A recent video of Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader delivering a speech on how his party will herald a new age of "Smart Bangladesh" is circulating on social media. The reason behind it becoming viral, though, is not the content of the speech or the grand manner in which Mr Quader mesmerises the audience with his oratory; it is because the stage suddenly broke down in the middle of the speech, just when he was about to deliver the newest catchy term floated by the public relations geniuses of his party.

This is definitely a terrible faux pas. But, however amusing the situation, we should refrain from laughing at it and take into consideration the possibility that someone could have seriously gotten hurt. Thankfully, only six persons sustained minor injuries. 

What was severely bruised, though, was the ego of the ruling party. The party that has done nothing short of subsuming the entire government system and has extended its tentacles into the civil society as well. A breaking down of the stage in the middle of a grand event, which was meant to cement the new narrative of the party, certainly is a bad look. No matter how much we try to hold back our laughter and how much I implore you to take the matter seriously, the image of Quader awkwardly falling down will now forever be ingrained in the memory of the everyday Bangalee alongside the term "Smart Bangladesh."

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BCL anniversary: rally stage breaks down during Quader's speech

We witnessed something similar when the party floated a political slogan back in the days – "bhorosha rakhun noukay" ("have faith on The Boat") – which was quickly turned on its head by the quick-witted Bangalees as "bhorosha khun noukay" ("trust is killed on The Boat"). You cannot throw a slogan into our midst without keeping in mind its satirical potency. But Awami League made that mistake, and quickly had to backtrack from the slogan and choose new ones. Will something similar happen to "Smart Bangladesh"?

Probably not, because "Smart Bangladesh" is something greater than just a political slogan. It is a political project, and, dare I say, an ideology. It gives us a vision of a Bangladesh where the Awami League's silent sympathisers and "better-of-the-two-evils" arguers get an opportunity to progress beyond the digital realm. It shows us the possibility of something beyond the digital, something that will carry the AL's reign until 2041. They are promising us something that is possibly better than freedom – a sort of unfree development that gives comfort to the solvent and despondence to the wretched. 

But alas, the morning has already shown the day. The incident of the breaking down of the stage is very telling. Why did the stage break down? I am sure that the poor decorator who was hired to build the stage and the people in charge got an earful about it, at the very least. But are they really at fault here? If one looks at the video footage carefully, they will see that the stage broke down possibly because it was possibly carrying too much weight. Why did that happen? It happened because everyone wanted to show their face in front of the camera. It happened because every Chhatra Leaguers present were eager to stand beside Quader and prove their worth to him. And there are simply too many eager men who want a place on the stage for the stage to even be able to hold itself up. Therefore, when too many crowd, the stage, inevitably, breaks down.

Now, am I trying to say that Awami League has too many over-eager politicos to maintain discipline within its ranks? Am I saying that the power of the regime has cracks and will break down the middle because of the pressure of so many people vying for power? Of course not.

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No version of Chhatra League is good enough

But Mr Quader, on the other hand, sure says a lot. In a number of previous meetings of the BCL and Awami League, he has had to say some tough words to keep the discipline. Over-eager leaders of the Chhatra League have caused disturbances at almost every recent event of theirs. Having too many workers who want to be leaders and thinking that the best way to achieve that is to get in the close circles of the key figures, rather than by working at the grassroots to build the party's popular support, has led to a party system that centres around specific individuals and not around servicing regular people. 

That is what the stage-breaking incident shows us. It shows us that too many slogans, too much shouting, and even too much strength can be a bad thing. 

Staying too long in power has its positives and its negatives. To sustain its power, any ruling regime has to arrive at a power-sharing system with various stakeholders of society. The longer the power stays, especially without a strong political mandate, the higher the number of shareholders for the power gets. And unless all of them get proper dividends, they can either withdraw from the arrangement or create tension within the arrangement by vying for more power. 

If any political party in any country in the world sees a parallel to the situation I have laid out above, they have reasons to be worried. 

Anupam Debashis Roy is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star.

Denouncing Transparency International Bangladesh's claim regarding the national election, the ruling Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today alleged that the organisation is BNP's agent.

"Their [TIB] every word is one-sided; they advocate for BNP. They are an anti-government [organisation]. TIB also speaks the same language as BNP," said Quader at a press briefing at the political office of the AL president in the capital's Dhanmondi.

"We have realised from history that TIB has always been against the Awami League. They have always worked for the BNP. They work on the basis of research. But we do not find neutrality in their research," said Quader.

TIB said constructing Padma Bridge is impossible. The CPD [Centre for Policy Dialogue] also made the same comment. But the reality has been seen by the countrymen, Quader said.

In response to a journalist's question regarding post-polls violence, Quader said, "There is always strategy in politics. We have conflicts, and there will always be. It is within every political party."

Speaking on who would be the opposition party in the parliament, Obaidul Quader said it would be clear once the parliament session begins.

AL Organising Secretaries BM Mozammel Haque, SM Kamal Hossain, Sujit Roy Nandi, executive committee members Sayeed Khokon, Parveen Zaman Kalpana, Merina Jahan Kabita, among others, were present on the occasion.

There are few places as unsafe for a Bangladeshi as the roads and highways of the country, with at least 9,951 people dying in road crashes last year alone. Despite the ever-increasing procession of death on our roads, however, our policymakers seem to think that all is well with the sector, indicating the root of the problem – their apathy. In a statement following the horrific crash which killed 19 people on the Dhaka-Bhanga expressway on March 19, Obaidul Quader said that the road was not to blame for the accident and that enough initiatives were being undertaken to ensure road safety in the country. Instead, he pointed fingers at the BNP for using road accidents to further its political agendas after its movement failed, suggesting that the issue of road safety was in, effect, a non-issue.

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Highway accident or murder?

We cannot say we are surprised by such a statement from our minister absolving his ministry and the government of any responsibility for the increasing number of deaths on our roads. We have noted with increasing alarm the lacklustre – and at times callous – attitude of our government in fixing the glaring issues ailing the sector, from crushing down the student-led road safety movement in 2018 to taking four years to simply formulate the "rules" of the Road Transport Act (RTA), to the repeated failures of the authorities to rid the roads of unfit and unregistered vehicles and drivers.

If we simply refer to the incident on Sunday, we can see that the registration and route permit of the bus had been suspended by the authorities following another accident only four months ago. Its fitness permit had also expired on January 18. The minister may be right in pointing out that the government is investing in building and upgrading national highways and expressways, and that the road in which the accident took place in itself is not to blame for the crash. However, the truth remains that no number of fancy roads can make up for the egregious lack of enforcement of rules by relevant government agencies.

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Road crash deaths know no end

An analysis of eight major crashes in the past few years by The Daily Star reveals that in each case, either the vehicles did not have valid documents or their drivers did not have licences. The report also highlights that thousands of unfit or unregistered vehicles are paying bribes to corrupt highway police members, BRTA officials, and politically connected people on a regular basis. Will our government take any steps to identify these officials and ensure that those found guilty are given exemplary punishment for their roles in the countless deaths of innocent citizens? We urge our minister to give us a concrete response.

There are a host of issues that plague the road and transport sector, but for any meaningful change to take place, what must change first is the mindset of our policymakers. Deflecting the issue will not result in safer roads, neither will ad hoc solutions and reactive measures that are not followed up. First, they must acknowledge the full depth of the crisis, including their own complicity in the matter, before they can take comprehensive measures to overhaul the corrupt and dysfunctional system. Anarchy can no longer be allowed to be the law of our roads.