Obaidul Quader said he won't flee, but even AL leaders don't know where he is

"We were born in this country, we will die in this country, we will not flee. Where will we flee! I will not flee. If necessary, I will go and stay at Fakhrul shaheb's house" -- these words aimed at BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir were uttered on 29 January last year by Awami League's general secretary Obaidul Quader, who had been the minister for road transport and bridges at the time.

When Obaidul Quader made this statement at an Awami League public meeting held at the historic madrasa grounds in Rajshahi, also present on stage were Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, who was the prime minister at the time.

Much water has flowed under the bridge over the last one and a half years since then. BNP's movement was thwarted and Awami League came to power for the fourth consecutive time through a one-sided election on 7 January this year. But then the Awami League government was toppled from power in the July-August student-people's uprising. On 5 August Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister and left the country.

There is no clue of where Obaidul Quader may be. He is in hiding and does not appear on the virtual world either. Before the fall of the government, he would be delivering speeches and statements almost every single day. But over the past 2 months and 10 days he has made no statement or speech for the media.

In the meantime a parody song based on Obaidul Quader's "palabo na" (I won't flee) statement has gone viral on social media. His various statements have proven to be perfect meme fodder. There is a host of other parodies and humorous skits centering Obaidul Quader's "words of wisdom".

After the fall of the government, most of Awami League's top level leaders, including Sheikh Hasina, have left the country. It has been learnt that most of them are staying in India. Even mid-level leaders and leaders of associate organisations have also taken up abode in India. Many of these leaders are keeping in communication with media persons and with party men at home and abroad.

Over the past one and a half months this correspondent spoke over phone with several central leaders of the party. None of them could give any information about the whereabouts of Obaidul Quader. In fact, there isn't even any information as to whether Obaidul Quader has been in contact with any of the leaders.

The Awami League leaders have all sorts of speculations about where Obaidul Quader could be possibly located. Some say he crossed over the Jashore border into India on 5 August. Some say he is in UAE. Then again, some think he is in hiding within the country.

Several leaders close to Obaidul Quader said he had been in Dhanmondi of the capital till 5 August afternoon. But since then there is a blank of whether he had been in contact with anyone.

Several audios have cropped up of Awami League's president Sheikh Hasina speaking over phone with leaders and activists home and abroad. But there has been no information of the second most important person of the party, Obaidul Quader, speaking to anyone. Before 5 August he had been busy holding meetings with party leaders of various levels every day. During the movement of the opposition before the national election, he had delivered speeches as the counter rallies and meetings in the streets. His taunting remark "khela hobe" ("the game is on") was met with a volley of discussion and debate. But then he himself took off with no trace. That is now the topic of discussion and debate.

Leaders close to Obaidul Quader say that from his student life he had been adroit at catching the media's attention. Before the 1/11 caretaker government takeover, when he had been the party joint general secretary, his statement about shutting off the oxygen supply to Bangabhaban had created a stir.

When Awami League came to power in 2009, he was not given berth in the cabinet. He would regularly deliver speeches at various mushroom organisations of Awami League. Many within the party would sardonically refer to him as the "nation's conscience".

Towards the end of 2011, Obaidul Quader was appointed the government's communication minister. There is talk within the party that after criticising the government at all these random organisations, he was given place in the cabinet. After becoming minister, he travelled the length and breadth of the nation and would summon media persons to deliver his statements.

After he became general secretary in 2016, Obaidul Quader became even more visible in the media. Since then he remained the party's general secretary for three terms. And then after the change in government, that Obaidul Quader is nowhere to be seen. This has not only surprised the party men, but angered them too.

A central leader of Awami League presently in India said, on condition of anonymity, after Obaidul Quader became general secretary of the party, other leaders hardly got a chance to speak. The leaders who didn't get that chance are now trying to be vocal. Obaidul Quader has sunk into complete silence.

After Obaidul Quader became general secretary, almost every day he would take part in events of his ministry or of the party and then publicise his speeches through the media. If there were no events, he would send his statements to the media as press releases. During the Covid pandemic, he would hold regular virtual press briefings from his home. He developed heart ailments in 2019 and was under treatment for about three months in the country and in Singapore. After that, this is the first time that Obaidul Quader has been absent for so long from the media.

A central leader of Awami League said, Obaidul Quader would try to stay in the media limelight by any means. He alone knows under what conditions he remains away from the media and the party leaders and activists for the past two and a half months.

When the country was faced with the tumultuous movement of the students and the people, Obaidul Quader and other central leaders held a meeting at the Awami League central office on Bangabandhu Avenue on 31 July with former Chhatra League leaders. Obaidul Quader faced the ire of the former Chhatra League leaders that day and some of them chanted "bhua, bhua" (fake, fake) at him. He has to rush out of the auditorium.

Many of the former Chhatra League leaders that day told the media people, the former student leaders were summoned after the party fell into trouble. Yet at other times the party general secretary would misbehave with them. He would just go around with a handful of his sycophants. That is why they expressed their anger.

Party leaders say that after the failure of party and the government during student-people's movement and after the fall of the government, the blame game has stepped up. And the party leaders and activists hurl most of the blame at Obaidul Quader. Many leaders apprehend Obaidul Quader will face an untoward situation if he comes out into the open.

While Obaidul Quader remains out of the media scene and out of sight, the party's presidium member Jahangir Kabir Nanak, joint secretary Mahbub Ul Alam Hanif and AFM Bahauddin Nasim have been posting statements and remarks in their verified Facebook pages. They have been placing their statements before the media too. But some party men have been annoyed with these posts too. They say that they castigate the government from the safety of being abroad, while those in the country have to face the flak. 

On 5 July Obaidul Quader made the last post on his verified Facebook page. He posted up 12 pictures of himself in different poses at the Padma Bridge project's Service Area-1. The post got over 10,000 likes, hearts and laughing emojis. Of this, 52,000 were laughing reactions. Over 38,000 comments were made and the pictures were shared over 7500 times. No posts on his Facebook page since then.

Earlier he would post pictures of himself in all sorts of poses at regular intervals on Facebook, taken in front of his house, in his office, in the Padma Bridge area and so on. He would post pictures with foreign ambassadors or guests too. But he did not post up pictures of party programmes much.