Politicians are supposed to be ruling, running, or leading the country. They are our pathfinders and guides, entrusted with the responsibility of charting courses for us towards progress and prosperity.
All spheres of activities in our life and living, from food, agriculture, health, education, housing, business and commerce, law and order, foreign policy, essentially everything that affects the citizens, are the politicians’ domain. They are the ones who plan for the next five years, the next decade, or even further, keeping in view our national goals set in their vision and wisdom.
Politicians go to the parliament with people’s mandate to represent us and implement national policies to reflect popular expectations. Parliament is supposed to be the hub of all activities, where major national issues are presented after being studied and analyzed and discussed in threadbare, tenaciously debated upon to reach firm and judicious decisions.
We haven't seen this happening for a long time now.
Joining politics or in the activities of a political party may not be expensive, but thriving in politics, holding a position, and getting elected is manifestly expensive. Besides one's knowledge, experience and stamina for the arduous job, it may require considerable investment in terms of financial assets to cover the expenditure of campaigning and beyond.
Other than the parliament, common people can witness political activities through public meetings, processions, and rallies where people are supposed to express their demands, opinions, or standings on various issues. We get overwhelmed by seeing large processions, get moved and convinced from the speech of powerful orators, while colourful banners, festoons and eye-catching wall painting and graffiti tell us about the popularity and prowess of political parties.
Why do people opt to join politics?
There could be multifarious factors acting as impetus for people to join politics. Gaining positions and prominence, fame and glory in the society, prospering financially by promoting business prospects, seeking access to formal or informal earning opportunities, feeling a sense of protection in everyday living, an assurance of not being harassed or being helped once in trouble -- these could be some of the impulses. Though the rhetoric could always be “to serve people, to establish people’s rights, establish justice, bring about social emancipation” as well.
There are second or third generation political leaders who have inherited from their predecessors who had held important posts in political parties at local or national level. The fortunate offspring of acclaimed leaders thus have a solid launching pad for them to build a political career. It is by dint of their dedication, professionalism and hard work that they manage to reach the top echelons. But they may not be very many in the society.
People with enough disposable wealth who do not have to bother to undertake the mundane hassle of earning a livelihood may get enticed to join political parties. People who get privileges such as business opportunities or construction contracts by dint of their time, effort, and involvement in politics are another class of beneficiaries. An individual may not be directly getting a business opportunity by stepping into active politics but it may be benefiting his kith and kin in terms of opportunity which otherwise may be difficult.
While there are businessmen already established in their domain, some seek chances of further growth and enhancement by affiliation to a political party in power to get various advantages -- some obvious and some not so obvious. Retired government officials including military and police who had been in the good books of a particular government during his tenure may queue up in the rank and file to exploit their connections and hence join politics to get the largesse.
There could be other categories of people who are indoctrinated in a certain ideology and have strong attachment and commitment to a party who preach such ideology. Such lofty ideology could be ultimately leading to “establishing a classless and exploitation-free society.” This species is rare though. There could be yet others who join a political party out of peer pressure.
People who had been involved in student politics in their youth later may be tempted to exploit their affiliation with an intent to consolidate their positions since they already have to their credit a long trek with the party. It is not unusual for students these days to have access to property unaccounted for, owning cars, houses, and having connections to business enterprises while they may not be making much headway in their studies. Campus violence has become a curse, rendering educational institutions difficult to administer and often unsafe and hazardous for everyday students.
Workers in every sector, even professional bodies of doctors, university teachers, engineers, and lawyers have a good scope to get affiliated with the tentacles of political parties. It is important for such bodies to secure government patronage for their well-being and survival. The parties on the other hand have a reach deep inside such professional bodies and can pledge for mass support. We thus find every shred of profession politicized.
Present condition
At the moment, we have some major issues facing the nation, such as a severely depleted reserve, large scale financial irregularity, corruption, a sick health sector and disoriented education sector, money laundering, inflation etc. There are many other issues which affect a substantial portion of our population.
Unfortunately, these have simply lost focus and gone into the back burner. Regardless of who is in power, we don’t see any magic wand in hand to sort out these issues overnight. The condition may even turn worse in a transition.
By definition, “profession” means a paid occupation. Hence, politics cannot be a profession for somebody. Many politicians very rightly vouch that they do not earn money by doing politics. Apparently, there may not be much scope of earning. But directly or indirectly, it helps a person to have access to perks and privileges which otherwise are not easy to come by.
The chaotic and ruinous condition we are going through in the country now is definitely the creation of our politics. Politicians say that they are only here to safeguard or restore people’s rights -- one is upholding constitutional obligations, the other is calling for a free and fair environment for people to vote.
Death and destruction since October 28 is going on. The way the major parties are now poised, it seems they will not stop unless they can annihilate their opponents. In the process, death, destruction, and obstruction to movement, business, and commerce will continue.
We as common citizens can only hope that good sense will prevail and they will have mercy on the common people. A commoner who has to struggle on a daily basis to earn barely enough to survive may not be interested even to vote, let alone participate in politics.
A victim lying in the burn unit of a hospital hasn't done anything to earn this. A policeman beaten to death doesn’t understand the politics, nor does the owner whose only possession might have been torched. Politicians are at liberty to fight each other to continue clinging to power, but not at the cost of our lives and living.
Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad, ndc, psc (Retd) is a freelance contributor.
