The Elephant in the Hole

MY mother was a great bedtime storyteller. A particular story was about her grandfather who was a chess player. He used to be visited sometimes by zamindars from adjoining villages for a game of chess. The visitors travelled on the back of elephants as was the custom back then. While they played their game, the visiting elephants would be chained to very strong trees to ensure the security of the villagers. One evening, as the chess players were busy checkmating each other, they heard a hue and cry outside. At first the noise was ignored, but as it rose to a crescendo, the brave lords reluctantly left their game to come out and see what the commotion was all about. They were dumbfounded by what they saw. The largest elephant in the square was knee deep in quicksand, sinking rapidly. Mahouts and villagers struggled to pull the poor beast out of the hole but the combined strength of the other elephants did no good. Slowly but surely, the elephant sank into its grave, leaving behind a pond sized crater for all to see in wonderment.  

These days I often remember the pond when I see BNP and its leadership trying to checkmate their opponent while their own house is on fire. The elephant is sinking rapidly but its leaders are unaware. As a party with more than 30 percent of popular support, BNP is a huge elephant. Alas, the leadership has no idea about how to keep its party from sinking. In fact, BNP sank itself by protesting against the popular demand for the judicial inquiry into war crimes. Then, it went knee deep by not participating in legitimate - alas not democratic – elections in 2014. After the mayhem caused by hurling fire bombs on innocent people, including their own supporters, the once huge elephant went into the quicksand waist deep. Every time it does something irrational or speaks carelessly about the fall of the government, it sinks deeper and deeper into the hole. This way the elephant will not remain visible for too long. Many of the top leaders, along with their workers, have already consciously moved away as they are weary of the sinkhole. Others have been sent to oblivion for trying to talk sense and do the sensible thing. It was showing the door to a sitting president that lead to the 'off with your head' process of senior and sensible political figures. Soon there will be no BNP left but only the gaping hole where it once stood. For now, we can only hear the desperate elephant calls for a neutral government, a fresh election, dialogue, and andolon – all in one breath from only one person.

A party with support of one third of the country is still an elephant to reckon with, be it in power or in the opposition. Without a strong elephant called the opposition, politics in this country will no doubt sink into that sinkhole sooner or later. Politics is more than playing a game of chess; it is about working together with opponents. It is not about annihilation of each other but the survival of the opponent, albeit, weaker but not so weak that it stops to breathe. Politics is about unseating each other and grabbing the seat through legitimate means. Restructuring political parties through a democratic process is the sensible and only way out if politics and democracy are to be saved. 

Senior leaders who have been sidelined must be called in again, given a clear mandate and authority to clean the mess, oil the engines, have a dialogue with opponents with a clear outline for negotiation, and start anew with renewed strength to build Bangladesh – not destroy it. BNP, as the loser in this game, needs to quickly turn the page and get out of the hole it has dug for itself. For now, it should concentrate on strengthening and energising the party from the grassroots to the top; engage people who matter because of substance and not for their sycophancy; change the leadership at every level; create a gender balance within the party to attract real voters; forget about a fresh election until the time is ripe; and finally, sail a ship that has left its rusted nuts and bolts behind and has been built anew. Only then can the citizens of this country heave a sigh of relief.

The writer is a former Ambassador.