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Political Parties, A Few Too Many
ALONG with our Ira /A nsllion to a repre-* scntallvc government we must ask ourselves the question whether we are creating the conditions that make for the functioning of a healthy democracy. I raise this question with a specific Issue in mind, namely that of the numbcr.of political parties that exist In Bangladesh now. In fact there arc so many that wc arc al) confused as to their total number. Whatever Is the figure, 90 of them asked for election symbols for the ensuing 0blls. Of them 21 Added no candidates and another 13 only one each. The reality of the situation Is that except for a handful of them, all the other political parties arc little more than a gathering of convenience of a few individuals, working more as pressure lobbies for local, group or even individual interest.
What has led to this situation? Is it a sign of our democratic spirit that seeks a thousand expression? Or that of a schizophrenic nation not knowing what it wants and thus allowing Itself to be so splintered? Perhaps both. I cannot deny the fact that there is an expression of freedom In having so many political parties. It constitutes a practical demonstration of a fundamental right guaranteed by our constitution. Yes, it would have been so but for the fact, as already mentioned, most of the parties arc not the democratic expression of a social cause but examples of using the formal of political parties to promote personal, family or local ambition.
There is also the question of our peculiar psychological disposition that to some extent, tn my opinion, lends itself to the type of political situation that wc now have. Wc arc a highly Individualistic people without some of the positive aspects of individualism. For example, going one's own way alone can lead to creativity, risk taking and pioneering activities. In our case it has led to a sort of aversion Id any sort of long term collective action. The undirected rebelliousness. habitual impatience and a deeply suspicious
nature all lead to the process of splitting and counter split ting of our political forces. Wc arc not comfortable unless we arc the leaders ourselves. Wc set up a party, adopt its very own by-laws and rules of eon duct and follow them as long as they serve to keep us in the helm of affairs. The mome nt the table is turned and those very rules threaten our prlvi leged position, we refuse to play the game and split the party and form one of our own.
Personalised nature of our politics and of the political parties is another contributory factor for our splintered polltI cal canvas.
Take the current election eerlng for example. Wc all talk of what Sheikh llasina or Begum Zia said. We arc hardly concerned of the position of the AL or the BNP. Do the leaders say what the party as a whole thinks. Or the party says what the leaders decide Except for the occasional faint voice of one or two others wc hardly know what the other leaders arc saying, if anything, during this crucial time of winning the peoples' hearts.
Decline of Ideological basis of political parties has dealt a serious blow to the cohesion of political forces. Nationalism, socialism, communism or rcll-Cn served as the basis of ming political parties in the past. Issues of language, autonomy. economic rights and cultural identity added to the basis of formation of political parlies in the post partition period. During the Pakistani phase the political parlies by and large conformed to the overall ideological or socioeconomic and cultural base as mentioned above. However the charismatic growth of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the lowering figure of our politics in the laic sixties and his transition to Bangabandhu in the libera-
tion phase so dwarfed all other political leaders that Awaml League without realising, lost its Inner leadership hierarchy. In the later period the formation of the BNP and the Jatfya Party took place around the personality of their founders, the others in the parties wilh a few exceptions were basically hangers on.
Let us come back lo the question, what has led us into all this ? Laic Abdul Mansur Ahmad, in many of his political essays, attributed this phe nomcnon to lack of democracy and the infrequency of holding elections. Ills view was that a regular public verdict on political panics would naturally
eliminate those 1’ J . not promote social go.
Only parties th..i - rye the people would survive democratic process. A natural off shoot of autocracy, he said, is the mushroom growth of pollt leal parties.
Wc have all witnessed the bias of autocratic rulers for a splintered electorate. They like it because It gives a picture of a people divided. This enables them lo say that no political point of view enjoys majority support as such there Is no alternative " but for me lo slay onto serve the public’. Thus while ’serving’ the people the autocrat would be able to create his own coterie and at a convenient moment float his own political parly and put on a democratic facade, as was done by Ershad.
A continued democratic process would therefore constitute the best and the most stable solution to our present divisive political at-nc.
That however is a Iqng term
solution. Wc will need atlcast three of four regular elections lo bring that about, a tall order given the tragic talc of political evolution In Baagladcsh over the last two. det-odcs What do wc do tn the meanwMIe ? There is talk about some sort of legislation lo curb the growth of political parties .
There is no denying the foct that at some stage recourse to legal means will have to be taken. But wc will have to make sure that It is done with the participation of all concerned and in no arbitrary fashion. There are examples In other democratic societies that we can emulate. It is a common practice to dc-regis-
ter political parties that foil lo get a minimum number of voles In an election. It Is simi lar lo Ihc practice of forfeiting the deposit If a candidate fails to win a minimum percentage of the popular vote. Financial accountability can be another process of regulating the growth of political parties. Failure to submit a detailed account of election campaign funds—already made a requirement by the Election Commission — can be used to reduce the number of political parties.
The ensuing elections will show which arc the parties that enjby public confidence and which do not. Not counting the scats won. but on the basis of a minimum percentage of votes gained, wc should really try to bring some semblance of discipline Into the myriad of political parties that exist now. Politics is not a trivial matter and formation of political parties should not be so cither.
At, the risk of oflcn«ng nwV. perhaps all. party told era I am compelled to raise the issue of Inner party democracy at this point I know of no political party In our county that lives up to ihe letter and spirit of their own party's constitution in so far as holding regular assemblies of the grass root members to elect the party's leadership. When did we last hear of a major political party holding Its party general meeting or congress? When was the pre vious occasion that a similar event was held? If political parties want democracy at the State and national levels, as we know they do. then they must practice the same at the party level; which unfortunately we know they don't.
There arc two questions here. One Is of a mandatory change of leadership after serving two or three terms of a fixed period. The other is of a periodic testing of the popularity of the leadership through the regular holding of a party's general body meeting. In the latter case ihe leadership may continue for as long it enjoys the confidence of the members — as in a parliamentary form of government where the leader of ihe House can continue to be so for any number of years as long as he or she enjoys the confidence of the House.
Democratic practice within the party is important for many reasons. Il makes the leadership accountable, sensitive and keeps il in touch with Ihe workers. For the workers il provides training in democracy. For the mid-level leadership It provides an opportunity to prove their mettle, gain the confidence of the general members and rise in the party hierarchy. Most Important. It provides an opportunity for the entry and play of new ideas, energies and people In Ihe
party leadership whfab con tributes tomards sinh Ing the poll I leal parties representative ■rwutution. (fam they are supposed lo be
Ths tendency to g» out and
Ils leader can be directly linked to the,absence Winner party democracy, not to mention the e^>l»m and over ambition of some of the IndMdu ala concerned. If th* party leadership docs not go through the process of rejuvenation, and Is not refurbished from lime lo time with new people then the tendency lo spilt and breakaway cannot be resisted
Th* curly days ol Ihe Congress and the Muslim League appear light years away with their practice of a party congress every year. Leaders got elected to party post terms.stepped aside for a while and then got themselves r* elected through winning the confidence of the party workers. Later Mr Jinnah broke this practice and remained party chief throughout hls stewardship of the Pakistan movement. Since then the tradition of a renewal of leader ship through an election process within the party gradually disappeared. Today It has reached a stage,that a party worker Is suspected of dlsloy alty If he would ask for an election of his own party hierarchy.
Needless to say that such a state of inner party democracy hardly augers well for cstab lishing national democracy Now that we have a chance o( correcting all the wrongs--set the past, it Is our hope that al! the major political parties wfll look Into this after the election is over. Let us not forget that existence of both a highly splintered body polity as reflected In the 90 odd political parlies is as unhealthy for stable democracy as is the fact that our leading political parlies do not train their workers In democratic norms and prac-Uce* though the regular holding of Its own party elections.
The writer is Executive Editor of The Daily Star .