Yesterday the country’s two top leaders — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia — held separate press conferences to urge people to “reject” each others’ candidates in the city corporation polls.
The deliveries of both leaders were slightly better than usual standards. But they said nothing to inspire the voters about electing the candidates of their choice. They did not say how they would help make the Mayoral job more effective in serving the people.
They said what they usually say against each other—revenge seeking and sometimes twisting the truth and sometimes simply denying their own wrong-doings.
Khaleda asked the people to take “revenge” on the Awami League by rejecting them for its misdeeds, while Hasina — who held her press conference after Khaleda’s one — said where would Khaleda go if people took “revenge” for her misdeeds.
Hasina criticised Khaleda for seeking votes for bus, the election symbol of BNP-backed mayoral candidate in Dhaka north, asking how the BNP chairperson could seek votes after “torching so many buses”. She said Khaleda would be tried as “mastermind of the subversive activities” that left around a hundred people dead during the BNP-led coalition’s blockade and hartals.
And earlier Khaleda flatly denied to journalist any involvement of her party in hurling petrol bombs on public vehicles and claimed that it was none but the “Awami League” goons who had hurled all those petrol bombs.
Khaleda Zia also taught us that its okay to take bribes when she asked the people to take the money, but vote for the candidate of their choice. And Hasina bashed her saying that Khaleda understands well “how to take money”.
To explain why she was participating in this election after boycotting last year’s election and enforcing a never-ending blockade (which is still on) against the government, Khaleda Zia said that it was a “test case” for the government, the administration and the police.
She explained that although this was not a national election, but if the ruling party manipulated the election results—it would only prove that no fair election is possible under this government. Then again she also went on saying that if the BNP backed candidate won in the election—that would not make the election commission a fair body.
Khaleda also left us baffled when she admitted that her blockade programme was ineffective but it was still on.
In summary, neither of these two leaders was actually interested to see their candidates win the mayoral elections so that they would serve the people. To both of them, this city election is symbolic—where winning of any of their candidate will not bring anything for the people. If Khaleda’s candidates win, she will have the satisfaction of having a moral revenge. If Hasina’s candidates win, she would have the satisfaction of revenge.
Source: The Daily Star
