Resisting confrontation
Hilary Clinton had once said quite poignantly: “The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.” Oh, how poor we truly are. Not a statesman in sight.
The rhetoric on both sides of the aisle as it stands today is demeaning to all of us.
Every single person reading this must for their own self dignity never forget that our leaders have completely failed to lead us in any constructive direction.
AL and BNP’s rigid stance continues. Their insistence in not pursuing any meaningful dialogue is perplexing and boring.
Their inability to break the proverbial ice is deeply concerning. Elements within both parties who are continuously advocating for resistance both armed and otherwise look childish, desperate and naked to all of us who have the ability to decipher political emptiness.
While there are some glimmers of hope for an understanding in the offing, primary of which is the unprecedented offer of the prime minister to have a phone conversation with the opposition leader, I am sure it’s not too negative for me or anyone else in the country to have any respectable belief, that anything positive will transpire as a result of that conversation.
A fair and serious negotiation, among other things, requires that an environment of confrontation be dialled down and none of our leaders are interested in doing so. If not any other sign, that by itself is indicative of the lack of seriousness of both sides in reaching a middle ground.
Therefore, I don’t agree with the diplomatic quarter’s assessment that dialogue in itself will help, it won’t. There has to be a meaningful, respectful dialogue devoid of threats of violence from both sides which, both in public and backdoors of power, these two main parties are incapable of doing.
One could cite a few examples of cooperation between them but they are few and far between and sending sentimental letters to each other with insane demands don’t count.
In the lead up to the BNP rally, it was nothing short of shameful in how both sides drummed up their respective abilities to fight each other. People are being terrorised by the parties’ continued war posture.
The BNP and AL really don’t care that in speaking to us about your ability to hash it out on the streets like an open fight club is anything but enticing to a majority of us even though I admit there are parts of our society who enjoy such confrontations.
As I write this on Friday afternoon, no major incidence of violence has taken place. The instability however continues unabated and the kind of environment such a situation promotes is deeply damaging and seriously dangerous for nation.
All this needs is a spark that we all believe and fear will happen any moment now. To quote a cliché, “It’s not a matter of if but when.”
The reason that belief exists and gains credibility every passing day is the full display of political madness in the media that other developed nations around the world could only dream about.
It’s not reasonable for the BNP to ask the government to bend over backwards to alter the constitution and amend laws to reinstate the caretaker government system or to seek out 20 retired advisers both alive and dead to lead a poll time government or when they say that the government rules illegally starting today.
Similarly, why on earth would the AL not clarify it’s position regarding the head and structure of the poll time government, when it transitions to that state, is flabbergasting and besides me. Both parties have shown us that they don’t understand anything about the art of negotiation and that they are most adept at confronting each other.
The only real truth here is, no one in this country wants a repeat of 2006 and if such an incident does take place, it will be the most epic failure of our politicians in not having prevented it.
I urge the prime minister and the opposition leader to immediately muzzle their respective party men by stating in private and whatever public platform available to them to not use inflammatory language and order their colleagues to resist confrontational activities at all costs.
If there is going to be any hope for an understanding that leads us into the next election, the violent one-up rhetoric has to stop. That is the primary perquisite without which no dialogue will succeed and we have already failed it several times. Not that any of the stakeholders really care.
Originally published at www.dhakatribune.com on October 25, 2013.
