On missing the politicians

TO miss someone, one has to be fond of someone. This is truism and it reflects the term endearment. This is based on the scale of positive relationship. But it is also possible not to miss someone on the basis of dislike, disgust, or revulsion. Here works a vicarious solace in not so missing someone. This relationship is based on negative emotions and unsavoury experiences. There is a third dimension to the relationship or mental connectivity. One can perfectly remain a "stoic" or a "cynic" in the philosophical sense and maintain a stoical or cynical frame of mind, distancing oneself from whatever happens to others. Where do our people stand on the trichotomous attitudinal scale? This question seems relevant with regard to the plight of our ubiquitous politicians in the present day dispensation.
No one will ever dispute that these are not the "best of times" for our politicians. Some may even argue that this is the "worst of times" for them. However we are yet to know the "worst of times" given the present administrative, electoral, judicial and political processes. As Tagore once wondered: "Where is the end of the road, and what lies at the end?"
We, the plebeians, gawk in some amazement and with wondrous eyes, at the plight of the once high and mighty. We may sympathise with their sufferings. The people who are familiar with the sufferings of daily existence were suddenly awakened to the plight of the politicians who ruled the roost in the country. For them it is an experience, unheard or unseen in this country before. Do the people stand now on the scale of connectivity to their once political masters?
There are people, of course, who are party activists and hangers-on who thrived on the political activities of their respective parties. They must be missing the politicians. Some of them have lost their livelihood as they sustained themselves on political pillars that dispensed favours when in power and are now in limbo. They may definitely miss the political peers and patrons greatly. And it is quite understandable.
And there are those whose aspirations to be "leaders" through proximity to the party chief and party high ups by laying out their lavish outlays to buy the ticket for party nomination or hierarchy will surely miss their political mentors and backers. They are now quite uncertain as to their investment and in anguish they may look forward to the golden day of election, if it dawns. And there are those who contracted "deals," anticipated business prospects and share in the prospective lucrative government contracts under political tutelage. They may deeply sigh in disappointment when they see that such contracts as for Boeing aeroplanes in millions of dollars or licenses for VoIP etc under the Telecom Regulatory Commission are without any "middleman" or "commission agents" and absolutely free of political influence to alter the outcome. They may also miss their respective political peers and count on the uncertain days ahead with remonstration to the present dispensation.
But how do we gauge the sentiment of the silent majority with respect to the present uncertain and uncomfortable conditions of many of our politicians, some of whom are living a life of exile in foreign countries? The religious amongst the people are likely to quote the famous Quranic verse which says that God bestows honour to whom He pleases, and humbles one to whom He pleases. We find no system of articulating the sentiment of the great majority into expression when it relates to such an abstract concept as "fondness" or "missing." Therefore the sentiment remains ambiguous. Of course this ambiguity, can also be rooted into the people's experience of having led a life under the political dispensation before 1/11, which is not one of unmixed blessing. People may remember the chaotic, riotous situation that prevailed in the country prior to the Emergency Rule disrupting public life and peace. Can one for example, forget the awful audacity of a single person holding public office in Chittagong that threatened and then shut down Chittagong Port, the economic lifeline of the entire country, to the detriment of the life of people at large and damage to the national economy! Whom he was attempting to serve in the garb of a politician and in intoxication of a party "supremo"?
It was Aristotle, the Greek philosopher who called humans as "political animal." He warned about the undesirability of cultivating the extremes. He extolled the virtue of "polity" which means democracy. But he also mentioned about its negative aspect. A democracy can quickly turn into a mob rule, he maintained. The parliamentary democracy that was practised in Bangladesh for the last fifteen years often got derailed by the willful acts of parties involved depriving people of the promised fruits of democratic rules and values. The people, in the end, were the losers. Did the politicians ever think that they will once live in such a predicament as it exists today?
Why do people remember some leaders fondly and use them as a reference? It must be said that politicians in our country are not all leaders. A leader may or may not be a politician but a politician is not always a leader. What then constitutes leadership, that tangible and intangible quality that distinguishes a person as the leader and sets him/her apart from the run of the mill politicians that now crowd on TV screens or on platforms?
While it may not be possible to measure the mental connectivity of the people with the politicians who lead them, it is possible to construct an idea of the politician the people would like to lead them. People need or feel the need of a leader who has a "vision" -- the people would like to move towards a shared dream with the leader and get a clear direction when such a direction is needed.
Was it not Martin Luther King in the USA who cried: "I have a dream" and walked with the millions to adhere to that dream. Was it not Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who declared in his thunderous voice: "The struggle this time is for emancipation; the struggle this time is for independence" -- before the independence dawned.
People would like to see leaders who have the affiliative quality to create harmony by connecting people to each other. People expect their leaders to be democratic in their act and behaviour and value people's input and get their commitment through participation. Leaders are expected to be guided and helped by a motivated and competent group to meet the challenging tasks and achieve quality results. People would like to see their leader exuding confidence and soothing the fears of the people by giving clear direction in an emergency or national crisis. They would like to see the leaders listening and listening is a key strength in any democratic leader. A democratic leader is expected to build up on a triad of emotional intelligence abilities -- team-work, collaboration, conflict management and influence.
And above all, people of Bangladesh would like to see their leaders endowed with wisdom. The ancient Chinese sage and philosopher Confucius was once asked by his disciple what is wisdom. He answered: "Devote yourself to the proper demands of the people, respect the ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance -- this may be called wisdom." In Confucian times, "ghosts" and "spirits" meant religion.