The much hyped about 12th parliament election is over and the first sitting of that parliament is on and expected to conclude before the coming Ramadan. Even 24 hours before the scheduled election on 7th January the country was abuzz with rumours, narratives and counter narratives following the boycott announcement of the election by BNP and its allies alleging that no election was possible under the then government. The demands of BNP and its allies were not only unconstitutional but also impractical. They demanded Sheikh Hasina and her colleagues resign and handover the power to an undefined non-party election time government. They also demanded that a new Election Commission must also be formed as per their choice.  

To realize their demand BNP and its associates resorted to all sorts of violence and arson. All attempts of the street agitators failed and the election was held as scheduled. The 7th January election results have been accepted by all countries of the world including the United Nations and other international bodies. The US President and UK Prime Minister were the two last persons to have sent messages to Sheikh Hasina accepting the new government. The latest developments frustrated the election boycotting political parties and their supporters.

Election over, now it is time to look back and diagnose why and how did all the plans of the boycotting parties to thwart the January election fall on its face and left them in the wilderness. If history is a testimony no political or civil movement in this country ever succeeded without the active support and participation of Bangladesh Awami League. In spite of the fact that the birth of BNP following the assassination of the Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not go through a normal process, it should be remembered that the party was in power for about 18 years. Its founder Zia had the avowed objective of making ‘politics difficult for politicians.’ This oft-quoted statement of Zia proved to be grossly responsible for failure of political movements led by BNP.  

Zia formed his political party cobbling together people from different professions and civil-military bureaucracy along with few discarded and discredited politicians. The absence of regular politicians in the party can be very costly. Awami League under the most difficult conditions never shied away from any election since its birth in 1949 knowing very well that it will never be able to win a decent number of seats in the parliament. The 1979 election held under a martial law of Zia is an example.  Awami League only with a handful of senior leaders participated in the election and Zia just had the Election Commission declare twenty four hours after the election was closed that Awami League had ‘won’ in only 39 seats.

Coming back to the just concluded 12th parliamentary election any sensible politician would have advised the opposition, primarily BNP, to participate in the election as per prevailing constitutional obligation. If that happened they could win decent number of seats in the parliament.  The other political parties demonstrating on the street to boycott the election in line with BNP’s demand are just redundant and have no standing in the mainstream politics of the country.

Few foreign diplomats stationed in Bangladesh set out to mislead the BNP and its allies and made them believe that the 12th  parliamentary election will be held as per their desire and they will be able to participate ‘and win’ comfortably.  Senior Foreign Office members from some western countries made repeated trips to Bangladesh to convince the government to arrange according to them a ‘free, fair, inclusive and peaceful’ election in Bangladesh. US State Department went even a bit further and announced a ‘Visa Ban’ for anyone trying to disrupt the election. They regularly announced that they as a part of their foreign policy is committed towards protecting ‘human rights’ and `democracy’ in Bangladesh.

People did not forget countries were destroyed when these countries tried to export their brand of these two things to other countries. All these sent wrong messages to the BNP camp. To complicate the situation for BNP and its allies, came a group of local civil society members with the support of some irresponsible media pretending they are with BNP and its allies. The BNP leadership were virtually sleepwalking to a political free fall.

Then came a half a dozen YouTubers who were operating from inside Bangladesh, US, France and Thailand. They were continuously spreading rumours announcing possible dates of government resignation. BNP camp was so naïve that they believed what these paid campaigners dished out.

While the BNP and its allies were sleep-walking, the polling was held on the specified day and results declared. The boycotting parties were left in the lurch and yawning. They were very successful in making fool of themselves. Currently they are busy receiving winter cakes (pitha) from the BNP’s absconding Acting Chairman.
To ensure the existence of BNP as a functioning political party it must now think of reorganising the party leadership. They need to stop running after foreign powers.
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The writer is an analyst and a commentator