The holy man guarding the thief’s house

Anis Alamgir [Published October 15th, 2018, Dhaka Tribune] The idea was to form a greater alliance against the government led by Sheikh Hasina in the name of national unity. But in the end, Dr Kamal Hossain and Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury could not even stay together for more than 20 days in the “alliance.” Excluding Badruddoza Chowdhury, Dr Kamal announced the “Jatiya Oikya Front” at the National Press Club, on October 13. An 11-point demand was also given by the new alliance, whose main goal was to ensure fair elections and bringing back the so-called democracy. In his speech, Dr Kamal said he wanted to be successful following the path shown by Bangabandhu -- Jatiya Oikya Front has been formed to establish democracy, for implementing Bangabandhu’s ideals. Gaming out Badruddoza Chowdhury’s Bikalpodhara, this front has officially included BNP, whose acting chairman Tarique Rahman has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder/terrorism, and is living in London as a fugitive from justice. Rob and Manna can have an easy win in the upcoming election by allying with BNP. That’s why they haven’t thought twice before joining Dr Kamal and BNP’s front, overlooking their former leader Dr Badruddoza. Another leader of Bikalpodhara, and Badruddoza Chowdhury’s son, Mahi B Chowdhury poured scorn on their defection and said: “On the one hand, BNP is creating national unity here while carrying on its illicit affair with Jamaat in the 20-party alliance. On the other hand, ASD Abdur Rab, president of JSD, and Mahmudur Rahman Mannan, convener of civil unity, are married here in Juktafront while managing an extra-marital affair with the Jatiya Oikya Front.” By stripping him of the nation’s presidency, BNP had insulted Dr Badruddoza already. Now, in the process of forming a national alliance, they have dropped him from the coalition at the last minute, and this is the second time he is being mistreated. It was well known that Tarique Rahman did not like him, so it is not surprising that BNP had an eye to remove Dr Badruddoza. BNP is facing a crisis of potential leadership. Their Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been jailed. Their present Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman has also been sentenced to imprisonment and is currently living in London with political asylum. On October 10, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack that killed 24. So during this crisis, BNP have chosen Dr Kamal Hossain, as they needed a veteran leader. Dr Kamal is a very elderly person. Despite his failure in his political career, people all over the country pay respect to this innocent gentleman. Whispers are that Khaleda Zia gave her party the order from jail to cooperate with Dr Kamal’s leadership, and that Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman both assured him that he would be the prime minister if BNP won the upcoming parliamentary election. There is a saying that money and power can bring life back to a dead body. This appears to be the case with Dr Kamal. In a press conference on Saturday, he said he would not give up the movement, even if he had to take a bullet for it. He reiterated that even if the government did not accept their demands, they would still go to the polls. In Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad made an alliance with Anwar Ibrahim’s party, and with only 13 members of his party, he was made the prime minister of the country. One imagines that Dr Kamal has similar dreams. Mahathir is now 93 years old, compared to that, Dr Kamal’s age is not a concern. Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim were allying together in the same political party before Mahathir had Anwar Ibrahim brought up on charges of homosexuality, and had him sentenced to life imprisonment. It was at the request of Anwar Ibrahim’s wife that Mahathir returned to politics at the age of 93 and came to power at the head of a coalition of 14 parties. He has been the prime minister for two months now. Anwar Ibrahim has already been elected as a member of parliament in a by-election held on October 13. Now, maybe Mahathir will make Anwar Ibrahim the PM and leave before the expiration of his tenure. The political situations in Bangladesh and Malaysia are not the same. Mahathir did not coordinate with Anwar’s party to release any sentenced murderer. But if Kamal Hossain wants to free a murderer just to be the prime minister, does it go with his lifelong political personality? Does it look acceptable at this stage of his career? Is he taking responsibility for establishing justice? He name-dropped Bangabandhu a minimum of 10 times in the press conference on Saturday. Was the name uttered due to immense respect, or was he just using the name of Bangabandhu for promoting his own purposes? I don’t think Dr Kamal can ever fulfill his specific goals by forming that front, because the people he is allying himself with are deviated and full of errors. And they are very bad at keeping their word. India’s Jayaprakash Narayan came to the election in 1977 against Indira Gandhi after forming a party named Janata Dal. Gathering Janashongho, Aadi Congress, Samata Party, and Kranti Dal, he organized an alliance. The leaders of that group were Morarji Desai, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, George Fernandes -- all the veteran leaders. But within less than two and a half years, it had all gone downhill. Indira Gandhi swept back to power in a landslide in 1980. It seems like Dr Kamal is desiring the victory of all the anti-Awami League leaders like Narayan did in India. But like Narayan, he too will inevitably fail. Nothing good for the country will come of this unholy alliance. It is unholy because the holy man has gone to guard the thief’s house. Anis Alamgir is a journalist and columnist.