AL, BNP offices: Distance 1.6km, mood poles apart

Scenes at the Awami League and BNP offices could not be more contrasting.

On the capital's Bangabandhu Avenue, over 50 policemen were struggling to maintain order yesterday afternoon as droves of people arrived with leaders who were buying nomination forms to run for parliament on the AL ticket. By 2:30pm, several thousand cheerful supporters had gathered there.

Around the same time, policemen were on duty also at the BNP's Nayapaltan office, which has been under lock and key for the last three weeks.

There, the cops, divided in two groups, were mostly whiling away the afternoon. Whenever someone tried to park a vehicle, they told them to steer clear. Other than this, there was nothing unusual in the area. People were going about their business on VIP Road in front of the BNP office.

But 1.6 kilometres away (according to Google Maps), traffic on Bangabandhu Avenue barely moved as large groups of supporters were marching to the AL office.

The starkly different pictures from the two places pretty much sum up the state of politics in a country that goes to the national election on January 7.

The BNP rejected the election schedule announced by the Election Commission on November 15 and called a 48-hour hartal that starts this morning.

The BNP and its allies demand holding the next election under a non-partisan administration. The AL maintains that the election will be held while it is in office.

RULING PARTY ALL ABOUT ELECTION

AL President Sheikh Hasina formally launched the sale of nomination papers around 10:30am.

The first person to buy the form was AL advisory council member Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, who got it for Hasina.

The PM will participate in the election from Gopalganj-3 constituency.

As soon as the sale of nomination papers opened for others after 11:00am, nomination aspirants and their followers started thronging the AL headquarters.

Sources said the aspirants were asked not to bring more than two people along. But very few paid any heed.

People played musical instruments, chanted slogans and marched with large cut-outs of Sheikh Hasina and their favourite aspirants.

Afsar Uddin Khan, a ward councillor seeking AL nomination for Dhaka-18, came to Bangabandhu Avenue around 2:00pm with hundreds of followers on motorcycles and microbuses to collect nomination papers.

A man close to Afsar said their camp brought more than 300 motorbikes and 100 microbuses. Traffic came to a grinding halt on Bangabandhu Avenue and its adjacent streets soon afterwards.

However, according to the electoral code of conduct, election campaigns are not allowed until December 18.

A police team was deployed at the gate of the AL office to maintain order.

Party leaders announced on loudspeakers that nomination papers would not be sold unless there was discipline. But it hardly made an impact.

Roadside vendors selling tea and AL badges were enjoying brisk trade.

Baten Mia, one of the vendors, said, "I came from Laxmipur to help my cousin handle the sales that have grown exponentially in recent days."

A DESOLATE BNP OFFICE

BNP supporters say they have not been going anywhere near their central office due to fear of arrest.

The place has been under lock and key since October 28, when a grand rally of the party ended in clashes with police.

Through the collapsible gate, a chair is visible from outside. There were at least seven envelopes on it, including one sent to the BNP secretary general by the Election Commission. The front desk and everything else are covered in thick layers of dust.

Police were discouraging people from hanging around or peering into the office.

A man walking by muttered, "Such a big party, but there is nobody to open the office."

Nurul Amin, who has been running a tea stall next to the office for seven years, said, "I have never seen such a situation…. Things are different this time. 

"My daily sales hover between Tk 6,000 and Tk 7,000. It went past Tk 10,000 when the BNP was holding events. But after October 28, it plummeted to Tk 1,000 or a little more."

OFFICES OF JP, OTHERS

There were only a few people at the offices of AL allies Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Workers Party on Bangabandhu Avenue and Topkhana Road.

At the Workers Party office around 4:30pm, a leader named Nur Ahmed Bakul said, "We are selling nomination papers. Many partymen have already visited today."

The head office of Jatiya Party, the main opposition in parliament, was found locked at 3:24pm.

Top leaders of Communist Party of Bangladesh were holding a meeting at their office around 4:15pm. "We are not participating in the election while Sheikh Hasina is in power," one of the leaders said.

At the office of Islami Andolon Bangladesh in Purana Paltan, there was business-as-usual as the party also shunned the election under the AL government.