The prisoners of conscience

IN the classic novel The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (Published in 1894), the false prince becomes a prisoner of conscience when he was coronated as the king of Ruritania since he was a look-alike of the real prince, who was being held hostage by some rogue officials who plotted to capture the throne of the tiny country.
The false prince was being helped by some loyal followers of the real prince, and they pursuaded him to go through with the coronation so that the rogues could not succeed in their heinous plot. At the end, after lots of drama and melodrama, the real prince is freed and the false prince (the look-alike) steps down from the throne and puts the crown on the former's head. He bows gracefully before the rightful owner of the throne and walks away to his own world. He is no more a prisoner of conscience.
In our country, we have seen many prisoners of many hues but have we seen any prisoner of conscience amongst them? Are there people who would willingly relieve themselves of all their sinful thoughts, anti-people acts and immoral schemes, and walk away a lighter man? Are there people who, given a throne to sit on, would hand it over to the one to whom it truly belongs without hesitating for a moment? We hardly see such people around us. You want examples? Well, we have seen how an Awami League big gun came out of hospital and unhesitantly sat on the chair already occupied by someone else. We have also seen how the game of merry-go-round was played by some of the BNP big guns for the throne of secretary general, haven't we?
That was a crass show that created a lot of bitterness about politics in Bangladesh in our minds. Is politics all about sitting on the throne of power and then doing nothing else? What the political parties have on their manifestos besides grabbing power is an issue that always intrigue us.
The country is burdened with various problems, each of Herculean proportion, beginning with a burgeoning population. Then we have problems in the agriculture sector, education sector, water and sanitation sector, health sector, industry sector, law and order sector, and so on.
What do we hear about these from the politicians and their parties? Do they have profound ideas about the dimensions of the problems and do they have some concrete, pragmatic policies to address them? Whenever we raise these issues before them they blame the government formed by their rivals. They would find the right words and expressions to cite some examples of wrong-doings by the oppositions but would never concede their own mistakes and follies. They are hardly examples of prisoners of conscience.
But can a nation progress and reach the coveted goals if the political and social leaders have had their conscience surgically removed? People without conscience are dangerous people. They could turn into mindless demons capable of doing and undoing anything to our utter horror. And we have seen many such demons partaking in gorging on the flesh of the nation in devilish glee. For a while we had suffered from the illusion that we had gotten rid of them. But we were so wrong.
Election bells are ringing. The big guns in BNP are asking for the election to be held under the laws of their time. While Awami League said they wanted full implementation of RPO, party registration, code of conduct, and so on, BNP is refusing to abide by what is included in the RPO, including the clause for registration of the political parties, without some major amendments. Now this stance of BNP and its allies is going to change the course of the game of politics in the country.
All said and done, we are looking forward to an electon of convenience with most players coming out happy with portions of the booty. Once the election dust settles and leaders speed away to the capital in their newly grabbed Lexuses and Hummers, the common people will be left to suck their thumbs and wonder aloud: "Huh! What have we got from all the hullaballoo!" Like their hungry ancestors they will go back to their world of hunger and despair.
The country needs more people who are prisoners of conscience. Let us vote for such people after successfully idenfying them. Let us not make any mistake this time.

Shahnoor Wahid is a Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.