Poribartontro? Sheita abar ki?

It seems that bringing up the core issues of dynastic politics has been largely unsuccessful. Politicians and their spokespeople either ignore them or talk around them.

Here we have Mrs. Zia saying that there is no dynastic politics in the BNP because her personal success "has not been achieved overnight by means of family influence. It's the result of hard work, merit and support from the people."

Now who would dispute this, other than hard-core Awami Leaguers? She has been the PM twice, and has been in politics for nearly two decades now. Her pre-eminence is a result of a lack of intra-party democracy rather than dynastic politics. When people talk about dynastic politics within BNP, they do not refer to her, but to her son's undue influence within the party and her brother's recent appointment. Even her own party members have expressed reservations about this and broken away from the party!

Did she focus on these issues? No. Did her party supporters raise them? Of course not. The myth of poribartontro has been laid to rest. *Applause* I blame the media and Shushil Shomaj for creating it in the first place! *Booo*

Now I'm not doing this to maintain "balance" a la the CTG. But I read something on Mr. Wazed (Joy)'s blog today that gave me the similar creeps. In trying to rebut claims from a mythical "Shushil Shomaj" (which he himself is part of till he formally joins the AL, may I humbly point out), he says:

"Let me remind Shushil Samaj again. There were no mass arrests during the Awami League’s time. There were no arrests without warrants. People were not held indefinitely without bail. There were no extra judicial killings. Due process was followed, even for the murderers of my family."

"even for the murderers of my family"? Has the thought ever crossed Mr. Wazed's head that the trial of his family's murderers - though highly, highly deserved - was an instance of family favouritism? What about justice for the families of those who sacrificed their lives in 1971? What did the AL '96-2001 do for them? Did they try to bring Rajakars to trial? Did they try to get an apology from Pakistan?

With thousands of people having justice delayed for them everyday, was this not a clear example of the downfalls of poribartontro? Yet, "even" for the murderers of his family?

This is not hostility towards the Awami League and its supporters. I respect grassroot political party workers for the hard work they do and the risks they take. I just don't want them doing all this for two to three top families.

I know for a fact that I have at least one friend and reader who is an ex-BCL leader. The other day, his brother got harrassed by the authorities. I didn't see Mr. Wazed write on his blog about that. True, he doesn't have time to deal with every case of illegitimate detention by the CTG. So what about M K Alamgir? I didn't find any mention of him either. In fact, when not railing against all institutions in our country except the Awami League, the only victim he has recognised on his blog was his own mother, Mrs. Sheikh Hasina. This is not to say that Awami League believe in poribartontro - far from it! The Awami League website simply displays his blog prominently because apparently he's the only Awami League blogger.

Poribartontro? Banish the thought!

Update: To be fair to Mr. Wazed, he has very commendably raised the issue of slum dwellers being evicted on his blog. Predictably, he fails to mention that this has happened under all governments, including the recent Awami one. Read Dhaka University's Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed's take on this here. Oh, and a word of warning: being a Dhaka University Professor, Dr. Ahmed is a member of civil society.