The culture of patronage politics that has devastated our nation over the years—fostering corruption, undermining meritocracy, and weakening institutions—begins at grassroots with the capture of public contracts and extortion by political thugs, and culminates with systemic regulatory capture by vested interest groups, all of which serves as an incentive for them to keep working for the party in power. This corrupt cycle seems to have begun again after a brief pause caused by the July-August mass uprising, with the regime change only changing the thugs and their cohorts.  

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Reforms needed in political parties and the electoral process in Bangladesh

Over the past two-three weeks, we have had a number of reports on how BNP-linked leaders and activists, civil servants, and professional groups have been trying to establish control in various sectors. This suggests that patronage politics may continue to be around even after a political government returns to power, unless political and institutional reforms are undertaken to prevent it. This is deeply alarming.

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Stop extortion in transport sector

The latest example has its setting in Nagar Bhaban, which houses the headquarters of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). According to a report by Prothom Alo, BNP-affiliated activists and employees have been trying to establish their dominance through a mix of showdowns, intimidation, assaults, and even extortion, creating a tense atmosphere there. They have their eyes on proceeds and contracts/leasing from various public works, projects, and markets run under the DSCC. Recently, a contractor's representative was beaten over the submission of a tender. Five high-ranking officials were also harassed, and one even beaten publicly. Promotions and placements of officials are also being controlled.

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Health sector needs attention on an urgent basis

Prothom Alo has earlier reported how BNP-linked individuals forcibly took control of the Shimulia ferry terminal, fish market, and trawler docks in Munshiganj's Louhajanj upazila by allegedly threatening and assaulting legitimate leaseholders. They have established a lucrative extortion racket there, collecting hundreds of thousands of taka daily. We have heard of a similar capture of many other terminals and markets, transport hubs and associations, footpaths, slums, and such public spaces that were previously controlled by or leased out to Awami League-linked leaders.

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Govt must restore discipline in civil administration

The question is, what is BNP doing about it? Officially, the party remains committed to preventing such exploitations. Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on Thursday issued a warning saying that there is no place for criminals and miscreants in the party. Another top leader has been more specific, vowing stern consequences for those indulging in extortion and illegal capture of the public sector. But hardly anything has come of these warnings yet. This means at least two things: either this message is not being delivered strongly enough to grassroots leaders and activists, through swift punitive actions to convey the seriousness of the message, or the party, beyond public condemnations, is still not serious enough about it.

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Extortion at slums, footpaths must stop

Both scenarios are equally concerning. We urge the BNP leadership to take action matching its strong words. It must prevent its grassroots leaders, professional groups or anyone exploiting its name to establish dominance through exemplary punishment. As the leading party in the country now, BNP has a duty to not just support but also actively take part in the reforms being envisioned by the students and people that toppled the Awami League government. It must help do away with the political culture of yesteryears that has brought nothing but misery for the country.

However, we also need institutional reforms to dismantle this entrenched culture, and for that, comprehensive actions from the interim government are essential.

Leftists have rejected the recent election of Bangladesh alleging that state mechanisms were orchestrated to pull a victory of the Awami League.

The administration, law enforcement and intelligence agencies together played a role to influence the election in favour of Awami League, they alleged.

“We reject this fraudulent election and the fake government,” said Ruhin Hossain Prince, a leader of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB).

The programme, a public hearing, held at Jatiya Press Club today, heard accounts of 82 Left Democratic Alliance candidates who took part in the election.

They alleged, all parties except for the components of Awami League-led alliance faced hindrance in every step before, during and after election. 

They also alleged, an adverse, fearful situation was created ahead of the election; activists of the AL and its associated bodies attacked rallies and processions of LDA candidates, removed their posters, even assaulted and threatened the candidates. 

Mohammad Shah Alam, coordinator of Left Democratic Alliance, demanded abolishing the 11th parliament and arrangement of a fresh election under a neutral administration.

He also said the alliance will wage movement for holding parliamentary polls under a caretaker government.

Last December, BNP managed to create a strong momentum with successive divisional rallies, defying obstacles from the ruling party cadres and law enforcement agencies. But it lost that momentum when it tried to hold a rally in Dhaka. Since then, the party – which has been out of office for more than 16 years – has been trying to regain that thrust. This time around, BNP held a series of programmes around Dhaka and got some traction thanks to its supporters, leading up to its grand rally of July 28. The party was also able to hold the rally at its preferred venue, in front of its Nayapaltan headquarters. Tens of thousands of BNP workers joined in, defying myriad odds and obstacles. It turned out to be a mammoth rally and, encouraged by the turnout, BNP announced sit-in programmes at five entry points of the capital the very next day, presumably to cut off Dhaka from the rest of the country for several hours between 11am and 4pm. But the sit-in failed in the face of the ruling party's strong presence on the street and the aggressive attitude of the police. And again, BNP lost its momentum.

Since then, a few questions have been circulating in political circles: why did BNP go for such a programme? What did it achieve? And what will the party do now that the national election is just a few months away?

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For every rally, there is a counter-rally

After the announcement of BNP's one-point demand – resignation of the ruling government for a caretaker government to oversee elections – movement on July 12, the party took only 16 days to announce the sit-in demos. Coordination among the party fronts and associate bodies, which requires time, is imperative to make such ambitious programmes successful, but there seems to have been a lack of coordination among BNP leaders in this regard. Even some of the party's senior leaders were in the dark about these programmes till they were announced. The decision of a sit-in demo of such a scale, without much time on its hands, indicates that BNP was in a hurry.

There is no denying that the party has a strategy in place to achieve its goal of the next election being held under a nonpartisan, election-time government. But it seems that the plan may not be as well thought out as BNP supporters would like. The party's leadership felt charged up seeing the large-scale turnout in the rally, but they underestimated the government's strength and strategic abilities. This explains why BNP couldn't succeed entirely in its programme, and now seems to have backtracked from its tough stance. After the sit-in, the party announced demos in districts and cities across Bangladesh, which is a deviation from its Dhaka-centric plans. The lack of coordination and confidence in terms of holding large rallies and showdown-like programmes can demoralise grassroots BNP supporters, who are paying a high price for the erroneous judgement calls of the party's top brass.

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Can BNP really put up a good fight?

For the longest time, BNP has argued that the government and law enforcement agencies are obstructing their peaceful rallies, and the events which unfolded on July 29 has once again lent credence to their clams. The attack by ruling party men, in the presence of the law enforcement agencies, has laid bare just how "democratic" the government will be in the lead up to the elections. Of course, some BNP men did engage in violent activities during the sit-ins, but the previous programmes of BNP were largely peaceful, despite instigations. Either way, BNP knows that any violence from its own party will eventually work against itself. And this time, the party is being careful as it was accused of conducting arson attacks in 2013 and trying to sabotage the January 5, 2014 election.

Back in 2013, the party did not come up with alternative strategies when they saw that the blockades were not working. At least this time around, they have backtracked from their plans and proposed an alternative when they realised that the sit-in had failed. This could be interpreted as the party being more mature and wiser in its current decisions.

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What is the point of attacking BNP rallies?

BNP's real loss in all this was giving the upper hand to the ruling party. There was no doubt that the ruling party felt pressure, especially after the composed and largely organised grand rally. But the following day, when ruling party cadres were able to easily disperse the BNP demonstrators, it worked like a morale-boosting tonic for the former. They felt more confident about being on the streets and not giving anything away to the BNP. This was essential for the Awami League at a time when it seemed to be under pressure from different directions to hold a free and fair election. Now it remains to be seen whether BNP can once again revive their momentum and give the ruling party a run for their money.

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is chief reporter at The Daily Star.

Mobile phone users in Barishal City Corporation have claimed that they are facing disruption in getting internet services since 10am today where a rally of Bangladesh Nationalist Party kicked off at 11am.

Sources in the telecom operators said the telecom regulator, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), has directed them to shut down 3G and 4G data services in Barishal City corporation from 10am to 8pm today.

The 3G and 4G technologies provide mobile internet services while 2G voice calls.

However, 2G service is kept operational, enabling the users in that area to make voice calls.

Although Barishal is almost cut off from the rest of the country, BNP leaders and activists kept pouring into the divisional city for the second straight day to join today's rally.

Earlier, the mobile internet users faced disruption in getting services for around 5 hours in Khulna City corporation area during the BNP rally on October 22.

The Awami League is set to hold a public rally in Rajshahi on January 29. Party leaders and activists have been taking preparations to ensure that it will be a mammoth one. As the national election is just a year away, such public rallies will basically turn into election campaign rallies. So, aspiring candidates will try to get as many bodies as possible on the streets to reflect the range of their strength and support.

In all of this, one piece of news caught my eye. A special train is set to take Awami League leaders and activists to Rajshahi from Natore to attend the rally on January 29. State Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, told journalists that the special train will not affect the schedule of regular trains. He also said that the AL men would pay for the ride.

But another report stated that AL lawmaker Habibe Millat Munna of Sirajganj has rented a special train of 15 coaches for the Rajshahi rally.

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‘Special train’ for Awami League, ‘transport strike’ for BNP

Can a political party – regardless of whether they are in power or in opposition – use public property to attend a party rally? And is this option available to any citizen, for any political party?

In September last year, the main opposition camp, BNP, announced divisional rallies protesting the killing of BNP men, hike of electricity and fuel prices, and to demand the release of party leader Khaleda Zia. Almost all their rallies were obstructed by the ruling party, directly and indirectly. The same thing happened when the BNP held its rally in Rajshahi. A transport strike was "called" across the entire division on the morning of December 1. Rajshahi city was practically cut off from the rest of the country.

At the time, ruling party leaders and ministers said that transport owners and workers had enforced strikes and that they had nothing to do with them. But we also witnessed the transport strike being withdrawn soon after the BNP rally ended. We also found that mobile internet services were disrupted around the venue on the day. We saw how BNP activists were obstructed and, perhaps more importantly, how the general people suffered as a consequence.

As a journalist, I covered some of the BNP rallies and found the same narrative to be true. I saw how a single-day rally turned into a three-day rally. For the BNP, there were transport strikes so that its supporters and sympathisers could not join. For the Awami League, there were arrangements of special trains so that party faithfuls could join the rally in droves.

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How do bus strikes ahead of BNP rallies affect transport workers?

Our political culture has taken such a turn that we take for granted that the ruling party will get some special treatment when they hold rallies, and the opposition is bound to face obstruction for doing the same. What happened centring on BNP's rallies is actually normal and, it appears, so is what's about to happen on January 29 in Rajshahi (that is, the special train for Awami League's rally).

This new normal is currently the most pressing problem in Bangladeshi politics. We used to hear the phrase "level playing field," but when the caretaker government system was abolished following a court order, opposition parties and many civil society members said there wouldn't be a level playing field anymore. And a free and fair election would not be possible if a level playing field is not ensured. But ever since the 2014 election, the term "level playing field" appears to have evaporated from our political vocabulary, speeches, discussions, and even from rhetoric. That is the new normal.

As distrust, fuelled by intolerance, widens among the two major political camps, and the path towards mutual understanding is basically shunned, this new normal will push the whole nation into an abyss of political uncertainty that is far from normal.

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is deputy chief reporter at The Daily Star.