Politics came back to the people, only to be lost again

Friday began with rain in the capital. The monsoons had been quite dry this year, and then dark clouds gathered. There was an outburst of rain. On that rainy Friday morning, BNP's leaders and activists streamed towards Naya Paltan in the capital city.

After two days of 'drama', finally the venue for the grand rally had been fixed. Just four days earlier, Chhatra Dal, Jubo Dal and Swechchhashebok Dal had held a successful youth rally at Suhrawardy Udyan. After 17 years of remaining outside of power, this was quite an impressive turn around for BNP.

Enthusiastic BNP leaders and activists poured through the streets towards their central office in Naya Paltan. BNP's media cell had been very active on Facebook over the past few days. They had a continuously update of the leaders and activists streaming in from all over the country. The BN men were arriving in processions from various districts and upazilas. Their banners had pictures of Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda Zia and Tarique Zia along with pictures of the district and upazila level leaders.

The number of processions was on the rise, resounding with claps and slogans. The number of leaders and activists were on the rise too. Their arrival was streamed live from Kamalapur railways station. Leaders and activists arrived from Rajshahi by train. Their slogans began the moment they set foot on the platform. Another train was streamed live, the local train teeming with BNP men, even on the roof. The platform was filled with claps and slogans. It was a rare scene in the recent history of Bangladesh to see trains full of opposition leaders and activists arriving on the scene.

That was just one side of the coin. On the flip side, there were the news reports of police setting up checkposts at Dhaka's entry points, going as far as to even check people's mobile phones, their Facebook posts, their Messenger, WhatsApp messages, their call lists, message boxes and so on. They did not give a damn to privacy. A few hundred leaders and activists were arrested. There were even reports of BNP men being made to get down from vehicles and go back to where they had come from.

At 2:00 in the afternoon I had headed out from Karwan Bazar with Prothom Alo's joint editor Sohrab Hassan. There was very little traffic on the streets. The few buses that were seen, were crowded to the limited. We stood and waited with the passengers. Close by was a crowd of Swechchhaswebok League activists in white caps. They would be going to their venue around a kilometre and a half away from Naya Paltan, at Baitul Mukarram, to join the Chhatra League, Jubo League and Swechchhashebok League peace rally. They were waiting for a pickup van and discussing among themselves how many people had come to the BNP rally. One of them was saying, "BNP can't turn back now. They are desperate."

We finally managed to get a CNG auto-rickshaw to go to Press Club or as far as we could go. We were going along Bangla Motor, SAARC fountain and Kakrail route. There were lines and lines of buses and pickup vans on either side of the road. Leaders and activists of Awami League's three affiliate organisations were forging ahead with processions, wearing blue, white, yellow, red and orange caps. As we proceeded, the number of parked buses on the roadsides was increasing. Discarded food packets were strewn all over the roads. Our CNG proceeded slowly as the processions grew denser. We asked our CNG driver about the programmes and counter programmes. He said, "We have to work for a living. If we keep our CNG idle for one day, we can't earn. The prices of things aren't going down... Let there be a heavy downpour, then we'll see how many people stay at the meetings."

We had to alight from the CNG at the National Eidgah. We walked past a procession. As we neared the secretariat, it began to rain. We stood huddled against the secretariat wall, trying to stay dry under an umbrella. But the rain couldn't disperse the processions. Most of those in the processions were teenagers and youth. There was even a procession of girls going ahead in the rain. The air was filled with excitement and festivity. Some were even blaring vuvuzelas. The rain finally let up and we continued on our way.

The peace rally had begun. The leaders were delivering their fiery speeches, calling upon the people to thwart BNP. The activists were carrying banners and placards of their respective leaders. There were WASA water tanks with mugs chained to them as internals along the street. Many were quenching their thirst. The mikes were blaring. The police were hanging around, relaxed and chatting with each other.

Armed police, though, were standing on alert at the 'border line' of the Paltan intersection. They were facing towards the BNP rally. Awami League and BNP men were merged at that juncture, but there were no clashes. The closer we proceeded towards Paltan, the streams of people increased. The leaders and workers had been drenched in the rain, their clothes sticking to their bodies.

On either side there were food stalls galore, selling matha, sandesh, singara, cucumber, bananas, bottles of water, peanuts and more. The air resounded with the speeches of the leaders. But the leaders and activists who had come in from all over the country, were gathered in groups, talking among themselves, calling out slogans, waving the national flag, waving the party flag and carrying placards and banners with pictures of the district and upazila leaders. They were taking selfies too.

In the BNP rally, the leaders and activists were mostly of the 30 to middle-age age group. The related the hardships they faced along the way to reach the rally venue. Some said they managed to come unhindered. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon when we returned.

Many of those out there had been 24 hours on the road since leaving home. Many were in a hurry to return home, a long journey ahead. They were tired, weary. They were uncertain about what lay in the days ahead. But they wanted a democratic environment to be restored in Bangladesh. They wanted to be able to cast their votes. That excitement and aspiration was etched on their faces.

One end of BNP's  rally stretched from Kakrail to the road near Ramna. The Awami League processions of the peace rally passed by. But there was no agitation. There was no aggression.

Friday went by with the rain and sun taking turns in Dhaka's skies. Awami League held a programme as a counter to BNP's. But the leaders and activists of both rallies were filled with enthusiasm and spontaneity. Even if just for one day, politics had gone back to the people. But within a matter of 12 hours, that spontaneous participation of the people disappeared from politics. That old violence came back. The police's competence suppressing demonstrations was on display.

* Manoj Dey is editorial assistant at Prothom Alo.

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