Jamaat and Ershad are still trump cards

Mohiuddin Ahmad
Mohiuddin Ahmad

In 1958, martial law was imposed in Pakistan in. General Ayub Khan was at the peak of power. The elections were supposed to be held in February 1959, but were not. Ayub Khan then decided to hold elections, but of the local government. This was the union council at the time and all sorts of chants rang out to generate enthusiasm for the polls. The trend continues. There are slogans galore for the December 2018 elections. These are the national polls this time and those who are to take position in power, are now honing their oratory skills.

Records are being created, particularly in the number of participating parties and candidates. There is no end to the parties, many of who are coalescing. The coalitions are no few in number either. It’s doubtful whether the leaders of the various coalitions even know the names of all the parties in their respective coalitions. Most of these minor parties don’t even have registrations, not that it stops them from forming parties. When we were children, we would say, a number of rooms together make a house. Now we say, a number of people make a party, a number of parties make a coalition!

There are two main coalitions in the election fray. One is the mahajote (grand alliance) under Awami League. The other is Jatiya Oikya Front, centred on BNP. Both the coalitions are rife with religion-based parties. Actually, such parties are less in the Jatiya Oikya Front and more in the mahajote. No matter what rhetoric may be spewed out about building a secular Bangladesh, both sides are keeping an eye on the “Muslim” vote bank. The Oikya Front has an invisible window. This is the 20-party alliance, of which Jamaat-e-Islami is one of the main allies. The party’s registration may have been cancelled, but its stand remains the same. This party’s candidates will contest under the ‘sheaf of paddy’ symbol of the Oikya Jote. This has given the Awami League camp the chance to point fingers and say, ‘Look, Kamal, Rab, Siddiqui, Manna are all in collusion with Jamaat. How shameful!’

When the elections were supposed to be held in January 2007, Awami League first hurriedly signed a five-point deal with the fanatically religious Khelafat Majlis. One of the main points of the agreement was to accept rights of the ‘alems’ to issue fatwa. The election eventually wasn’t held and Awami League too fell silent about the deal. But it is not that it has moved away from playing with the people’s religious sentiment. This is all very evident in its recent hobnobbing with Hefazat-e-Islam.

Hefazat is no political party. Its leader Allama Shafi has said that he hadn’t understood before what a good party Awami League was and how pure a Muslim is Sheikh Hasina. He had been misled but now he realises their value. He also has said that Hefazat will not work in the interests of any party. If anyone does, they will do so on their own accord.

Hefazat has a nationwide network. Their power came to the fore in 2013 when they merged at the Shapla Chattar in the capital city. In a display of her political prowess, Sheikh Hasina came to some sort of understanding and has managed to neutralise them.

But also nestled in the mahajote is Husain Muhammad Ershad. Awami League has always talked about the spirit of the liberation war. But history speaks differently. Ershad, who had been serving in the Pakistan Army in 1971, has been accused of killing the valiant freedom fighter Abul Manzur. Awami League leader Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, at one time his prime minister, once leaked out a bit of information about Ershad. A colonel at the time, Ershad had been the chairman of the tribunal formed by the Pakistan military authorities to try the rebel Bengali military officers. And now such a character is beaming in the midst of the mahajote. The case filed in 1996 regarding the killing of Manzur is still not settled, 22 years on. If the state so wanted, it could settle the case in the matter of a week, but that is not happening any time soon. After all, Ershad is the mahajote’s trump card just as Jamaat is that of BNP. BNP is well aware Jamaat is indispensible for it when it comes to the election. Awami League is also well aware that they need Ershad and his Jatiya Party at their side during the polls.

Truth be told, no one is really at ease. BNP is consolidating its position with the Jatiya Oikya Front coalition and Awami League is boosting its own strength by drawing Bikalpadhara to its side. This odd polarisation of mismatching ‘allies’ is certainly a political precedent in Bangladesh. At the end of the day, all eyes will be trained on Jamaat and Ershad. In the past they have been determinants of victory and defeat in the elections.

Ideology be damned. It’s all about the means to reach the end. It’s said, in politics, you sleep with strange bed fellows - today with one, tomorrow with somebody else.

  • Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and researcher. This piece, appearing in Prothom Alo print, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir