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AL suffers from inertia

Could not hold councils at 62 out of 73 organisational districts in last 5 years

PARTHA PRATIM BHATTACHARJEE
Incomplete district-level councils and slow pace in recruitment of new members, among other issues, show how the ruling Awami League has been suffering from organisational inertia.
In the last five years, the party could hold councils to only 11 of its 73 organisational districts. Interestingly, it held two central councils during that time.
After the triennial central council on July 24, 2009, the AL had decided to hold councils to all the 73 organisational districts immediately. But even after the central council of 2012, it failed to complete forming its grassroots committees.
Of the 11 districts that saw councils, the city unit is yet to have its committee announced even after more than a year. Besides, committees for the Chittagong, Sylhet and Rangpur city units of the party have been announced from the central AL without any elections being held.
The last and the present central committees could hold councils for Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Dhaka city, Chittagong (North), Feni, Barisal district and city, Dinajpur, Lahnonirhat and Kurigram.
As for the inclusion of new members, the AL took an initiative in February 2010 by enrolling Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of AL chief Sheikh Hasina, as a primary member in Rangpur. That move, however, did not go far in its organisational districts. Nobody Dhaka knows how many new faces have been registered so far.
The AL took various other measures in the last five years to strengthen the organisation, including extended meetings, discussions and rallies across the country, grassroots meetings and tours by senior leaders and the AL president.
But these efforts could not yield much, as most of them were abandoned halfway. Inefficiency and incompetence of senior leaders and their excessive interest in government activities are the reasons why the initiatives fell through, party insiders say.
The party is now confined to an observance of special days, much to the frustration of the grassroots, the lifeline of any political party.
Sixty five years' old and arguably the biggest political party in the country, the AL has been suffering from such organisational inertia since it assumed power in 2009. And after the January 5 parliamentary polls this year, the situation only got worse.
Insiders point to the yawning gap between the party's top and bottom tiers. The grassroots receive scant attention from the central committee.
The gap was evident during the January 5 polls and the just-concluded upazila elections. The grassroots did not pay heed to the central committee's decision as regards the party favourites.
At present, the grassroots, plagued by internal feud, are waiting for the central committee's instructions on the next course of action, while the central leaders are waiting for the AL president's strategy map, say party sources.
The grassroots blame the central leaders for the gap between the central and the grassroots.
They said they had not received any directives from the central committee on what to do after the last parliamentary elections.
Despite various initiatives and warning of stern action, the party could not manage its rebel candidates in the January 5 polls. In the upazila elections, the AL had at least 303 rebel candidates.
Coming to power again, AL President Sheikh Hasina at the first meeting of the party's central working committee on expressed a desire to run the party and the government separately.
She also talked about reorganising the party, but that is yet to materialise.
At the last meeting of the central working committee on April 5, she expressed her annoyance with party colleagues over the organisational weaknesses issue. The meeting, however, ended without any deci-
sion on the next course of action.
Sunamganj district AL president Matiur Rahman raised questions about the abilities of many central leaders. He alleged that many businessmen and former bureaucrats had been included in the central committee, which was very harmful for a party like the Awami League.
Feni district AL president Abdur Rahman expressed annoyance over the present state of the organisation. I Ie said if the central leaders chose to do politics by staying in Dhaka, it would not work.
According to him, the central leaders should visit the grassroots to make it stronger to counter any possible street agitation.
Sources said the party acknowledges the organisation's weaknesses, but it will not announce any measures to plug those holes until after the budget session in June.
Talking to The Daily Star, AL presidium member Kazi Zafarullah said leaders of different tiers were busy analysing the results of the January 5 parliamentary and upazila polls.
Joint General Secretary of the party Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif said the initiative to reorganise the party, which was supposed to begin before the January 5 elections, would resume soon. Councils to 10 districts had already been completed and the rest would be done soon, he added.