Quarrel of the two Quaders

An Awami Leaguer friend called me up and said in a rather irate tone, “You all tried your best to prevent the election, but failed. The election was held on 7 January. What’s the point about writing or talking so much about this now? There are many other problems in the country. Write about all that instead.”

My friend wasn’t fully correct, only half right. None of us had spoken about preventing the election. We had said the election should be inclusive of all parties where the voters can elect the candidates of their choice. That does not mean having to choose from among candidates of the same party. It means choosing a candidate from among multiple parties.

The voter turnout in Dhaka city was not more than 10 to 15 per cent in the 7 January election because the voters did not have the opportunity to choose their candidate. Around 30 to 35 per cent of the voters are Awami League supporters. Where were they on the day of the election? Does that mean that the supporters of the ruling party have also lost faith in the election system?

Earlier, there had been much criticism at the poor voter turnout during the Dhaka-17 and Chattogram-10 by-elections. The Awami League leaders at the time had brushed this off, saying that voters never showed much interest in by-elections. So does that mean the party’s activists and supporters had taken the 12th Jatiya Sangsad election to be a by-election?  

My Awami League friend may have advised to speak less about the election, but discussions on the issue will continue. People are still talking about the elections of 2014 and 2018. Ironically, just as the leaders of the opposition would refer to the foreign quarters before the election, now the ruling party leaders are doing exactly the same. They are reeling out how many counties have congratulated the new government, how many diplomats attended the first session in parliament.

There had been debate over who would be the leader of opposition in parliament. Jatiya Party had won 11 seats in all. Independent candidates clinched 62. That means the odds were in their favour. But the problem is that they had contested in the election individually, not as a party. Jatiya Party contested under the party symbol. Also, other than one or two, the independent candidates all wanted to retain their Awami League identity. They even have given the Leader of the House the responsibility of selecting their candidates for the reserved seats.

Finally it has been the head of Jatiya Party, GM Quader, who has been recognized as the Leader of Opposition in parliament. He had been the deputy leader of the previous parliament. He may not have been able to create a blast on 30 January, the first day of parliament, but he did take a jab at the ruling party. He said no balance had been maintained in the present parliament. There were around 21 per cent independent members, 75 per cent of the ruling party and only 4 per cent of the opposition. How functional will the parliament be?

The opposition leader’s contention is, “The 12th national parliament will not be able to carry out its duties in a precisely accurate manner…. There are doubts as to how far this parliament will be able to represent the nation….If the colour of the ruling party is taken to be red, then this parliament is blazing red. There are only a few specks of green here and there. It will be hard to find the entire nation in this parliament.”

The next day when the media drew this to the attention of Awami League’s general secretary Obaidul Quader, he said, “If it is not functional, why did he come? He spoke out by himself. No one else spoke yesterday (30 January), not even the prime minister. It was all formalities and I just made the proposal (for Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury as Speaker).” He added, “In the name of thanking the Speaker, he took the floor in such a matter that he would create furor and then went on which his long speech.”

By speaking in this manner at the inaugural session of parliament, was GM Quader trying to establish himself as a ‘real’ leader of the opposition, or did he have any other intention? Jatiya Party is divided. The pro-Raushan camp was silent during the election, but after the election they have revved up their organisational activities. The party’s chief patron Raushan Ershad has submitted a letter to the chief election commissioner, declaring herself to be the party chairperson and Kazi Mamunur Rashid to be the secretary general. The pro-Raushan camp began their “official activities” at the party’s Kakrail office from Wednesday. Earlier, 668 leaders and activists of the party’s Dhaka unit expressed their no-confidence in the leadership of GM Quader and Mujibul Haque, and resigned.

On Wednesday, 11 parliamentary members of Jatiya Party, led by GM Quader, went to Rangpur to offer prayers at the grave of HM Ershad. There too he criticised the government, saying, “There is an unseen unrest in the country’s political arena. The country’s economic condition is extremely bad. The common people’s income is falling, but prices are not decreasing…. Unless the prices of commodities can be brought down to a tolerable level, the days ahead will not be easy for the government.”

While the Jatiya Party chairman criticizes the parliament election, he is not crestfallen at the results. He said, “Jatiya Party won 15 seats when it contested in the 2001 election under the caretaker government. After remaining out of power for 35 years, Jatiya Party won 11 seats this time. I do not think this has been too damaging, though the election remains questionable.”

More important that the losses or gains of Jatiya Party, is the question raised by GM Quader as to how functional the parliament will be? Even more pitiful than the history of Bangladesh’s elections, is the history of its parliament. No parliament before the fifth one could fulfill its full term. Even the four parliaments ushered in by means of free and fair elections under neutral caretaker governments, could not be functional due to the obstinacy, maliciousness and arrogance of the political leadership. No matter with how many or how few seats the government has been formed, they want to take control of everything from Day One. And the opposition chooses the streets as the only platform for protests. Awami League and BNP literally emulate each other in this regard.

Jatiya Party did not lose its chance to take advantage of the extreme adversity that has continued over the past three decades between Awami League and BNP. It is not only Awami League that benefitted from BNP’s boycott of the election, but it also gave Jatiya Party the chance to be crowned as the main opposition in parliament. Had BNP joined the election, the ruling party and the main opposition would be among these two parties. No matter how many seats it would win, Jatiya Party would not be the main opposition in parliament.

In the last two parliaments, armed with its 26 and 21 members respectively, Jatiya Party had been the loyal and tame opposition in parliament. Now it is to be seen what role it plays with its 11 members.

* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor at Prothom Alo and a poet. He can be contacted at sohrabhassan55@gmail.com

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir