New-old leadership divide dogs BNP
The ruling BNP is apparently facing an intra-party crisis and organisational activities have virtually stopped due to conflicts between new and old leadership, gap between the government and party and frustration among field-level leaders and activists.
Party insiders said though the crisis has been prevailing for long there is no move yet to overcome it as most ministers, who also hold top party positions, are busy with government affairs.
There have been no party programmes or organisational activities worth mentioning since the party assumed power on October 10, 2001. The party leadership appears to be avoiding responsibilities only by announcing programmes like discussions on the occasion of various days such as the founding anniversary of the party and National Revolutionary and Solidarity Day.
Moreover, a three-month programme to form BNP committees at union, thana, municipality, district and city levels aimed to bring in new leadership and revamp the party has also come to a halt due to the lack of initiatives of the assigned leaders and others concerned.
"Senior party leaders are reluctant to go ahead with the programme as one of the joint secretaries general of the party is taking unilateral decisions on formation of committees of different units of the party and its front organisations," a leader said seeking anonymity.
"The party has gone inside the government...Everybody is busy doing business and various types of bidding... No-one finds time to enquire about the party and its affairs," he added.
To remove the widening gap between the party and the government, ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers and such other party leaders had begun to sit at the party central office in January last year. They used to give regular audience to party leaders and workers of various levels but the process stopped in less than one and a half months.
The programme had started on an instruction from Prime Minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia but it came to a halt mainly because the ministers got tired of listening to problems of the party men, sources pointed out.
Some senior ministers however said sitting at the party office in the name of meeting leaders and activists is an waste of time because the latter also go to the Secretariat and official residences of ministers even after meeting them at the party office.
A few leaders like BNP Secretary General and Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, senior joint secretaries general Tarique Rahman, Nazrul Islam Khan, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and City BNP chief and Mayor of Dhaka Sadeque Hossain Khoka still occasionally visit the party central and city offices at Naya Paltan.
Meanwhile, over two dozen senior party leaders including Oli Ahmed MP, KM Obaidur Rahman MP, Mir Shawkat Ali and Abul Hasnat have long remained inactive and refrained from attending party programmes.
Some of them alleged the party leadership thinks the party does not need them anymore.
"Some more senior leaders might be inactive soon as the party does not require them any more with the emergence of young leadership," one leader said.
He mentioned several senior ministers and dozens of important party leaders have stopped saying anything to the party chief and prime minister about the current state of party affairs and happenings within the government, as well.
Most field level leaders and activists apprehend deepening of the crisis and leadership conflicts within the BNP if urgent steps are not taken to put an end to this situation, a top leader of the party noted.
Comments