On anniversary eve, BNP in introspective mood

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will celebrate its 38th founding anniversary today, in what is perhaps the worst time ever in its political history.  The party, which has been elected to power five times—twice through presidential elections and thrice through parliamentary polls—cannot even hold outdoor meetings, processions or rallies this time.
The occasion gave party leaders and workers a moment to ponder over the reasons for this debacle.
Senior leaders blamed themselves for this state of affairs, which they feel is a direct result of their collective inability to emerge victorious in the struggle for power. Most of them believe that their gravest mistake was to remain rigid on the issue of who would head the caretaker government at the end of their tenure since October 2006. Then came the 1/11 changeover.
The then opposition and now ruling party, Awami League (AL), had opposed former chief justice KM Hasan as the chief of the caretaker government. They had questioned the motive of the BNP government to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court judges by two years, which had qualified Hasan for the post. The party could do nothing when Hasan refused to take over.
Many leaders also identified several “mistakes” made by the party's policymakers, which, they believe, have brought the party to its worst phase since in birth in September in 1978. Some of these are increasing the retirement age of SC judges, cancelling Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad’s nomination paper in the January 2007 elections, cancelling the BNP chairperson’s meeting with visiting Indian president Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, snubbing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s invitation for talks, and boycotting the January 2014 polls.
Other reasons identified were the sudden halt of the non-stop movement after the January 2014 polls, launching the non-stop blockade from January 6, 2015, in protest against the confinement of Khaleda Zia after the party was barred from observing ‘black day’ to mark a year of the January 2014 elections, and failure to keep in check former Army chief Moeen Uddin Ahmed before the 1/11 changeover and during the transition period before the elections.
Some leaders, such as standing committee members Brig. Gen. (Retd) ASM Hannan Shah, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, and joint secretary general Mujibur Rahman Sarwar, however, did not want to term these as “mistakes”.
They felt the party leaders could not be tactical enough to steer the party through the difficult time. Conspiracies were hatched both at home and abroad to rob the party of leadership and keep Tarique Rahman out of the country, they observed.
According to them, on the one hand, the BNP is facing repression and false cases at home, while, on the other, it has become a victim of the global cross-currents of militancy and poor state of democracy.
“We didn't make any serious mistakes except for being unable to play our cards tactically before the 1/11 changeover,” said Roy, who was also a victim of the Army-backed government.

Talking to The Independent at his Naya Paltan office, Roy pointed out that the BNP also has many successes, including the establishment of multi-party democracy in the country. But now, it is paying the price for its carelessness, he said.
“We had introduced the caretaker government system to hold free and fair elections. But we had to either maintain the system or face things as the situation demanded. Not only the BNP, the nation is also paying the price for those decisions and we still don't know the end of it,” he added.
Roy felt that the BNP is on the right political track to restore democracy for which the late president Ziaur Rahman had established the party 38 years ago. “There is no lack of strength in the BNP, but it's yet to be fully organised. It's a team that wins the occasional match, but still can't be considered a good team,” he said.
He said there are many dedicated and promising leaders at the grassroots, but the central leadership lacks such dedication. He blamed the “negative roles” played by a section of senior leaders and former ministers in weakening the grassroots leaders mentally.
He pointed out that the sudden influx of new leaders in responsible posts in the party may discourage dedicated leaders and activists, creating a gap in the coordination of organisational work. The new leaders are also trying to create their own sphere of interests, ignoring those of the party, he noted.
The party's vice-president, Mohammed Shajahan, said the BNP is the “worst victim of government repression”. According to him, barbaric attacks are being carried out on BNP leaders and activists, and thousands of party leaders are being implicated in false cases.
“Despite all this, the BNP is still the most popular political party in the country,” he claimed. He pointed out that of the 300 constituencies, 154 ruling party men were elected MPs unopposed only because BNP could not field any candidates. He claimed that even now, the BNP cannot be undermined if the attitude of the present government is considered.
“All the elections held under the present government have proved that our decision to boycott the January 5 polls was correct,” he said, adding that they would wage a movement again and force the government to hold participatory polls under an impartial administration.
Another vice-president, preferring anonymity, said that except for a few ministers, the failure of the last BNP cabinet to handle the situation efficiently, the interference of Hawa Bhaban in government activities, and corruption of ministers are responsible for the current state of affairs.
“Saifur Rahman (former finance minister) was the only person in the BNP government who successfully gained a strong footing on the country’s economy. The appointment of several ministers, including the foreign minister and the state minister for home affairs, was made with a lack of foresight,” he said.
Joint secretary general Mujibur Rahman Sarwar said the BNP is a victim of the global cross-currents of weakening democracy in the wake of rising militancy. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to get support from the international community to run a country by keeping a major political party out of the electoral process, he added.
“The BNP had problems with its tactics, which is now history. Those can't be treated as ‘mistakes’, but can be termed a ‘different outlook’,” he said.
Organising secretary Nazrul Islam Manju said the BNP had committed many mistakes, as its leadership could not take timely decisions and be tactical enough to deal with the situation.
Proper leadership could not grow bacause of these factors, he observed.
“Conspiracies are being hatched to rob the BNP of effective leadership by keeping Tarique Rahman out of the country. Our major challenge at the moment is to overcome the situation,” he added.
He felt the party should follow the politics of Ziaur Rahman and deal with the opponent tactically.

On anniversary eve, BNP in introspective mood

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will celebrate its 38th founding anniversary today, in what is perhaps the worst time ever in its political history. The party, which has been elected to power five timestwice through presidential elections and thrice through parliamentary pollscannot even hold outdoor meetings, processions or rallies this time. The occasion gave party leaders and workers a moment to ponder over the reasons for this debacle. Senior leaders blamed themselves for this state of affairs, which they feel is a direct result of their collective inability to emerge victorious in the struggle for power. Most of them believe that their gravest mistake was to remain rigid on the issue of who would head the caretaker government at the end of their tenure since October 2006. Then came the 1/11 changeover. The then opposition and now ruling party, Awami League (AL), had opposed former chief justice KM Hasan as the chief of the caretaker government. They had questioned the motive of the BNP government to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court judges by two years, which had qualified Hasan for the post. The party could do nothing when Hasan refused to take over. Many leaders also identified several mistakes made by the partys policymakers, which, they believe, have brought the party to its worst phase since in birth in September in 1978. Some of these are increasing the retirement age of SC judges, cancelling Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershads nomination paper in the January 2007 elections, cancelling the BNP chairpersons meeting with visiting Indian president Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, snubbing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas invitation for talks, and boycotting the January 2014 polls. Other reasons identified were the sudden halt of the non-stop movement after the January 2014 polls, launching the non-stop blockade from January 6, 2015, in protest against the confinement of Khaleda Zia after the party was barred from observing black day to mark a year of the January 2014 elections, and failure to keep in check former Army chief Moeen Uddin Ahmed before the 1/11 changeover and during the transition period before the elections. Some leaders, such as standing committee members Brig. Gen. (Retd) ASM Hannan Shah, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, and joint secretary general Mujibur Rahman Sarwar, however, did not want to term these as mistakes. They felt the party leaders could not be tactical enough to steer the party through the difficult time. Conspiracies were hatched both at home and abroad to rob the party of leadership and keep Tarique Rahman out of the country, they observed. According to them, on the one hand, the BNP is facing repression and false cases at home, while, on the other, it has become a victim of the global cross-currents of militancy and poor state of democracy. We didnt make any serious mistakes except for being unable to play our cards tactically before the 1/11 changeover, said Roy, who was also a victim of the Army-backed government. Talking to The Independent at his Naya Paltan office, Roy pointed out that the BNP also has many successes, including the establishment of multi-party democracy in the country. But now, it is paying the price for its carelessness, he said. We had introduced the caretaker government system to hold free and fair elections. But we had to either maintain the system or face things as the situation demanded. Not only the BNP, the nation is also paying the price for those decisions and we still dont know the end of it, he added. Roy felt that the BNP is on the right political track to restore democracy for which the late president Ziaur Rahman had established the party 38 years ago. There is no lack of strength in the BNP, but its yet to be fully organised. Its a team that wins the occasional match, but still cant be considered a good team, he said. He said there are many dedicated and promising leaders at the grassroots, but the central leadership lacks such dedication. He blamed the negative roles played by a section of senior leaders and former ministers in weakening the grassroots leaders mentally. He pointed out that the sudden influx of new leaders in responsible posts in the party may discourage dedicated leaders and activists, creating a gap in the coordination of organisational work. The new leaders are also trying to create their own sphere of interests, ignoring those of the party, he noted. The partys vice-president, Mohammed Shajahan, said the BNP is the worst victim of government repression. According to him, barbaric attacks are being carried out on BNP leaders and activists, and thousands of party leaders are being implicated in false cases. Despite all this, the BNP is still the most popular political party in the country, he claimed. He pointed out that of the 300 constituencies, 154 ruling party men were elected MPs unopposed only because BNP could not field any candidates. He claimed that even now, the BNP cannot be undermined if the attitude of the present government is considered. All the elections held under the present government have proved that our decision to boycott the January 5 polls was correct, he said, adding that they would wage a movement again and force the government to hold participatory polls under an impartial administration. Another vice-president, preferring anonymity, said that except for a few ministers, the failure of the last BNP cabinet to handle the situation efficiently, the interference of Hawa Bhaban in government activities, and corruption of ministers are responsible for the current state of affairs. Saifur Rahman (former finance minister) was the only person in the BNP government who successfully gained a strong footing on the countrys economy. The appointment of several ministers, including the foreign minister and the state minister for home affairs, was made with a lack of foresight, he said. Joint secretary general Mujibur Rahman Sarwar said the BNP is a victim of the global cross-currents of weakening democracy in the wake of rising militancy. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to get support from the international community to run a country by keeping a major political party out of the electoral process, he added. The BNP had problems with its tactics, which is now history. Those cant be treated as mistakes, but can be termed a different outlook, he said. Organising secretary Nazrul Islam Manju said the BNP had committed many mistakes, as its leadership could not take timely decisions and be tactical enough to deal with the situation. Proper leadership could not grow bacause of these factors, he observed. Conspiracies are being hatched to rob the BNP of effective leadership by keeping Tarique Rahman out of the country. Our major challenge at the moment is to overcome the situation, he added. He felt the party should follow the politics of Ziaur Rahman and deal with the opponent tactically.