The writing was on the wall
The writing was on the wall, but no heed was paid. The ‘political junkies’ among us sat before TV late night during the Rangpur city corporation polls, waiting for the results. The results could be anticipated by 9:00pm as the ‘plough’, Jatiya Party’s election symbol, pulled three times more votes than Awami League’s boat, at half of the 193 polling centres till then. So the interest was all about the difference between the two. Roughly 300 thousand among the 400 thousand voters cast their votes in the election. The plough bagged more than half of the votes, with the boat lagging behind by 100 thousand votes. What a capsize!
The sheaf of paddy, BNP’s symbol, fared worse. It could not draw in the votes and the nonsense spewed out by the leaders made things worse. The only one consolation was that Rangpur was not Bogra (BNP founder’s hometown).
The question is-what is the bigger issue-victory of the plough or defeat of the boat?
The wave of development has turned into a flood. We are a global model of development. This deluge of development, this model, seems not to have satisfied the Rangpur city voters! Strange!
The TV news channels are dissecting and analysing the factors contributing to the boat capsize. Some say the campaigning was inadequate, others say Awami League ward leaders and members were active about the ward councilor posts rather than the mayoral post, and so on.
Our analysis varies. The voters did not have enough television sets to be apprised of the surge of development and so they could not jump on the boats. They should be provided with enough TV sets before the next election.
Each and every leader of the ruling party had but one claim -- the tide of development is everywhere! The entire world is gaping at Bangladesh in amazement at its incredible development!
Perhaps the ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) does not hold a weekly meeting like the cabinet. This week no news of ECNEC meeting came into my attention. That was quite frustrating. After all, the budgets of the dozens of projects taken at every weekly ECNEC meeting fill my chest with pride. Budgets in billions of taka are things of the past. It feels so empty unless we hear about a trillion taka projects.
There are countless reasons to be proud of our development. One example, known to many, is enough. We spend the highest in the world on the construction of a one kilometre road. We do not do one kilometre road construction without spending billions of taka.
Apparently, the Rangpur city corporation voters do not receive this sort of news enough. They do not listen to the honourable PM’s speeches much. Like her, I also firmly believe that no one could vote other than the one doing so much development (according to the ECNEC meetings). If anyone does not vote accordingly, as in Rangpur, then the reason must be one-scarcity of TV sets. Due to lack of TV sets, the people of Rangpur could not come to know about development which has been achieved.
The information minister cannot ignore this analysis. Yes, the information minister is responsible for the Rangpur wreck. Every night at 8:30pm, all the FM radios broadcast the government radio station news. Updates of the tide of development are aired then. Why does the TV lack this system?
Though I blame the information minister, I do not intend his resignation. His role in constantly criticising a certain person dead 35 years ago, is of much worth.
Two more state ministers of information are needed for increased attention to development. One among them would campaign for the ‘tide of development’ while the other would promote us as a ‘role model’ for the world. And before the TV sets are distributed it must be ensured that all the TV channels broadcast the BTV news twice a day.
For the time being, TV sets must be distributed at Gazipur, Dhaka North, Sylhet-the areas with impending city corporation polls.
As the DNCC polls are rather important, a state minister for information could be appointed from this area. The problem is-no name seems fit the post. What about the mayoral post? Would the boat find a rower for it or rent a candidate? If no one is eligible then the High Court is the last resort.
3.
The ruling party must understand that fine words butter no parsnips. Recently two guardian figures of the country-Anisuzzaman and Rehman Sobhan sir-are talking in frustrated tones.
Development does not always mean actual development. Without justice, only words cannot bring about development. People of Rangpur reminded us of that.
If the plough and sheaf of paddy avail eligible candidates, then Dhaka North City Corporation, Gazipur vis-a-vis the ensuing city corporation polls, would be hard for the boat, if the polls are fair as it was in Rangpur.
* Dr. Shahdeen Malik is advocate at the Supreme Court and teacher of law at the University of Asia Pacific. This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Nusrat Nowrin.