Winning formula: A real solution?
There has been much talk about that "large chunk (over 50%) of voters sitting on the fence, not knowing which way to jump." This statistics reflects the wisdom and political maturity of our general mass in one hand, and our collective failure on the other hand.
While it is true that our major political parties have to shoulder the responsibility of failure for keeping our people in a politically hopeless and clueless state of mind, we the so-called educated middle class section of population and intelligentsia are to equally blame for this.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. We need to ask ourselves what we did for the people, keeping in mind that our responsibility as the privileged ones do not end after just talking or writing about the miserable situation the nation is thrown into by our corrupt politicians. We have a bigger obligation than just the lip-service -- to do something about it.
Political changes in some countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa over the last several decades have shown that when the population is plunged into the depth of uncertainty, a conscientious group of people from among its citizens rise to the occasion to fill the vacuum and lead the nation to meet its aspirations. The situation in our country has long been fertile for that purpose, but our bright and honest intelligentsia did not bother to get down and dirty to cultivate the land and reap the fruits for its citizens.
There are many obstacles for the so-called intelligentsia to form a nationwide political movement for election of "clean candidates." But the first and foremost is the lack of unity with respect to "means and ends" of that proposed movement. It is obvious that everyone among our intelligentsia has a political philosophy -- or ego -- of his or her own, which is too rigid to make a compromise and reach a consensus.
One reason for this clear disunity among the intellectuals is that most of them in their heart are BNP-sympathisers, AL-sympathisers, JI-sympathisers, or something like that -- they are not absolutely neutral and above the party bias. So, what is the meaning of the slogan, "nation first"?
Take this example to illustrate the above point. The current impasse regarding the appointment of chief advisor to the caretaker government (CTG) is a crisis of enormous magnitude which poses a potential danger to our democracy. Should not our constitution provide the guidance to resolve this crisis? If so, why do the media and a group of intelligentsia continue to suggest that the "government of the people" should surrender to the pressure or demands of one political party or the other? Does it mean that our government did something unconstitutional, or our intellectuals cannot agree with or respect the existing constitution?
If the constitutional provision regarding the appointment of chief advisor to the CTG were good for the last elections, why should it not be good until it has been duly changed by another appropriate amendment? Why should street violence be created by some political groups and used as an excuse by a group of our intellectuals to advocate that government yield to the pressure and compromise the existing constitutional means to appoint the chief advisor? Many of our intellectuals will say that the above questions are too simplistic to point to a solution to the crisis at hand. Well, if this is true, then again it is the intellectuals who are to blame for their inaction or inability to this effect.
Democracy in practical application means that disagreement, when it happens, is to be settled through objective debates, and then decisions made by majority opinions, without any prejudice to the differing opinions. But, if our intellectuals fail to follow this fundamental principle of democracy in real life, should we be surprised that our cunning and corrupt politicians will use the disagreement or difference of opinions to create confusion and a situation of violence among the common mass in order to achieve their ulterior motives. Using difference of opinions to create division, disunity and violence, or having a decision forced out of undue selfish pressure or coercion is not only undemocratic, but also an uncivilised and inhuman act.
So, where is the ray of hope or sense of direction for that "large chunk (over 50%) of voters sitting on the fence," going to come from? And that is not just for the ensuing elections, but also for the future course of actions for the nation in general? Again, in spite of the above analysis, there is no one but the conscientious, honest, educated and privileged middle class that the nation can think of at this time to serve as a beacon of hope and rescue the people from the clutches of the current band of politicians.
The two major political parties have kept our nation and people hostage for too long already. No doubt, one of those two parties, maybe in alliance with other smaller parties, will once again come to power after the next elections and rule the country for another five years. Since the elections are knocking at the door, it is too late now for the proposed "honest group" to have a significant number of "clean candidates" elected to the Parliament this time.
However, it is the right time for the "honest people" to launch the movement now and work vigorously over the next five years of almost certain misrule by the incoming government. Let us all work together, truly together, to position the "clean candidates" to win the next Parliament in five years from now and prove that Mr Hasan's "winning formula" GG = (FFE + CC)/time is right.