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Observe AL’s Gazipur grassroots, blame it on govt’s failure on key national issues

The Gazipur election looks similar to the June 15 polls to four other city corporations in outcome, but it is different in that the industrial city had always been an Awami League bastion while Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal are considered BNP strongholds and Sylhet a swing constituency.
The AL suffered a humiliating defeat in the maiden Gazipur City Corporation polls on Saturday, as the opposition cashed in on the government’s mishandling of critical national issues, said local leaders of the ruling party.
The present strategy of the party, they added, is outdated and if it is not changed, results in the upcoming parliamentary polls will be disastrous.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, some district-level leaders said the issues like stockmarket, Hall-Mark and railway-gate scandals and alleged Padma bridge graft had exposed poor governance and overshadowed the successes and clean image of party-backed mayoral candidate Ajmat Ullah Khan.
Moreover, they say, causing unnecessary trouble to Grameen Bank and its founder Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus also has exposed the government’s vengeful character.
The district leaders also pointed to the lack of coordination in electioneering.
They said although many central leaders and lawmakers came to Gazipur and revitalised the grassroots leaders, some did not perform their duties the way they should have done. Some even acted like VIPs and did not reach out to the public.
“The lack of coordination among the leaders and workers was reflected in the election results,” said Amir Hamza, health, forest and environment affairs secretary of district AL.
Nasir Uddin George, a former organising secretary of district Chhatra League, echoed Hamza’s view, saying, “Such disastrous results were waiting for us.”
The grassroots leaders said the religion card was widely used in this election but central and local leaders could not come up with a strong counter campaign.
“Hefajat men ran a smear campaign portraying Awami League as an anti-Islamic party. They also convinced people to vote against Awami League candidates in the city polls,” said Azgar Rashid Khan, a member of district AL unit.
The leaders said forcing AL rebel candidate Jahangir Alam to quit the race and obtaining Jatiya Party’s support for Ajmat Ullah Khan also contributed to the unexpected results.
“It would have been better if we had settled Jahangir’s issue at the beginning. Jahangir’s participation in the polls split party supporters,” said Fazlul Haque, president of Tongi thana AL unit.
“Even we could not manage Jatiya Party’s support properly. Almost all Jatiya Party men worked against our candidate.”
The leaders also blamed organisational weakness and internal conflict in the district for the defeat. Before the elections, BNP got united solving the internal conflicts, but AL leaders could not do so, they said.
“Even many district Awami League leaders did not want Ajmat to win in the election in their personal interest,” said a district-level AL leader wishing anonymity. “Ajmat’s clean image and honesty might have appeared as a threat to those leaders.”
Asked about organisational weakness, AKM Mozammel Huq MP, president of district AL, said there are some weaknesses and this is why “our success stories could not each the people.”
Rajab Ali, general secretary of Tongi thana AL, said this result was not expected as leaders from across the country campaigned for Ajmat. “Now we have to find out the reasons immediately and take steps to overcome the problems.”
Mozammel echoed the same. “We have to be more careful.”

Source: The Daily Star