AL eats humble pie

Back again. Photo: Munem Wasif/Drik News

TILL the last, the AL could not exorcise the demon that possessed it. Although a "now on and now off" game of alliance-making was going on with the JP, the party's supporters hoped that good sense would dawn and the party wouldn't court the much despised Ershad. The negative impact of an AL-JP deal was sensed even within the so-called mohajote, and a lot was written in the media to dissuade the AL from making the gaffe and incurring an irreparable damage to its image on the eve of an important election.
As late as December10, it was a great relief to learn that the AL-JP marriage of convenience had broken up over seat-sharing. But to the disappointment of many, the finalisation of AL-JP alliance came after a great deal of theatrics on both sides. A pusillanimous AL finally yielded to Ershad's monkey tricks, and the latter succeeded in making the AL eat humble pie and lose the support of those who so long saw the AL standing on a moral high ground. Dislodged from that ground, the AL will now be dictated by Ershad's terms. It the man's record both in public and private life are any guide, it cannot be otherwise.
Inherent in the whole drama is a moral defeat of sorts for the AL, a party nourished and built up by Bangabandhu, a rallying point for society's underdogs and a platform for the promotion of democratic ideals. The AL leadership has smashed the dreams and aspirations of the party's foot soldiers, who made the sacrifices for its sustenance, took the brunt of autocratic repression, and even courted martyrdom. Those who fell to Ershad's bullets, like democracy's lone ranger Noor Hussain, must be tossing in their graves.
The AL's problems are understandable. The party is in the grip of the syndrome reminiscent of the 1991 election, during which it was deceived by its bloated optimism. It's pre-election buoyancy then turned into gloom. Perhaps that's the why the party does not want leave anything to chance. In its bid to ensure victory, it was in a frantic search of allies. Never before had the AL appeared so native and so devoid of gumption in choosing allies.
Ershad, the killer of democracy, the looter of the state exchequer for jaunts and junkets and for buying legitimacy, as well as a practitioner of right wing nationalist-religious politics, can by no means be a natural ally of Awami League which promotes democracy, secularism and non-communal politics. Any alliance between has to be spurious, and is thus not sustainable. It is, at best, a subterfuge of the AL so that an easy victory is ensured without incurring much pain.
Notwithstanding the need for an electoral alliance at times, the main dynamic behind success is the strength of a party's organisation. There has hardly been any organisational alacrity in the AL, although legendary organisation skill had been Bangabandhu's forte in his phenomenal landslide in 1970. No one ever seriously tried to breathe new life into what was left of the AL after Bangabandhu's demise. Hence, the despondencies the AL is now infected with. There is no innovative step other than dependence on autocrats or obscure religious outfits to lend the party a life-line. In the first place, it does not match the status of the country's oldest political party.
However, the AL is even now left with a few of its valuable assets that, if intelligently employed, can truth the electoral tide in its favour. The AL's share of popular votes has always been more than that of other parties, although it fails to bag a proportionate share of seats. Second, the party is still in one piece -- thanks to the sagacity of its leaders who, in spite of the different reformative ideas, did not let the party split. The last but not the least are its opponents, who are a demoralised lot because of their moral turpitude.
The AL started off well with its electioneering. Based on the panel prepared at the grassroots, the party hand-picked its candidates, who include a substantial number of new faces and women. Hard bargaining with Ershad resulted in the loss of 49 seats. But for the shedding of these seats, the party, observers reckon, would have fared far better. In the pre-election scenario, even if the AL is more visible, the BNP-led alliance can neither be brushed aside nor under-estimated.
No one will be surprised to see an apparently confident but flummoxed AL defeated. Madam Zia, is also exuding optimism that obfuscates her nervousness and calculated cover-up of her sunken fortune.
As I concluded this piece on Dec. 10, the worst fear of the formation of the AL-JP alliance came true.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.