Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd)
ONE has to commit blunders of grand proportions for a person, who had been Pourashva Chairman since 1995, to be rejected so overwhelmingly by the voters. And that too in a constituency that is supposed to be an invincible bastion of the AL. In spite of everything that was done by the party, within the limits of the law and election rules, to see that the AL backed candidate did not lose, his opponent won with a vast margin.
The Gazipur mayoral election outcome has shown once again that local elections in Bangladesh are no longer local. That the general trend of the people’s views on national issues determine how they vote in the local government elections. This is also a testimonial to the government’s performance of the last five years. And one finds it difficult to disagree with the general refrain that it was not Ajmat but Awami League that took a tumble.
Gazipur result has a few pointers too. It reestablishes the fact that people in our country vote for the party and not for the candidate. And whatever be the performance of the incumbent during his or her tenure in office, or the clean slate he or she many carry regarding his or her credibility as a public servant, those count for very little because the performance of his party, particularly the ruling party, comes into consideration. And that perhaps accounts for the electoral victory in the 9th Parliament election of some of the minions of the ruling alliance, who on their own had never won an election before. Thus, the vote is perhaps more against the AL, the BNP candidate being the only alternative.
It may be expedient for the losers to take refuge behind the anti-incumbency argument. But anti-incumbency sentiments do not appear out of the abstract and that there are compelling reasons for people to seek change. However, that the voters should seek change of a setup that had done reasonably well and reject a person with a fairly good image by a big margin, in favour of one with, allegedly, pitted credentials, is surprising but nonetheless a denunciation of the ruling party and its activities.
It is a pity that a man with, reportedly, a record of good performance lost in his bid for the first Mayor of GCC because of the ruling party’s track record, particularly on sensitive issues that influence people quickly and directly. And to suggest that the debacle of the AL backed candidate was due only to the vigorous 18-party propaganda, particularly use of religion, is to give little credit to the acuity of the voters. This is due to the ruling party’s failure to see reality. And I feel that the religion card has been overplayed. Religion is relevant in Bangladesh, but to credit the Mannan victory to Hefajat entirely is a gross overstatement. The people of Gazipur city have exercised their choice very consciously and freely.
It is actually 7-0 rather than 5-0 rout of the AL. Don’t forget Chittagong and Narayanganj, which were in equal measure a reflection of dissonance of the local people with the ruling alliance performance. Therefore, for the alliance, the wakeup call had come much earlier. There may be little scope for a course correction now because they are so close to the shore that any knee-jerk reaction can cause the ship to flounder and run aground.
However, the AL must assess the debacle in these elections objectively. It must take a dispassionate look at blunders that it has committed. Did the AL take the voters for granted or were the senior leaders overconfident of their own credentials? Did the party display a lack of confidence in the grassroots party workers? Should it have thrust the candidate from the top? These are some of the things that the party leaders might focus upon if they want to reverse the setback.
If the results are an indication to the AL of things to come, the country does not seem to have the issue of the conduct of next election answered as yet. We are caught between Khaleda Zia’s “must” and Sheikh Hasina’s “never” as regards the CTG.
It will be a fair question to ask whether the victory of Mannan in the local election validates BNP’s stand on the CTG. If we assume that the defeat of Ajmatullah is rejection of AL’s policies by the voters, one would have to accept that the AL’s position on the CTG also stands rejected.
Source: The Daily Star