AL’s dicey acts confuse leaders

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The Awami League (AL), still deep in dilemma about whether to contest the election despite filing nomination papers, has spread confusion and frustration among its central and grassroots leaders.

The leaders of the AL as well as its allies are now short on answers about why their top leadership, specially Sheikh Hasina, gave her nod to election although many of the 14-party’s five-point demands remain unmet. This is more so as the party made the decision in its presidium meeting in the face of opposition from a majority of its members.

This has forced many party leaders to question why such decisions are made and who play the key role in making the judgements.

The latest unilateral decision of a few top AL leaders to sign a five-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a fundamental organisation, Khelafat Majlish, has further deepened the confusion. The disgruntled leaders now point fingers to a few new and old faces in AL such as Salman F Rahman, Kazi Zafarullah and Sheikh Selim for offending the party’s traditional base by pandering to the bigots.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil who went to Khelafat leader Shaikhul Hadis Azizul Haque’s residence to sign the MoU now feels deeply offended as he had to do it under pressure, some highly placed party sources said. There is every sign that the party top leadership is now in rows over many crucial decisions.

The impression that the AL may stay off the electoral race any time on any pretext has been deepened as none of the chiefs of the big allies such as Sheikh Hasina, Badruddoza or Ershad has clearly said that they are finally going to participate in the polls.

The leaders of the so-called grand alliance hoped that the three top leaders would hold a grand rally or press conference to justify their participation in the polls. But such steps are still conspicuously absent although the AL chief distributed nomination papers yesterday.

The question that now rings loudly in all corners of the AL and its 13 allies is if any significant change in the election environment has occurred that led to the decision to taking part in polls. A number of demands such as pushing Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury– the newly inducted election commissioner who once wanted BNP ticket for the upcoming election — out of the Election Commission, correction of voter list before announcement of election schedule, appointment of new commissioners, deeper reshuffle in administration remain unmet.

“Why then are we contesting the election at a great risk?” asked one central committee member of the AL who did not want to be named. “Who convinced our leader to jump into fire? Who is forcing us to a foregone conclusion?”

“Even Hasina had said a few days ago that she will not go to polls with Iajuddin as the chief adviser to the caretaker government. And today she asked us to submit nomination papers. So what has Iajuddin done to convince us that Hasina’s concerns about fair polls under him have been addressed,” another candidate from Narsingdi quipped.

“No such situation has been created for what we can say yes to election,” AL Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader told reporters yesterday, raising once again questions about inner dynamics of the AL. “We will observe until nomination withdrawal date whether a level playing field is created and then declare about participating the election and publish final candidates.”

In a similar tone, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chief Badruddoza Chowdhury said yesterday its position on participation in election is still uncertain and ‘if the present situation prevails, it would be very hard (for his party) to go to the polls’.

And on the very day that his party decided to the electoral fray, AL’s Organising Secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury said the AL may still back off.

“Such statements are making us confused and our position in the constituencies are being greatly affected. We are proving a wimp to the people,” said an AL candidate from a Barisal constituency.

Party leaders also accuse the high-ups of vacillating on the question of whether polls are possible under the current schedule. The AL, all through its recent movement, had been demanding shifting back election date as it said enough time was not left for correcting voter list or its poll preparation. But suddenly, AL General Secretary on … said ‘everything is possible within 90 days’ meaning the current election schedule is okay with the party. The same day, AL presidium member Suranjit Sengupta met the EC officials said correction of voter list is a must before announcing poll schedule, which virtually means the election cannot be held within 90 days.

“These are the confusions we are facing today and Hasina is not clearing the air about anything,” said the Barisal leader. “We simply feel insecure in such a situation.”

The AL general secretary is also coming under questions from party members for his often ‘dubious’ and shifting stances on important matters. They cite the latest incident of signing the unacceptable MoU with Khelafat and Jalil’s first denying having signed any such deal. He ultimately conceded to having signed the MoU and defended it by saying it is better for an educated cleric to issue edicts (fatwa) rather than by an uneducated person.

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