Hefajat, a few Islamist groups instrumental in whipping up religious sentiment against AL-backed candidates
Intense campaigning by Hefajat-e Islam and some Islamist parties that used the religion card against Awami League-backed candidates was a key factor in the victory of BNP-supported contenders in Saturday’s polls in four city corporations.
The strategy saw so huge a success that the AL-backed candidates lost to their rivals by wide margins. It involved propaganda that the elections were a crucial race between believers and atheists. And, of course, as they put it to voters during their door-to-door campaign, the atheists belong to the AL camp.
They propagated the dubious idea that the government had killed several thousand Hefajat men on May 5 in the capital. The campaign, which began soon after Hefajat men were flushed out of the capital, intensified in the run-up to the city polls. The main opposition BNP termed it genocide. But their claims proved unfounded.
Hefajat men carried out the propaganda both overtly and covertly with the Election Commission failing to notice the violation of election rules. It exposed the EC’s inability to act against such violations.
A day after the elections, Hefajat issued a statement, claiming that its stance had been vindicated. The Islamist group made it clear that people had given their opinion against atheists in the elections.
With its morale lifted by the election results, Hefajat now threatens to hit the streets afresh to press for the implementation of the 13-point demand it had made public in April.
In Sylhet, Jamaat and Hefajat succeeded in drawing voters to their vigorous campaign against “atheists”.
Voters were made to believe that if they cast their ballots for the 18-party alliance-backed candidate, it would help the cause of Islam.
“But we could not run any counter campaign,” said Nizam Uddin, a city AL leader.
Ex-lawmaker Shahinur Pasha, also convener of Hefajat’s Sylhet city unit and joint secretary general of central Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam, said, “We considered the election as a contest between believers and atheists, and ultimately the believers triumphed over the atheists.”
Pasha, an active campaigner for BNP-backed candidate Ariful Haque Chowdhury, said, “Kamran lost acceptability when he expressed solidarity with the Shahbagh activists.”
The situation was almost the same in Khulna. Two days before the election, activists of the BNP and religious groups were seen distributing leaflets that claimed the government had killed hundreds of Muslims at Shapla Chattar on May 5.
A number of Khulna residents said they were still confused about the May 5 incident, and many believed the government had done something wrong on that day.
“The government failed to clarify what happened on that night or launch an effective campaign to counter the propaganda,” said Sheikh Abdul Quayum, chairperson of Khulna Nagorik Forum, a citizens’ organisation.
In Barisal, BNP men portrayed AL-backed candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron and his supporters as “drunkards” and questioned people whether they wanted to see a “real Muslim” as the city mayor.
Apart from Hefajat, supporters of religious figures like Charmonai Pir, Sharshina Pir and Quayes Pir worked against Hiron, and propagated from city mosques that Hiron neither went to mosques nor made any donations to them.
“It cannot happen that the government will kill our men and we will sit idle … We have taught the government a lesson,” said Mohammad Mobarak Ali, a supporter of Hefajat-e Islam in Barisal.
Their campaign left a profound impact on people’s minds.
The Daily Star yesterday talked to at least 50 people at different wards in Barisal, and most of them were made to believe that the government had killed many Hefajat men and hidden the bodies.
In Rajshahi, a half-hearted campaign for Liton could not match the aggressive electioneering for Bulbul by an allied force of BNP, Jamaat and religion-based parties that labelled the AL government as anti-Islamic.
“The action against Hefajat has been considered as an act against Islam. Jamaat and Hefajat activists used it to tweak the religious sentiments of people,” said a voter at Kadirganj.
Source: The Daily Star