While Jamaat-e-Islami has kept BNP leaders busy in the field with its demand for proportional representation (PR) voting, it has itself moved ahead with preparations under the current system. It has already announced the names of potential candidates for almost every constituency in the country. In some places, their posters are already up. Local leaders and activists have accepted these candidates enthusiastically and are campaigning actively for them.
When it comes to candidate selection, Jamaat remains as before, giving priority to seniority. However, in several constituencies this time, the party has broken this tradition by nominating younger leaders. Even though some senior leaders have been left out, there has been no protest or objection. This reflects the party’s organisational discipline. Once, the Communist Party of Bangladesh also maintained such discipline. Today CPB too is plagued by factions and divisions.
BNP, on the other hand, known in today’s political reality as the unbeatable major political party on the scene, struggles to resolve its internal conflicts even before nominating candidates. The central leadership has said that disciplinary action has been taken against 7,000 leaders and workers so far. They may find some satisfaction in tallying numbers of conflicts and actions taken, but the common people want to see whether the infighting is actually stopping and whether discipline is being restored.
According to the human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra, from August last year to March this year, 76 people were killed in political violence, and 58 of them in BNP’s internal clashes. If the count is extended from March to September, the figure will exceed one hundred.
The excuses BNP leaders now offer are the same that Awami League leaders used to make while in power. “We are a big party with a huge base; a few isolated incidents may happen.” But what about the families of the victims? Where do they turn for redress? It cannot simply be blamed on “outsiders.”
Take three examples. According to a report in Prothom Alo, on 29 September in the river-island (char) areas of Narsingdi Sadar, a fresh clash broke out between two BNP factions, in which a local Jubo Dal leader was shot dead. In September alone, factional clashes in that area claimed at least three lives. Even during the Awami League’s rule, when BNP members were victims of state repression, infighting in Narsingdi claimed the lives of its own members.
In the neighbouring district of Brahmanbaria, the situation is hardly better. In the Brahmanbaria-2 (Sarail–Ashuganj) constituency, seven local BNP leaders have joined forces against Rumeen Farhana, calling her an “outsider” and trying to block her nomination. The situation in Chattogram-6 (Raozan) is the most alarming, where 15 people have been killed there so far.
In constituencies where BNP intends to leave seats for its allies, can it manage its own angry leaders? Already there have been clashes between BNP and its allies in several areas
The main contenders are BNP’s former vice chairman Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury and the now-dissolved north district convenor Golam Akbar Khondkar, whose supporters are violently clashing. Ironically, both sides had once suffered together under Awami League rule, facing arrests, cases, and years of exile from home.
It is not just Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria, or Raozan. BNP’s nomination aspirants are fueling conflicts in many districts and upazilas. They believe that displaying muscle power will secure them the nomination. A solution could lie in a democratic nomination process and the formation of leadership at all levels through elections.
BNP leaders argue that Awami misrule prevented them from holding proper councils. But now, in 11 months of freedom, how many upazila, district, municipal, and city committees have they formed through conferences? Asking this is hardly unfair.
BNP leaders now say they are focusing on constituencies where there are too many aspirants or where rivalries are intense, raising fears of rebel candidates. Several standing committee members have been assigned regional responsibilities. They are summoning aspirants to the Gulshan office to reach consensus on single candidates. This could have been done much earlier. One senior leader cautiously remarked that this is not the final list but a “pre-political process” ahead of the election. Whatever the name, the big question remains: will it resolve factional conflict?
Several BNP leaders have said that in this round of candidate selection, the party is giving special weight to organisational skills at the grassroots, active participation in the movement, and connection with local people. In the past, financial muscle and influential figures were prioritised. This time, there is a stated policy to give importance to grassroots opinion. Yet the gap between principle and practice is wide. In constituencies where several senior leaders are in the fray, how will the final choice be made? That remains to be seen.
BNP is closer to power now than it was in 2018—yet even then, under severe repression, there were violent fights over nominations, even an attack on the Secretary General’s residence. So how far will leaders’ assurances and surveys go this time?
Another challenge: in constituencies where BNP intends to leave seats for its allies, can it manage its own angry leaders? Already there have been clashes between BNP and its allies in several areas. The head of one allied party complained, “I had to call London to get permission to hold a rally in my own area—local BNP leaders were so unruly.”
Meanwhile, ahead of the national election, Jamaat has mobilised its women’s wing across the country to target female voters. A journalist friend in Barura, Cumilla, reported that Jamaat’s women activists are going door-to-door, asking about household problems, while male workers hold meetings in markets and mosques.
Here too, BNP is behind. It has only recently planned female-focused activities to counter Jamaat’s strategy, scheduled to begin in Khulna on 14 October. But why did the BNP leadership take so long? On the campaign trail, they speak most loudly of elections, yet in preparations, why are they falling behind?
* Sohrab Hassan is a journalist and poet and can be contacted at [email protected]
* The opinions expressed here are the author’s own.