engage myself in soul-searching and analysing the situation and thinking about directly participating in party activities. Pray for me.
The councillors not only prayed for Tarique but also amended the party constitution and unanimously elected him senior vice-chairman within hours of his speech. In fact, this was the only election that took place at the council; Khaleda had already been declared re-elected chairperson, unopposed; and the council authorised Khaleda to fill up all the other party posts including those of the standing committee, vice-chairman, secretary-general, and the 251-member central executive committee.
[On December 13 -- five days after the council -- Khaleda retained Khandaker Delwar Hossain as the secretary-general on a temporary basis, named 19 members of the standing committee, one senior joint secretary-general and seven joint secretary-generals. It is not known when the task of naming all the office-bearers and members of all the committees will be completed.]
Thus, in so far as the restructuring of the BNP in its fifth national council is concerned, it seems the main concern of the party leadership was to fulfil a desire of Khaleda Zia. She, with the acquiescence of the council, has now all but passed on the political baton of General Ziaur Rahman, her husband, to their son, Tarique Rahman.
With Khaleda being visibly eager as well as desperate to chaperone her son to party and national leadership, the BNP, as an organisation, will henceforth revolve round Tarique. This is a big gamble.
Tarique is no longer his old self -- the boss of the Hawa Bhavan, exuding confidence, power and authority. By his own statement, he is now physically handicapped, traumatised by the bitter experience of the emergency and mentally broken. He is also morally weakened, in public perception, by the Hawa Bhavan-centric controversies and scandals. He is, besides, burdened with court cases.
How this demoralised Tarique, in his new incarnation as the heir-apparent of his mother, will respond to the new challenge of leading the BNP from the front, is anybody's guess.
The BNP said in its election manifesto of 2008 that it faced an 'existential crisis' in the wake of the 2007 emergency. It was referring to the danger of disintegration the party faced during the emergency period. With the holding of the fifth national council, the BNP has completed the process of regrouping. It is now a rejuvenated party, organisationally.
But, a political organisation for its sustenance and development is dependent on its politics and ideology. The politics and ideology of the BNP are embedded in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution -- the Islam-pasand post-1975 polity. The basis of this Bangladeshi Islam-pasand polity is the counter-revolution of August 15, 1975. The extant post-'75 polity is now under serious threat of its very existence.
The trial of the perpetrators of the August 15 counter-revolution has been completed and they are now on death row. The present government is committed to annul the Fifth Amendment and restore the pristine fundamental principles of state policy: Bengali nationalism, democracy, socialism and secularism. The present government is also committed to try the war criminals which will deal a death blow to religion-based, that is, Islam-based politics.
It is obvious that if and when the present government carries out its political and ideological reforms programme, the BNP will face an existential crisis, in the political and ideological sense. The BNP, in its present political and ideological shape - Bangladeshi nationalism which is a euphemism for Bengali Muslim nationalism -- will have no constitutional place in the possible emerging political matrix based on Bengali nationalism and secularism.
The just-concluded fifth national council of the BNP did not pay any attention at all to the political and ideological issues in the changed context when Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League have returned to power with more than three-fourth majority in the parliament and when secularism is winning, globally, against religion-based politics. The BNP is behaving like an ostrich, apparently trusting that the looming storm of political and constitutional reforms of the present government will blow away.
harun1943@gmail.com