DHAKA: A lack of coordination among the leaders in Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) while trying to regroup after past upset restrained them from performing the right role as the main opposition, insiders observed.
Mid-level leaders in the party termed such ‘lack of coordination’ in various tiers as a major bottleneck that was visible during political programmes.
The top brass do not want to admit to having such an Achilles’ heel. They put the blame on government’s attitude towards the opposition’s agitation programme, which they label as ‘autocratic” and “fascist’. They claimed BNP had no such internal feuds as could cause the programmes to apparently fizzle out.
Standing Committee member of the party Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury MP and BNP joint secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, while talking to banglanews24.com.bd, said there is no difference of opinion or infighting in the party.
However, Alamgir said the leaders and workers of Dhaka city unit were not getting proper directions during programmes in the absence of committee that led to a missing chain of command.
Asked about Alamgir’s observation, senior vice-chairman, former president of city BNP and Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation Sadek Hossain Khoka said they always tried their best to observe the party programmes with full vigour.
“I would say the party programmes were successfully carried out in the capital, but police excesses often deter our activists, Khoka told banglanews24.com.bd.
A number of BNP leaders had another point to make about the shortcomings--they said their programmes could not see expected success because the like-minded parties did not join them in the street.
Before the hartal on June 27, BNP reached out to cross-sections of people, like-minded parties and professional groups, but there was none except for a few Jamaat activists to prop up the strike programme.
At the July 7 human-chain demonstrations, BNP alone faced the police in the absence of their fair-weather friends who had enjoyed power and pelf when the party was in power.
Justifying the absence of the like-minded parties from the programmes, a leader of BNP said that they were scared. Moreover, the arrest of top Jamaat leaders pushed them on the back foot.
According to the insiders, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s divisional public meetings and series of contacts with the like-minded political parties and professionals could not yield much positive outcome.
The participation of the workers in the 27th June countrywide ‘hartal’ and the human chain on July 7 is seen as ‘frustrating’ by the mid-ranking party leaders.
“The human-chain programme was centered at the Press Club. The party secretary-general went there but preferred to stay inside his AC car--and this gives a wrong signal to the party and the like-minded parties,” said one leader, preferring anonymity.
During the last few months, the former ruling party had tried to mobilize public support in their favour through projecting the failures of the ruling government in different fields, but all to little effect, observers said.
They alleged that the government has failed to meet the basic demands of the people such as supply of gas, electricity and water, improvement of law-and-order situation, to halt the price hike and to scrap the recently signed uneven treaties with India.
BDST 11:00 HRS, JULY 14, 2010.
