There was a tinge of helplessness when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the other day, said: “All Awami League leaders can be bought except Sheikh Hasina, and that is the problem.” The statement revealed how vulnerable she was in terms of leading the biggest political party in Bangladesh.
Actually, the sentence says it all. As the top executive of a country and the party in power, this is a dangerous aspect. The leader doesn’t fully trust her teammates in running the affairs of the state.
I’m of course a teammate of hers as a citizen of this country, but if I were a teammate in her party, I would surely lower my head in shame when she expressed openly that she didn’t trust me. Nothing could be more humiliating than not having the trust of the leader who I’m supposed to follow in nation-building.
If I found my leader suspicious about my integrity, I would have left the wagon that she was on. Or, I’d work on how to gain her trust so that she can depend on me, otherwise there’s no reason I should be doing what my leader expects me to do.
However, I must mention that I sensed a deep element of finality in Sheikh Hasina when she said this. If the teammates aren’t truly in the right path, it’s the leader’s responsibility to bring about the desired change in them, and guide them to the expected path.
I recall my school days when I think of the possible state of mind of my prime minister. I was a naughty boy and a mediocre student. Most of my teachers including the principal didn’t realise how to handle such a student. So, they started calling me a “bad boy.” They started complaining against me every single day in their bid to correct me.
They weren’t even marking my exam papers properly. They started giving me poor grades even if I did extremely well in some subjects. So, I thought I should give up my pursuit to become a “good boy.” I told myself: “Well, now that my teachers think I’m a bad boy, and they aren’t helping me change, let me be bad in the true sense.”
I intentionally remained a “bad boy” as long as I was a student of that school. No one could bring about any change in me.
Well, what if the same thing happens in the case of the leaders that our prime minister is talking about? In that case, there would be no means left to correct them. Now that their leader said it, they might decide to remain that way forever. This is a risk of saying it all; this is a risk of saying final words. I would love to see our prime minister making statements in such a way that she can turn the stones in a later time.
For us, the common people, life, surroundings, and the state of affairs teach many things. They teach us how to become compatible with what our state delivers. They also teach us to have an insight to read the body languages of our leaders as well as to assess their contributions to the nation.
Our assessment says that the Awami League should feel lucky to have many leaders who are very dedicated to the party, which other parties in this country don’t have. We also feel that there are many leaders in the AL who’d never be sold to any other interests. I’d appeal to my prime minister to reassess her leaders and then come to a conclusion like this.
But then again, we may not know what she has seen; we may have the feedback that she has had from running the state of affairs of the party as well as the country. If her assessment is true, she must be in a really helpless situation, and nothing can be as mind-boggling as that.
At the same time, if this is true, she is also very lonely where she is performing from. I feel other leaders now have a responsibility to work in such a manner that her confidence level in them is again boosted. The productivity of the whole team would not be at the expected level when the chief executive is confused about the intention of her teammates.
The teammates would do themselves as well as the country a favour in proving Sheikh Hasina wrong by gaining her trust.
