Death of politics and politics of death
IN Aeneid, a Latin epic poem written by Virgil, Aeneas readily complied after his enemies requested for a twelve-day truce so that they would have the chance to bury and honour their lost soldiers. A similar occasion had arisen in this country last week, when BNP chairperson's son died in Malaysia and she needed some space to mourn her loss. Since she never requested for relief from her side, the ruling party politicians had nothing to comply. Instead they used that very week like an open season and pounded her like jackhammers.
They piled up more burdens on her already crushing burden of grief. They lambasted her party for failing to extend courtesy after the prime minister arrived at her front door to express condolences. They also pressed charges against her for ordering bomb attack on a bus that burned 29 people. The information minister threatened to implicate her in more charges of subversive activities that killed 32 people. He even mentioned that one of the prisons in the country is being readied for her detention. The last straw to break the back of the camel, the ACC moved to revive a seven-year-old graft case against her.
Many ruling party leaders thought their rudeness to the BNP leader was only justified. One of them even warned last Monday that she wouldn't be able escape divine justice for driving a political movement that's getting innocent people killed every day. Others including the prime minister hinted that the opposition leader had got her comeuppance when her son died, because she allowed the sons of other mothers die under her watch.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali once described himself as someone so mean that he made medicine sick. That pugilist's pun resonated in the events of the entire week, which has been succinctly summed up by a former dictator of this country. In what must be the only sensible thing he said in years, Hussein Muhammad Ershad accused the politicians of being sick and recommended medical attention for them. He was sensible for a second time around in that same breath when he used the subject pronoun “we” to describe the community of politicians. Lucky for us, he didn't consider himself an exception to the rule.
Those who know Ershad also know that his revelations have shorter shelf life than fresh vegetables: They don't last even for a day. But this one time the man has hit the nail on the head and said something of lasting value with a straight face. Our sick politicians are indeed so sick that they are giving their noble profession a very bad name.
The whole of last week was yet another rude awakening to that bitter truth as the politics of death exposed us to the death of politics. This nation, undone by its fractious politics, gave British poet John Donne a run for his money. “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind,” writes the poet. His words proved inane as we confronted the tragedy of one death in the face of many.
Perhaps that was the most disturbing thing about the whole situation. Our politicians not only failed to show consideration for their people, but they also failed to show consideration for each other. And that was the last frontier of political degeneration beyond which exists the sprawling wasteland of a dog-eat-dog world.
G.K. Chesterton writes in his book Orthodoxy: “Tradition is the democracy of the dead. It means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes: our ancestors.” He then goes on to say that all democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth and tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.
While we are struggling with democracy in this country, last week our politicians also failed to uphold tradition. The ruling party politicians had first announced that they would attend the funeral prayer for the BNP leader's son. Then they changed their minds at the last minute because political hatred went so far that it transcended even the bounds of death. It wreaked its havoc not just in this world but continued on to the other side of the grave.
If the BNP leader failed in her public duty to show consideration for the deaths of others, that failure multiplied manifold as each and every one of the ruling party leaders failed in his or her private duty to show consideration for the death of her son. It's not about mixing apples and oranges, but one can tell if a pot of rice is cooked by squeezing a grain between one's fingers.
That brings us to the sickness issue, which is pandemic amongst our politicians. If they are no longer touched by our deaths, how the heck will they touch up our lives?
The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star.
Email: [email protected]
Comments