Ruling Awami League’s humiliating trounce

Abu Hena

Political obituaries are often written prematurely. Unlike ordinary ones, they tend to exaggerate failures, and gloss over success. Sacked ministers are disgraced, defeated city mayors are irredeemable losers. They lost in spite of their relevant credentials much because of their party’s faulty and misdirected politics.
Responses to apparent humiliation of the ruling Awami League headed by Sheikh Hasina in eight mayoral elections so far have evinced hyperbole. Some commentators have fervently heralded the results as certain evidence not only of the Prime Minister’s inevitable debacle in the upcoming general election, but also as a conclusive popular rejection of the 15th Amendment rescinding the Caretaker government system and all other recent constitutional changes.

On the second point, the commentators are absolutely right. The dazzling electoral tent that Sheikh Hasina and her allies had built at Shahbagh Square with the ritualistic lighting of the ‘mongol prodip’ has collapsed and fragile intellectual pillars on which it stood have been flattened under the universal rock solid motto: “In God We Trust.”

Out, damned Islam haters, atheists 
The latest salvo in the war between the Islam hater atheists and the believers comes from the highly regarded eminent doyenne of religious intellectual history, Karen Armstrong. She is uniquely qualified to write on the subject for having been a Roman Catholic nun, she then rejected faith. “For many years, I myself wanted nothing whatsoever to do with religion,” she writes in her book “The Case for God”. “But my study of world religion during the last twenty years has compelled me to revise my earlier opinions… One of the things I have learned is that quarrelling about religion is counterproductive and not conducive to enlightenment.” “The point of religion was to live intensely and richly here and now,” she writes. “Religious people are ambitious… They tried to honour the ineffable mystery they sensed in each human being and create societies that honoured the stranger, the alien, the poor, and the oppressed.”
In his book, ‘The Future of Faith ‘, Harvard professor Harvey Cox calls this new era “the New Age of the Spirit”: Faith, rather than beliefs, is once again becoming [Christianity’s] defining quality,” he writes.
Intellectuals all over the world are, thus, refocusing their attention on making the activity of “faith” meaningful in daily life. Strangely enough the bloggers who assembled at the Shahbagh square were callously oversimplifying “faith” and that too, unfortunately, under active governmental patronage.
The mayoral elections reflect the most important shift occurring in the religious as well as political landscape of the country, largely as a protest against the excesses which were committed there for almost three months. Their reckless adventurism was an affront to the shared values and long cherished ideals of the nation’s 160 million citizens. The religious people of this country are supersensitive to all such idiosyncrasies.
The government has paid dearly for it.
In the local elections on June 15 the Awami League, now in government, recorded its worst result in living memory including Khulna city mayoralty by a huge margin of 60,671 votes. The ruling party has avoided holding the Dhaka City Corporation election for long fearing a similar defeat.
The 15th June election results are now characterized by most as a referendum on Sheikh Hasina’s decisions abolishing the tested institution of election – time non-party Caretaker government and rescinding of the Constitutional provision : ‘Absolute faith and trust in Almighty Allah’. Even the Finance Minister who dismisses thing as ‘rubbish’ clearly saw a rising trend of negative voting against the faulty policies, autocratic decisions, unchecked corruptions and ruthless oppressions of the present government.
With an ice-cold disdain for public opinion and almost fascist obsession, Sheikh Hasina rammed the 15th Amendment through the House by unprecedented parliamentary trickery. The Prime Minister has thus poisoned the national political climate.

Caretaker government
But the fight for non-partisan caretaker government has got fresh momentum from the local elections. There is a growing opposition that is solidly united to undo what the Prime Minister has just done. Very soon she will discover that, ultimately, the Bangladesh people’s firmness and tenacity will overwhelm her — and she will be a failed Prime Minister. But the cost of her public-be-damned attitude could be immense. To rescue her 14-party alliance from the election debacle she is getting a lot rough and fierce on the main opposition BNP and other opposition parties. But the people worry: How much collateral damage will be done before it is over?
When it comes to politics, one kind of politicians’ viewpoint is simple: it is war, and wars are for winning. With her parliamentary hopes at stake a few months away, Khaleda Zia’s campaign made good on its promise to vigorously challenge the perpetrators and that paid off with clear popular vote victories in all the four cities.

Ominous words
But the Prime Minister is unmoved from her stand: “Neutral poll is possible under the present government. Don’t try to invoke any unconstitutional provision which will bring no benefit for anyone except a few who frequently change their political colour. Even the election may be foiled,” she cautioned.
Even to some of her staunch supporters, these are actually ominous words. The opposition now face a reality they cannot be avoided: sustained democratic struggle for ensuring power to the masses, perhaps all the way to the election and even after. For the opposition alliance that was assumed to have the advantage against the government that is unpopular and ridden by corruption and misuse of power. As we head towards November for the election, uncertainty looms larger and bigger. One can be sure that the race to the election will be rough from here on out. It is going to be much more rugged fight; there is no doubt about that.

Source: Weekly Holiday