Personality cult in political leaderships of Awami League

Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Awami League, now ruling party and the oldest political party in Bangladesh seems to be in dilemma. As like as other parties in the subcontinent Awami League is heavily dependent upon personality cult. Like Indian National Congress, People’s Party of Pakistan, Awami League could not come out from this cult sake. Though, this is the common trends of big political parties once who administered the respective countries. The situation reflects the weak institutional image of the party. At the end of the day this will do not appear as good to the party. Before Sheikh Hasina coming back to Bangladesh in the early eighties, the most promising leaders of Awami league were Abdur Razzak and Tofael Ahmed. The youngsters of the party were mainly followers of Abdur Razzak and Tofael Ahmed in the then time. In the late seventies and eighties most of the members of the Chattra League (pro Awami) used to follow the directives of Abdur Razzak and Tofael Ahmed. And it was reflected in the Hall committees of different public universities and as well as in colleges in allover Bangladesh. The then time senior leaders of Awami league were Abdul Malek Ukil, Abdus Samad Azad, Dewan Farid Gazi, Sajeda Chowdhury and Dr. Kamal Hossain. As a leader Dr. Kamal Hossain was promising in the sense that he could command the respect and reputation from all quarters but he did not have enough followers. And it was one of his weak points as a national leader. In fact it is true that he had no particular constituency which is a big factor in parliamentary politics.

After brutally killing of President Zia, a new presidential election was held in 1981. The minimum age of Presidential nominee was 35. Maybe this was the reason not to be presidential candidacy of Sheikh Hasina in the then time. That time Dr. Kamal Hossain was the presidential candidate of Awami League. And Kamal Hossain was defeated by Justice Abdus Sattar, the then acting president. Still then Dr. Kamal Hossain was considered as an important leader of Awami League. In 1991 parliamentary election, Kamal Hossain was an MP candidate of Awami League from Dhaka’s Mirpur area. But he was again defeated by BNP candidate Abdul Khalek, a widely known transport businessman. After that Kamal Hossain was kept out of the decision making circle of Awami League or he was left out from the core decision making process of Awami League. As a result of this consequence he left the Awami League and formed a new party named Gono Forum with some of his associates who could not get honorable space in Awami Leaugue. Maybe Kamal Hossain had not enough followers but he was reputed and internationally acclaimed lawyer. Party like Awami League needs heterogeneous genius persons. Difference of opinion and mutual respect is badly needed to form an institution. In this arena Awami league lacks ingredients to form a strong institution now. It is still a weak institution and it has manifested in many ways. If we look at the party of last forty years one can easily sum up this conclusion. Last forty years Awami League is heavily dependent upon personality cult. And this situation is such that it is not possible for Awami League to get rid of this circle. Those, who born after the decades of seventies do not get any change in central leadership; this is also equally true in the case of BNP. So, institutional weaknesses are also the common traits of Awami League and as well as other existing big political parties in Bangladesh.

The most vibrant leader of Awami League was Tofael Ahmed. But from outside of the party arena it is almost clear to everybody, who is conscious about politics, that senior leader Tofael Ahmed is not being evaluated properly or he is underrated. Few years back in a television interview he told he was not in the presidium but a newcomer to party like Nuh Alom Lenin was in the presidium, the highest decision making body of the party. Now he is the member of the Advisory council of the party which is much less important than that of presidium. The well-wishers of Tofael Ahmed can understand this situation but due to reality and political culture prevailing in Bangladesh, it is not possible to raise voice in favor of Tofael Ahmed. It seems from outside of party circle that leader like Tofael Ahmed is now underrated whereas many who are newcomer in the party are now being overrated in the party.
The case of Amir Hossain Amu is also unique. At present he is one of the senior most leaders of Awami League. It is heard that Amir Hossain Amu has relations with the party’s high-up. He was also considered an important leader of Awami League. A couple of weeks back he made a statement about dialogue with BNP. Other senior leaders of fourteen party alliances were also present on that occasion. But after couple of hours the other leaders of Awami League refuted the statement made by Amir Hossain Amu and they made clear that statement of Amu was his own and not reflecting the party stands. After that Amir Hossain Amu made his statement scrapped and commented his statement was misinterpreted. From this statement it is clear that senior leader Amir Hossain Amu does not have that much weightage in the party.

Abdur Razzak was one of the prominent leaders of Awami League who could carry respects from all quarters. It was also considered that he had large number of followers in the party. For difference of opinions with the party high-up he revived BAKSAL in the late eighties but later with some compromise formula he merged his party with Awami League in the early nineties. He was made cabinet member in 1996. But after 2007, gradually he became irrelevant in the party and he did not get proper weightage until his death. It seems it was the perception of the common people that Abdur Razzak did not get proper rating in the party in his last days of his life. As seen beyond periphery that Awami League could not or did not get the service from Abdur Razzak. With this position Abdur Razzak died few years back. This was equally true in the case of Abdul Jalil of Naogaon. Once he was secretary of Awami League.

Out of this nationally famed Awami League leaders there are/were many other district leaders who did/does not get proper evaluation from the party. Among them the case of Late Advocate Syed Rafique us Salehin of Rajbari District may be mentioned who was longtime president of district committee. He was a dedicated person to the party and a whole timer. But in his lifetime he was underrated and did not get due honor. He was an idealistic leader and not a person of hybrid version. Like late Advocate Syed Rafique us Salehin of Rajbari there are/were many dedicated leaders of Awami League. Many of them did not get due respect and evaluation in their lifetime.

Now the party is in power about fifteen years. Maybe present leadership might not be functional due to old age after some years. So what should be the right action within 3/4 years for future leadership has to be sort out immediately. Otherwise Awami league may face vacuity of leadership in near future. And that might be a hindrance to depict Awami League as a true political institution.

(The writer is a former civil servant).