The extended kinship of the political families

Today is a day of mixed emotions. I watched all my favourite faces go up on the stage and receive the Ekushey Padak. Ironically Foyez Ahmed, the veteran journalist and the freedom fighter chose to die on us today. I mention "chose" as Foyez Ahmed would have it no other way. He chose to live and he picked a time to leave, donating his eyes to Shandhani and his body to Bangladesh Medical College. If one could do a peek-a-boo with his brain, any neurologist would probably understand the essential components of being a Bangali.

Very few of us, perhaps have loyalty to memories of who we were once and who we were meant to be. In 1971, I used to enjoy my evening parades with Bacchu bhai (Nasiruddin Yusuf), riding on his shoulder and being asked to sing: Moder Gorob, moder asha, a-mori Bangla bhasha. I, a seven-year-old, then would routinely be dressed in a black and white polka dotted dress while I sang the song in a community, which only had Urdu-speaking people with a few exceptions like us.

Times have changed ever since. Today, our children dread rides to the Shaheed Minar and we ourselves shy away. Today, our children find Boi-Mela an over imposing venue, while we ourselves don't risk the traffic. What is changing inside our brain? Is our national psyche being systematically altered by the daily disappointments that we face? And by the way, why are we facing anxieties of democracy? With Ekushey February, it is perhaps time to check out what distresses us the most…

Once upon a time, people loved government jobs; once upon a time, there were sufficient initiatives that made people gravitate towards government service. One felt assured, relieved of the fact that one would not have to face termination and that 'shorkari apish' (government office) was a place to sail through one's professional life.

Not anymore. No, no. Though 129 joint secretaries have been elevated to the rank of additional secretary, 274 deputy secretaries to the post of joint secretary and 279 senior assistant secretaries to the post of deputy secretary and 31 officers are still traveling and will soon return to base to be promoted, who knows with the turnings of the tide, all these 680 will not continue to be Officers on Special Duty (OSD)? Or rather, who knows if the same ones will not face the BCS interview, the written exam one more time, all over again, to prove their competency? Is there any guarantee that these poor bureaucrats will not face the same fate that they had faced when, in spite of being the batches of 82 and 85, were earlier not considered for promotion? Is there any guarantee that these "in situ" (elevated) officers will actually find a base to work from since there are no vacancies in the system now and that they will not, once again shift from "in situ" cum "OSD" status to early retirement or dismissal with a change of the government?

More changes have come in…

The retirement age, which was once fixed in 1974 has jumped to 67 years today as apparently we, Bangladeshis are living longer and are enjoying higher life expectancy!

On a separate note, 1100 National University staff, appointed during the BNP tenure, is about to lose their jobs. Apparently, the organizational structure of the National University needs to be legally rectified, as the appointments were not legalized. Apparently there was a flaw in the recruitment process. What however makes us sad is that most of these 1100 people may be just victims of a flawed system which is ever vulnerable to political manipulation.

This is not a new occurrence. Dynastic trends have dominated our politics and along with this trend, another by-trend has developed. Our politicians become attached to adoption; they adopt their innocent, die-hard followers and try doing the most for them. Quite naturally, a spontaneous loyalty is born out of this process and at the end, many including top notch bureaucrats fall prey to this undesirable love. I know of a gentleman who was a bureaucrat with a relatively spotless reputation who left the country as soon the previous government lost power. To the best of my knowledge, he may never ever return home to be with his family. He cannot risk a return.

How is this extended political family formed? How does governance of a democratically elected party be influenced by party position? Like it or not, we have still remained colonial in structure as we still follow the British system where the political representatives participate in local governance. Out of this colonization and in spite of us calling ourselves decolonized, all we have done is create a monstrous class of elite who remain isolated from the basic call of welfare for the most disadvantaged. Repeatedly, they focus on giving birth to one tier after the other, as if, in an addictive reproductive act. This yields results and hence, every five years, since 1990, the two ruling parties, Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), with their shared political power have continued clashing on the formats, processes and practices of the bureaucracy, ultimately affecting the legislative, executive and judiciary.

Unfortunately this corrupts the goal of the bureaucrats and the elected representatives who then become increasingly oblivious of their goals and concentrate on their extended political familial gains. The nation remains forgotten. In the process, a partisan bureaucracy is born, which, in turn has not done Bangladesh any good. Merits are often not taken into account and often, individuals replace a functioning bureaucratic system by becoming the centre.

In 2010, around 400 Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries were made OSD. The State spends Taka 3 crore 7 lakh and 34 thousand ($439060) every month as their salaries. According to an article in Seminar in 2011, penned by M.A.K. Azad, I read that in 2010 itself, there were 126 additional secretaries against 108 posts, 408 joint secretaries against 355 posts, and 1,330 deputy secretaries against 830 posts.

All governments have done it in some form or the other. In late 1980, Zia regime's   Swanirvar Gram Sarker (Self- reliant Village Government) – below the Union Parishad was set up in 68,000 villages. The Gram Sarkar had new followers who marginalized Union Parishads. MPs from the BNP commanded over the district and thana level Gram Sarkar coordination committees to ensure complete control over the rural areas.

Ershad too, was no exception. He introduced Upazillas, which created a new level of political loyalists, and then Gram Sarker became Palli Parishad, attempting to promote the concept of Palli Bondhu!

All of them had only one goal in mind. Not one perhaps prioritized the people before the multiple tiers that they had set up to inspire hard loyalists; not one perhaps focused on the general wellbeing of the people. Such is the irony of democracy. The ones who the voters choose cater mostly to their own kin and not beyond.

Is our Nation truly free? Is our Nation truly safe for our children to be inducted into government services, or present opposing views risking intolerance of those who rule? Is our Nation truly home for our next generation to return to, fearless of consequences of freedom of speech, fearless of consequences resulting from the "contempt of court"? Are we truly a democracy where a highlighted phrase or an innocent observation is read as an offence to lower the court? Are we truly Independent of coercion, revenge and wrath?

Is this the country Tareque Masood dreamt of? Is this Foyez Bhai's Bangladesh? Is this Faridee's soil? Is this ours? A young woman tried telling me the other day, "The problem with us is that we don't own this piece of land. We flee at the first opportunity given to us." Why is that though? In a country where an editor has to present his own case, go through the painstaking process of digging into the precedents of court from the colonial times, defend a publisher who was a mukti joddha and put up a case of defence for a foreigner's opinion piece published in the daily that he edits, who then is safe in this country?

By referring to the 1100 National University staff that lost jobs in this article, I will not be surprised if that too is considered to be an attempt to malign the judiciary!

Nurul Kabir, the editor of The New Age had the guts to construct his own defence. Half-wits like me, by nature, lack courage and information. Where do I run to next?

Which is the land that I should call my own from today?

———————————-
Rubana Huq, Managing Director, Mohammadi Group