The ruling Awami League yesterday drew heavy flak from its left-leaning allies for ignoring them in taking many crucial political decisions  and also for already starting "electioneering" for the next national polls.

At a meeting of the 14-Party alliance, they said the AL calls them only when it faces a crisis, said top leaders of the AL-led alliance.     

The leftist parties also said they are disappointed that the AL does not  give them space in the government and does not attach importance to the alliance.

The meeting was presided over by Amir Hossain Amu, the alliance coordinator and veteran AL leader. It was held at his  Eskaton residence.

According to meeting sources, leaders of the allies said the AL president has already started electioneering and seeking votes for 'boat' -- the ruling party's electoral symbol.

They told Amu that they were in the dark whether the AL would participate in the next election unilaterally or as an alliance, and that they did not know if they had any role to play as the AL has already begun campaigning.

The AL took part in the 2008, 2014 and 2018 elections under the 14-party electoral alliance, formed in 2008. 

Just before the 2008 election, the Grand Alliance was formed with the Jatiya Party.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haq Inu, Jatiya Party (Manju) Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua,  and Tarikat Federation President Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandari, among others, spoke at the meeting yesterday.

Inu pointed out that the AL had already started electioneering unilaterally and wanted to know whether the alliance partners should also do so or sit idle.

Meeting sources further said Dilip Barua alleged that a number of financial scams took place in recent years and the government will have to put a stop to these in order to regain the people's confidence.

He also said the BNP wants an anarchic situation.

If the government fails to contain financial corruption, it will help the opposition party to implement its "ill motive", which may lead to a constitutional crisis, he added.

Dilip suggested the AL take initiatives to help people regain confidence in the banking sector.

At the meeting, Manju also raised the issue of financial corruption and inflation.

If the current inflation continues, it will create labour unrest, meeting sources quoted him as saying.

He asked whether the AL has any plans if workers take to the streets due to the inflation.

Menon expressed disappointment over "Khela Hobey", phrases used by some AL leaders lately. "Such a slogan doesn't go with the character and spirit of the 14-party alliance."

He also said such a slogan will only push the country towards confrontations and suggested that it be gotten rid of, said sources.

Ismail Hossain, acting secretary of the National Awami Party, asked why the government chose to start electioneering a year ahead of the national polls and at a time when it is facing inflation and a financial crisis.

Responding to the allegations and frustrations, Amu said the AL will start a programme under the banner of the 14-party alliance, after the party's national council, slated for December 24.

He also told them to revive the alliance at the district level, said sources.

Amu added that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already announced that the AL will participate in the next election, scheduled for January 2024, under the 14-party alliance.

At a post-meeting briefing, Amu told reporters the meeting decided to face in unison the BNP and its "ill motive to destablise the country".

The January election has been the centre of attention for well over a year now. Everyone was curious how this edition would eventually pan out, especially whether BNP would finally be able to pressure the government into forming a nonpartisan election-time government, which is difficult, if not impossible. Some were just excited about the possibility of voting and it actually counting, unlike the last two elections. However, with BNP's boycott confirmed and seats distributed among Awami League's alliance, the results are almost a foregone conclusion.

Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, former election commissioner, said this election is essentially a quest for an opposition party (read opposition in parliament). Although 27 parties are contesting in the polls, the search for a viable opposition remains the most prominent feature. The situation is so obvious that even someone without much political insight can predict that the ruling AL will form the next government with an absolute majority.

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So, when the results are a foregone conclusion and winners are already known, the election has little significance. The results are predictable as the elections will be held under a range of restrictions.

The restrictions are an important issue here. The Election Commission asked the government to take measures so that no political programmes, other than for electioneering, can be held after December 18. In a letter sent to the home ministry, the EC said parties should be stopped from holding rallies and other public events that may "obstruct the election process and discourage people from casting their votes." The measures should be in place till after the election on January 7, said the letter, addressed to the senior secretary of the Public Security Division.

It is the EC's role to ensure a congenial atmosphere for people to cast their votes freely. But the way the commission is stopping the activities of political parties is merely a bid to hide its failure through other means. This type of action had not been taken by any EC, not even by the 2014 Rakib commission. But this is not unexpected, as the commission itself announced the election schedule amid high security and beefed up police protection, with the deployment of armoured personnel carriers and water cannons.

Basically, this level of security at the EC betrays the election's true nature and how congenial the prevailing atmosphere is. True, BNP and other opposition parties are enforcing hartals and blockades, demanding a nonpartisan interim government. But the political opposition is fully within its rights to demand and campaign to oust the government. Obviously, opposition parties will not support the government when elections come around.

But for the EC to also act as an extension of the political government and bar political programmes that might "discourage people from voting" betrays its inherently nonpartisan design. Holding rallies is a fundamental right not just of a political party but also of individuals, a right that should not be tainted with equivocations or conditions, or intermitted because of "special circumstances." 

Not even the home ministry can lawfully abide by the commission's request. Just like casting votes is a right, so is not casting it. And so is waging a peaceful campaign to convince people not to vote at all. Since there is no "no vote" option, as there was in 2008, citizens may not feel compelled to vote. Thus, any campaign to discourage people from voting is as lawful as the urging people to vote for a certain candidate.

To complicate this further, in a television interview, ruling party leader and agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque said BNP received a number of generous offers. The party was even told that all its leaders would be released from jail overnight if it decides to join the January 7 election. 

Distancing the ruling party from Razzaque's comments, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader, the very next day, said the remarks were not of AL's but that of the minister's alone. On the same day, Razzaque said, "I think what I said, I did not say anything wrong, not a bit. The statement is correct." 

For a long time, BNP leaders have been accusing the government of politicising the legal system and imprisoning its activists and members illegally. Razzaque's statements only vindicate what BNP has been claiming all this time.

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As BNP is not contesting the polls, it will try to make the election controversial, demonstrating the loopholes and deficiencies. And towards that end, the opposition parties must give a big thanks to Razzaque and the Election Commission, as they are doing the opposition's work, making it easier to illustrate that the system is so tainted that an election under Awami League would never be fair. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina already said that BNP is plotting to create a famine in the country, after realising that it won't be able to thwart the upcoming election, and perhaps realising that tough times are coming a few months down the line. We are hopeful that under Hasina's iron-handed leadership, there will be no such famine in the country. But it appears there is another kind of crisis under her watch—a 10-year drought of proper elections, a drought that won't let up soon, it appears.

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is chief reporter at The Daily Star.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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