Freeing Tangail of fearsome 'families'
Political rivals to the 'Khan' and 'Siddique' clans of Tangail are finally emerging and becoming active once again in Awami League politics. They had been silent for so long but now are openly returning to political activities.
Local Awami League leaders and activists as well as the general people feel that with these two families coming under pressure, fresh polarisation will appear in the district's politics. However, they see little possibility of BNP emerging as a tangible rival to Awami League in the area.
The four brothers of the powerful Khan family, Amanur Rahman Khan MP (Rana); municipal mayor and city Awami League general secretary Shahidur Rahman Khan (Mukti); business leader Zahidur Rahman Khan (Kankon); and Chhatra League vice president Saniyat Khan (Bappa), have been implicated in the murder of local Awami League leader Faruk Ahmed. Since then, other than Shahidur Rahman, all the brothers have left area. The member of parliament does visit the area occasionally, having got a court stay order on his arrest.
Meanwhile, with Latif Siddique being expelled from the party, no one of the Siddique clan remains in Awami League politics. As a result, the district Awami League politics is no longer in control of the Siddique family. The leaders who had long been affiliated with this family are now changing their stance.
Shahidur Rahman, the second brother of the Khan family, tells Prothom Alo a certain quarter politically defeated by them are now conspiring against their family and implicating them in false cases. This is harming Tangail Awami League too.
Reactivated leaders: No leaders ever speak out against the Khan family in Tangail. Recently, though, a new political circle is being formed outside of the Khan clan. This group comprises supporters of Khandakar Ashrafuzzaman, the party's local organising secretary and elder brother of Faruk Ahmed's widow, and joint general secretary Jowaherul Islam. These leaders who have remained at a distance from politics for long, have begun holding regular meetings among themselves and with their supporters. If the four Khan brothers are finally convicted for murder, then these leaders will be the new controller of the district's politics.
Mamunur Rashid, central joint secretary of Awami Juba League, had to leave the area for not siding with Amanur Rahman MP in the 2012 by-election. He eventually left the country. He is now considering a political comeback.
On 13 October Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called Nahar Ahmed, the wife of murdered Faruk Ahmed, to her office. This meeting sparked off speculations of Nahar Ahmed joining politics, though she tells Prothom Alo she has not taken any decision in this regard as yet. Nahar Ahmed says that the Prime Minister told her that leaders like Kader Siddique and Latif Siddique were dropped from the party for pertinent reasons. No leader was bigger than the party.
District Awami League organising secretary Khandakar Ashrafuzzaman says that the leaders and activists want to join politics in a clean environment, free of clan control. Joint general secretary Jowaherul Islam says that the people have no confidence in the Khan family.
The most worrying matter for the Khans is that Amanur Rahman MP was not included in the meeting of the Tangail lawmakers and leaders with the prime minister.
A number of district Awami League leaders say that over the last few days while speaking separately to various leaders, the prime minister has discussed various matters of the Khan and Siddique family. She has accused the leaders of being cowards and failures. She has criticised the local leaders for not being able to provide information regarding those involved in the Faruk murder and also for not standing by the side of Faruk's family.
The prime minister met with Abdur Razzak, former food minister and lawmaker of Tangail-1, on 14 October. She asked him why they were all so cowardly. Abdur Razzak says that the prime minister had admonished him of various issues of Tangail.
No one of the Tangail family: Kader Siddique was expelled from Awami League a long time ago. He formed a new party under the banner of Krishak Sramik Janata League. Then after the expulsion of Latif Siddique, whatever clout their brothers Murad Siddique and Azad Siddique held in the area, was finished. With the curtains being drawn on the Siddiques' politics in Kalihati upazila, the local influential leaders are coming forward to fill the vacuum. These leaders include the incumbent upazila chairman Mozaharul Islam, former organising secretary of Chhatra League and Swechchhashebok League and Kalihati upazila parishad former chairman Hasan Imam Khan (Sohel Hazari).
Kalihati upazila Awami League president and upazila parishad chairman Mozaharul Islam Talukdar says, Latif Siddique would run the party on his sole decisions. His expulsion will not create a vacuum. Fresh leadership will emerge.