Then Dhaka Mayor Sadeq Hossain Khoka took a strident line suggesting reduction in the party chief's powers to take unilateral decisions. And now we have the most veteran BNP leader, former finance and planning minister Saifur Rahman voicing the need for ending family-centric politics and changing the party constitution to democratise the internal structure of BNP.

There has also been an open admission of mis-takes committed in the most crucial phase of our na-tional politics in the recent months. The recital of fol-lies included extension of the retirement age of judges, refusal to accept justice Mahmudul Amin as the chief of caretaker government, appointment of president Iazuddin to head the caretaker government (CG) anti-thetical as it was to the very CG concept given that he was basically a party man and the appointment of jus-tice Aziz as CEC. The BNP's hell-bent insistence on pushing ahead with an election sans opposition par-ticipation knelt a death blow to any prospect for de-mocratic reconciliation.

One couldn't agree more with Saifur Rahman's pinpointing the extension of judges' retirement age as the cardinal mistake because of the regressive chain of events it triggered. Even so, there were opportuni-ties presented to make a way out but none of these were availed of

So the circumstances have forced a serious intro-spection in the BNP which if it had come about earlier on could have perhaps stemmed the tide of degener-acy the party fell pell-mell into. No voice of dissent was heard within the party in time to pull back from any impending mistake. So the detractors have their share of blame.

Essentially though there was a horrendous con-centration of power in one single person and despica-ble type of myopic irresponsibility characterising the exercise of that power. Little wonder, the admission of mistakes has come by way of a post-mortem. Now the BNP should be united in its resolve to reorganise the party along fully democratic lines to survive.