It shouldn’t have been too hard for the BNP to make its case. After all, just over a year ago, the Awami League had stubbornly moved ahead with a very unusual national election, hiding behind the pretense of constitutional correctness while havoc was being wreaked on the streets.
Legal scholars may quibble over whether or not any violations of our constitution occurred on January 5 last year, but it is clear that the BNP as a legitimate political opposition party got crushed under the AL’s heels.
The election and the run up to the election were condemned far and wide. It was called undemocratic, authoritarian, tyrannical. Many who formerly sympathised with the AL found themselves feeling sorry for the BNP, and Khaleda Zia and her loyal street thugs started looking like hapless victims of a bullish AL. The word “one-sided” doesn’t begin to describe the general sentiment about Sheikh Hasina’s victory in those polls.
This newspaper conducted an opinion poll last year. According that poll, 77% of respondents said an election without main opposition BNP would be unacceptable. In the same Dhaka Tribune opinion poll a year later, 70% said they were satisfied with the current government. Sympathy for the BNP has plummeted in the matter of a year.
The run up to the elections saw an enormous amount of violence out of the streets. Incidents of explosions, vandalism, and clashes had grown commonplace. The people grew sick of it. Our economy experienced catastrophic losses in that period. Ask any businessperson and they will tell you: BNP’s assault of blockades and hartals did not do anybody any good.
In spite of the criticisms of the national election, the year 2014 saw relative calm and stability. Businesses went back to normal. Remittance earnings were up again. Investor confidence was gradually restored. Grownups went back to work and children went back to school without constantly worrying about crossing paths with a crude bomb.
And yet, here we are again. Blockades and arson attacks are back. While public support for the BNP shrinks, the party continues to place their demands through unleashing terror on passersby and politically apathetic random citizens. It’s like Groundhog Day, except there is no humour in this political time loop.
It really should not have been so impossible for the party to gain more support, considering that nearly four in five people had said elections without the BNP would not be considered legit in the previous DT polls. Sheikh Hasina’s regime cannot be called a paragon of good governance by any objective citizen, and Khaleda should have been able to rally up support against the ruling regime by offering a better example.
All that is needed from the BNP is a good alternative for the people. Nobody wants the suicidal game of street politics anymore. People want to go to work, they want to put food on the table for their families, and they want to build something. None of this will get done if the party’s idea of progress is setting everything on fire.
It isn’t too late either. The BNP can still go back to the drawing board and figure out a new type of politics. It can try to engage in dialogue, come up with a workable solution. Why not start doing a few good things, so the people know that’s the sort of thing they will do when in power?
They tried the messy agitation style of resistance already, and it didn’t work. As the BNP has even less support now than it did back in December of 2013, it seems to be common sense that they would change their strategy instead of doing the same thing and expecting different results. But alas, common sense ain’t so common.
Whether or not we ever really had one, we are not ready to abandon the dream of a healthy democracy. That means most of us want to see satisfactory elections being held at regular intervals, where the main opposition doesn’t just decide to take the day off on election day after a long spell of hurting the country with the political equivalent of a temper tantrum. If the BNP is able to do that, the AL might start to fall out of public favour again.
It is time to put down the petrol bombs and start coming up with new, constructive ideas. Does the BNP have any?
