I was peripherally introduced to student politics in 1962 through attending meetings at the Dhaka University premises organised by the leaders of the education movement in protest against the education commission report of the Pakistan government. I was a student of intermediate second year (science) in the Dhaka college.
The wave of student movement jolted the academic routine of the college. Agitation and strikes became regular features in the educational institutions. Classes were suspended almost every day. Taking advantage of this situation we used to attend the meetings organised by the Dhaka University Students Union (DUCSU) in protest against the education commission report. To start with, we were only part of the audience. Later on we participated in the processions and demonstrations. The processions traversed a long route - starting from the university campus it would pass through Gulistan, Nababpur, Bahadur Shah Park, Patuatuli, Naya bazaar, Nazimuddin Road to return to Dhaka University. Meetings at the university premises (Aamtola) were presided over by Enayetur Rahman, general secretary of the DUCSU. The vice-president of the DUCSU was not very visible in the meetings. The firebrand speakers of the meetings were Shah Moazzem Hussain, Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni, KM Obaidur Rahman, Rashed Khan Menon, Haider Akbar Khan Rono, Mohiuddin Ahmad and Rezaul Huque Sarker. The leaders would not participate in the processions. They would stand at the university gate in order to get the processions started and then come back to Madhu's canteen for winding up. Most of them waited till we returned from the procession.
In the process of attending meetings and joining processions I came to know a lot about the student leaders and their organisations. As a result, I developed a great interest in the student politics of the country. In fact, I was intensely attracted to student politics. Much before the result of intermediate examination was out I decided to go for higher studies in the Dhaka University instead of getting admitted in the engineering courses so that I could participate in the student politics of the country. A lurking ambition to emerge as a student leader might have been instrumental in my decision making. When the result was out I found myself in a fairly good position. As decided earlier, I got myself admitted in the economics department of the university. Based on my discussions with friends and seniors in the hall and the department, additional information collected by me and my personal analysis I decided to join the East Pakistan Students' Union (EPSU). Leaders of the hall unit of EPSU warmly welcomed me to their organisation. At that time there were two other influential parties in SM hall: National Students Front (NSF) and the Student Force (SF). Student League (SL) was inconspicuous in this hall with only a handful of supporters residing there.
NSF lent unqualified support to principles and programmes of the government. Students considered it as a brain-dead protégé of the government. Many meritorious students were members of this organisation, their main objective was to ensure a clean record in intelligence agency's file so that they could clinch government jobs easily without any hazard. Two factors explained SL's weak position in the SM Hall: hardly any of its supporters could address a gathering in English and members with outstanding academic record were conspicuously absent in this organisation. Most of the resident students of SM Hall belonging to economics department were members of EPSU. I was proud to be an active member of this organisation. I accomplished the tasks assigned to me with enthusiasm and sincerity.
My services were duly recognised by the party high-ups. With the party's nomination I was elected as the general Secretary of the SM Hall student's union, a highly coveted position at that time. The position allowed me to be introduced to almost all high-level student leaders as well as a number of national-level leaders, particularly from the left politics. The set of leaders was expanded later on.
Most of the leaders of NSF and SF appeared at the competitive examinations to join cadre jobs. Those who did not succeed in the examinations lined up remunerative jobs in the private sector or in autonomous bodies. Some of them enlisted themselves as contractors and traders. A few took up legal profession.
Not more than five to six persons reached leadership positions in their mentor organisations in the national politics. Though the top leaders of EPSU (Menon group) joined the national politics, the middle-level leaders took cadre jobs through appearing at the competitive examinations. Leaders of EPSU (Matia group) and Student League by and large kept away from government jobs. Most of them joined the private sector as lawyers, journalists, self-employed businessmen and so on. A sizeable number of these persons became office-bearers of the central committees. Many of them became members of parliament (MPs).
THE GENUINE POLITICAL LEADERS: Most of the top leaders of the national political parties, may be 90 per cent of them, were somehow or other involved with politics from their student life. They are genuinely politicians and leaders by their own right. Notwithstanding their pitfalls and shortcomings, they are not fake leaders by any chance. They have reached this stage having traversed the rugged terrain of politics. Politics is intertwined with their existence. They are inured to the hazardous life of the politicians.
The compelling question will be: is the life-style of a politician much different from that of a common man? The answer is an emphatic yes. A political leader's way of life is distinctly different from that of a salaried person, a businessman, an industrialist or a self-employed person, let alone the hazards in the form of physical persecution, legal indictment, incarceration, uncertainty of life and living that a politician faces perennially. There is hardly any source of stable income till such time as a leader assumes office of profit. Outside the power in the opposition camp, the politician has to go through the trials and travails of a haunted man - often ultimately landing in a prison. He is secluded from the family and outside world. The family is left on their own. The wife of the political leader or some close relative manages the family affairs usually with great difficulties. The politician has no income during this time. The cost of handling the case proceeding aggravates the problem further. The privation and lack of health care in the jail invite host of physical ailment to the incarcerated politician.
Even when outside power the political leader is surrounded by his fellow leaders and workers. This grossly militates against a disciplined routine life. He has no fixed time to take rest; some people would like to visit late at night, may be with emergency call. They demand immediate attention and are not ready to accept any excuse however genuine that may be. People start crowding at his place early in the morning; a politician has to listen to them. When he is going out some people would jostle around his car. One or two may tag them along in the car; you have to suffer their indiscretion. His office chamber is also a crowded place; he has to accomplish his official tasks in such a difficult environment. He has to visit his constituency at least once a month, if possible more frequently. He has to mix with local people, plan and supervise development work. Arbitration of dispute and reconciliation of contending interests are also included in his job description. Most importantly, he has to address the problems created by his competitors and adversaries. These jobs are time consuming and stressful. It requires a vast reservoir of tenacity and patience to accomplish these tasks.
The national leaders have reached their present position having courted a way of life full of risk and uncertainty, trials and travails, love and hatred, achievement and privations, irritation and euphoria. They had to take many important and sensitive decisions at the state and party level. Whether we like it or not they are genuinely political leaders. Many of them could be well-placed government officers, corporate executives, established professionals, wealthy businessmen or industrialists. They have not treaded the charted path. Instead they elected to embark on a rollercoaster journey to reach the top echelon of the party at the end of painstaking struggle. Some of them have used their position and the clout of the party to amass hefty wealth through unethical means. They have earned bad names. Notwithstanding the ill reputation, they are far from being fake leaders, they have been politicians all through. Still their life-style is veritably different from the set life of other professionals. Politicians' life is still full of turbulence and hazards.
A DIFFERENT SCENARIO: We, however, encounter a different scenario at the middle tier and below. Lot of individuals at these levels can hardly be called politicians by any standard. They have crowded the political scene from different spheres of life to realise their selfish objectives aimed at material advantages only. They have no allegiance to any political ideology or programme. Most of them do not even have any idea about the distinctive characteristics of the party. I could identify at least one category of these persons. They are actually manpower and labour contractors. They have learned the skill of the trade through practical experience. They supply different types of manpower (labourer) as per requirement of the political leaders and other organisations.
The requiring entity may be a normal business house, a construction firm or a film producer. The supplied people may fall into different categories: ordinary audience of a public meeting, poster and placard carriers, stolid youths with band around their head, outriders on motor bikes, pipers in the band party, slogan-mongers, clowns and street urchins to explode low intensity ordinary bombs. Armed goons are also supplied through special arrangement. The contractor at times uses these people for his own purpose also.
To start with, the contractor is content with earning his livelihood by supplying above categories of manpower only. He may gradually discover that his skill and resource would allow him to aggrandise his power and position in the locality. He embarks on building his forte based on these resources. Soon people in the neighbourhood and adjacent localities start listening to him considering him as a potent source of nuisance and strength. He thus is viewed as a petty leader with potential to rise further. Important political leaders now try to placate him because they find him useful to realise their political end. An environment is created when the contractor finds it expedient to join the political party. Political leaders welcome him and vie amongst themselves to master his support in order to consolidate their position in the party. The contractor, turned into a political activist, is gradually elevated as a middle level office-bearer in the national political party. In course of time he manages to get party nomination to become a member of parliament (MP).
Such people are actually fake leaders and politicians. They are not interested in political party or its ideology. They do not hesitate to wreak heavy damage to the country and their party at the slightest pretext. Genuine politicians and top leaders should be aware of these con artists, the fake politicians. They should never be nominated as office-bearers of the party or candidate for any elected position. They vitiate politics of the country. This article should act as a caution to genuine political leaders so that the minor fake leaders cannot curry favour with them by their usual antics in the form of unbridled eulogy, attractive gift package or financial support. May be we should be aware of other type of fake leaders as well over time.
Dr. Saadat Husain is a former Chairman of the Public Service Commission. saadathusain@yahoo.com
Beware of fake leaders, fake politicians
Saadat Husain | Published: July 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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