Where does it all end?
Maulana Bhasani had repeated the story several times of an old man in the 1946 election who had managed to reach reached the polling centre and cast vote, but died on the way back home. In 1954, I was just a young boy. Back then I saw an ailing man carried on a board by his sons to a polling station. The roads in the villages were in bad shape. The man was suffering and died after around 10 days or so. On the day of his ‘qulkhani’ a few days after his death, the people were saying that he had voted for the ‘boat’ candidate of Haque-Bhasani-Suhrawardi.
The people of Bangladeshis are eager to vote. They are proud of casting their votes. On the election day, they feel powerful and responsible. Senior officials talk about the ‘vote festival’. But voting is not a festival. It is not a circus. It is not just fun. It is a serious matter. That is why there is a polling centre even for two to three voters in a remote area of Arunachal in India. Not a single voter should be deprived of his or her voting rights.
I was thinking like a fool. Had the present situation prevailed in 1970, the liberation war, independence and Bangladesh-these three words would never have emerged. We would have commemorated the birthdays and death anniversaries of Yahya Khan and Tikka Khan for over a week.
It is unbelievable that voters did not go to cast votes although the government, semi-government, banks and insurance offices were declared closed for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) by-election.
Back in 1946, 1954 and 1970, the people of this country could never imagine that there would come a day when voting centres in Bangladesh would remain empty. The officials were just sitting idly, swatting mosquitoes. Dogs were sleeping at the gate of centres, enjoying the quiet solitude. The people watched it on private TV channels.
The top election official said they are not responsible for the low turnout. No one expects the EC officials to go door to door to bring the voters to the polling stations. But the EC official is not ashamed that the people have no trust in his election management. He has no accountability to the people.
Officials in Bangladesh do not care about accountability. Does not anybody ask them, what is the matter when they return home and sit at the dining table? What do they reply then, as there is no one from the media there?
Some people argue that the voters did not show interest as this was a by-election. Some others said the voters showed little interest as the tenure was very short. We could consider these arguments if this was the first by-election. Innumerable by-elections have taken place over the last 70 years. There were high turnouts in these elections and the ruling party was even defeated in some.
The people were suspicious when the DNCC by-election was stalled by case over some trivial matter. The elections for DNCC and DUCSU were arranged soon after government’s confidence was boosted and after the election commission and the administration was strengthened after the 30 December election.
The people are that the ruling party leaders and activists have no role to play. The election commission and the administration do whatever they need to do. The party hardly needs its activists. If the political party had politics, the people would be needed. Such a state of affairs is harmful for the party. If the party men are not given due attention during the election, they will, in turn, not stand by the party in times of crisis. In the present circumstances, not only are the voters disappointed, but so are the leaders and activists, except a few beneficiaries.
Any election is supposed to be competitive and vibrant. But even the winning candidates feel embarrassed in such a staged-managed election. They know they have no value to the voters.
The opposition party will pay for their mistake. In the 10th parliamentary election, they formally boycotted the election. Right or wrong, now people say the opposition has made a mistake by participating in the 11thparliamentary election. By participating in the 30 December election, they have proved that they would win in 15-20 seats if they did not boycott the 5 January election.
The government had an opportunity to prove that a free and fair election is possible under a ruling party. The government has missed the opportunity. If the opposition party got 70-80 seats, then the government could not be accused of vote rigging. The opposition could be blamed for boycotting the 10th parliamentary election.
It would be better if the government was not so aggressive. People like a stable government. It is not true that the people want the change of the government. They want a strong opposition in the parliament. What is wrong with a one-party parliament rather than a fake opposition party? It has been unfair to obstruct the opposition from campaigning in the election.
The abnormal national election has an impact on all other elections, including the local government elections, elections of professional bodies, teachers’ associations, trade unions and students’ unions. In the election of professional bodies, if a group foresees defeat, they file a case over a trifling matter and stall the election. Even that is better than vote rigging or a voter-less election.
Are all the sacrifices our forefathers made during the liberation war and before in creating the Bengali nation and Bangladesh in vain? What was the necessity of their sacrifices? Was it a mistake to strive for democratic rights in 1971?
People protest injustice in two ways. One is Gandhi’s non-violence and the other is violent protest. It is a non-violence protest not to cast votes on the voting day. What more can happen in a democratic and election system? Can anybody say anything if any party wins in 297 constituencies out of 300 with 82 per cent votes even though hardly any voters go to a voting centre? Where does it all end?
*Syed Abul Maksud is columnist. This piece appeared in Bangla in the print version of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten here in English by Rabiul Islam
