The second coming of Khaleda Zia
ON January 11, 2007, Mrs. Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister ceased to be a credible name in Bangladesh politics, and the BNP-Jamaat alliance, the bastion of her power, also crumbled. She was universally condemned and booed all over the country as Bangladesh was virtually in ruins as a result of her alliance government's predatory rule.
In that milieu, the so-called Nationalist-Islamist forces also collapsed and eventually seemed to have petered away. Khaleda's clean legacy, if any, lay buried under the sleaze she had produced on all fronts of the government in the name of ruling this country.
But within less than two years, like the phoenix of ancient Greek mythology, to the consternation of the countless victims of her misrule and political vengeance, she has risen from the ashes. Thus, the alliance led by her has been celebrating -- disregarding the summer grapes of wrath.
For the most part of the year following 1/11, the Madam, as she is also known, had remained ensconced in the cosy retreat of her garrison residence while a large number of her acolytes including her two sons were taken into custody, bringing great public relief.
But after about a year of incarceration, the Madam was released recently, presumably on the condition of her co-operation for holding the ensuing general election, hastening its process as a political stakeholder. It is an irony that the democracy she often tended to trample underfoot out of her authoritarian instinct came to her rescue by providing her political space anew.
Thanks to the inherent dynamics of democracy, even an outcast of the likes of Madam Zia has also been picked up from the abyss, given a fresh lease of life in politics, and elevated once again to the heights she deservedly lost. The question however remains if the Madam and her alliance are equal to the generosity shown by the authorities in rehabilitating them in national politics.
There are few positive signs. Prior to the release of the Madam and her prodigal son the nation witnessed a fresh wave of violence and vandalism perpetrated by the JCD student cadres who ominously raised their ugly heads and bared their fangs menacingly, signaling the return of their familiar brand of "nationalist" politics.
In the meantime, the Madam is back on form and on the top of things. Surrounded by her flunkeys, she has once again been holding court at the helm of her party hierarchy. In the process, she has been dispensing opprobrium to some while giving approbation to works carried out by the loyalists in her absence. The party minions, hustlers, and servile flatterers have also made a beeline to the Madam to ensure their place in the party or a slot in the future power structure.
In an interesting circus now underway in the BNP, 1/11 is a forgotten episode and what led to it has been at least obfuscated. Madam Zia has no time to look back at the mess she left behind and is more interested in the drama over her second coming.
She is rather in upbeat mood as her followers beholden to her jostle among themselves to pay afresh their fealty to her. She enjoys them vying with each other to touch her feet as a symbol of obeisance. The style and norm of her functioning have hardly changed.
When the flunkeys resolved to make her the party chairperson for life she couldn't but relish it -- given the alacrity of a few contenders who questioned her authority to do this or that when she was in custody. She had to, however, humbly and graciously decline the offer when the party draw flak for the move from uncharitable critics.
All told, it seems business as usual for an indispensable leader of the country's powerful religious right, buttressed by its storm troopers, big business interests, and invisible string pullers. Ever the iron lady and the "uncompromising" leader, she is capable of overturning an apple-cart at the drop of the hat.
She has the least compunction for what she committed during her nightmarish rule between 2001 and 2006. It is as if she is above taking any lesson from those mundane things such as the persecution of political opposition and minorities, plunder of thousands of crores of takas during her party's tenure in power, and conspiring to recapture power on January 22, 2007 in a scripted election -- to mention only a few.
These are things of the fossilised past! Who cares also what happened in the distant past when we are embroiled in an equally agonising experience today -- with the additional pique also of losing hope for anything better happening any time soon.
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