Urdu speaking voters likely to play decisive role

A crowded railway town by tradition, Saidpur has long been home to a significant Urdu-speaking community. The forefathers of many arrived in the British period from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other parts of India to pursue careers in the railway workshops. Still others fled communal violence to arrive after Partition.

In the upcoming municipal elections, the support of Saidpur's Urdu speakers will likely be decisive.

"The votes of the Urdu-speaking community always play a crucial role," says Abdul Hafiz, the principal of Saidpur College and a well-known local historian.

While Urdu-speakers account for 25 of the 74 candidates who will contest the 15 councillor seats, there is no Urdu-speaking candidate running for the post of mayor.

Nonetheless, for a minority community anywhere in the country it is rare to wield such electoral clout, and for Urdu speakers in Bangladesh, Saidpur is undoubtedly unique.

According to the upazila election office, of the 81,500 registered voters in the first class municipality, 60% speak Urdu as a first language.

In light of such statistics, mayoral and councillor candidates of all persuasions have been making efforts to appeal to Urdu speakers in preparation for the upcoming polls.

A rare sound in Bangladesh, loudspeaker campaign announcements in Urdu are likely to suprise any visitor. But in Saidpur, any serious election campaign must be conducted bilingually.

Although the community lost some of its dominance after the Liberation War, during which many Urdu-speakers supported Pakistan and subsequently migrated there, Urdu-speakers remain influential in the area's cultural, political and economic life.

Yet which way they will vote is becoming harder to predict. Traditionally it has been assumed that Urdu speakers favour BNP-backed mayoral candidates, with a succession of them having been elected. But in more recent times circumstances have changed.

"The issue of the war criminal trials may have given Urdu speakers reason to reconsider their vote," says railway workers' leader Aminur Rahman, "It could be reflected in the upcoming poll."

President of the Urdu Welfare Society, Ashraful Islam Babu, has also observed a break with the past. "We made an historical mistake in 1971," he says, "Many supported the Pakistani Army due to political ignorance. Nowadays we want to intermingle with all people in this country and take pragmatic decisions when casting votes."