AL's strategy of intimidation may no longer be working

[fallstuff]

AL's strategy of intimidation may no longer be working​

Aasha Mehreen Amin

Traffic is always a little light on Saturday mornings, with schools, universities and most offices being closed. Last Saturday morning, however, the empty streets had an ominous air. Strategic roads were cordoned off and the presence of police at numerous points was eerily similar to the days of political confrontation of the past.

People have been apprehensive of what would happen on December 10 ever since the BNP announced it would hold its rally in Dhaka on that day and indicated that it would be their biggest one so far. But the ruling party's aggressive suppression of opposition party members in all other rallies and pre-rallies (including the killing of a BNP activist by police firing on December 7), and BNP's apparent determination to carry on no matter what repercussions they face have led to the fear that Dhaka's rally will spawn unprecedented violence. By the time of writing this piece (4pm on December 10), no such fighting has been reported.

Of course, all that could change in an instant. The police are ready to take action at the slightest provocation and the same goes for the Chhatra League, who have assembled at various points, including at their home turf – the Dhaka University campus.

With two of its stalwarts, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas, being sent to jail, the BNP has enough fodder to create a real ruckus. In fact, seven BNP members of parliament have announced their resignations from a parliament where they were "barred from speaking time and time again," according to BNP MP Rumeen Farhana (though this was clearly part of the party's strategy).

Indiscriminate arrests of hundreds of BNP members and supporters on the flimsiest or obviously false grounds, sending them to jail, attacking the rallies, deploying excessive police action on rally participants, engineering transport strikes wherever BNP rallies were due, and going through the mobile phones of people coming out on the streets before the Dhaka rally – these acts of unnecessary aggression have proved to be counterproductive to AL's goal of proving BNP to be a weak and unpopular political force. Instead, the ruling party has revealed its own weakness of taking too many extreme steps to crush its opponents.

AL's strategy towards the opposition may well have landed it into quicksand, something that it is finding increasingly difficult to come out of. The more repressive the means it adopts to neutralise the BNP, the more sympathy the BNP gains.

Indiscriminate arrests of hundreds of BNP members and supporters on the flimsiest or obviously false grounds, sending them to jail, attacking the rallies, deploying excessive police action on rally participants, engineering transport strikes wherever BNP rallies were due, and going through the mobile phones of people coming out on the streets before the Dhaka rally – these acts of unnecessary aggression have proved to be counterproductive to AL's goal of proving BNP to be a weak and unpopular political force. Instead, the ruling party has revealed its own weakness of taking too many extreme steps to crush its opponents.

AL's strategy towards the opposition may well have landed it into quicksand, something that it is finding increasingly difficult to come out of. The more repressive the means it adopts to neutralise the BNP, the more sympathy the BNP gains.

The AL is therefore in an uncomfortable position of its own making. The year ahead looks uncertain, ominous, and difficult for the ordinary citizen as the economy is expected to continue to take hard hits and the politics of violence is expected to escalate around the national election.

It is high time the AL abandoned its losing strategy of force, intimidation, and the politicisation of public institutions. While it focuses on bolstering the economy, it must stop the financial haemorrhaging of political cronies.

By forgoing the strategy of violently suppressing its opponents and instead concentrating on supporting the public in every way possible during the ongoing financial crisis, the AL can show itself to be a mature political party that is confident enough to compete, and maybe even win, fair and square.

Aasha Mehreen Amin is joint editor at The Daily Star.

The AL is therefore in an uncomfortable position of its own making. The year ahead looks uncertain, ominous, and difficult for the ordinary citizen as the economy is expected to continue to take hard hits and the politics of violence is expected to escalate around the national election.

It is high time the AL abandoned its losing strategy of force, intimidation, and the politicisation of public institutions. While it focuses on bolstering the economy, it must stop the financial haemorrhaging of political cronies.

By forgoing the strategy of violently suppressing its opponents and instead concentrating on supporting the public in every way possible during the ongoing financial crisis, the AL can show itself to be a mature political party that is confident enough to compete, and maybe even win, fair and square.

Aasha Mehreen Amin is joint editor at The Daily Star.

AL's strategy of intimidation may no longer be working

So far, whatever the ruling party has been doing is going in favour of the BNP.

www.thedailystar.net

 

[mb444]

AL's strategy of intimidation may no longer be working​

Aasha Mehreen Amin

Traffic is always a little light on Saturday mornings, with schools, universities and most offices being closed. Last Saturday morning, however, the empty streets had an ominous air. Strategic roads were cordoned off and the presence of police at numerous points was eerily similar to the days of political confrontation of the past.

People have been apprehensive of what would happen on December 10 ever since the BNP announced it would hold its rally in Dhaka on that day and indicated that it would be their biggest one so far. But the ruling party's aggressive suppression of opposition party members in all other rallies and pre-rallies (including the killing of a BNP activist by police firing on December 7), and BNP's apparent determination to carry on no matter what repercussions they face have led to the fear that Dhaka's rally will spawn unprecedented violence. By the time of writing this piece (4pm on December 10), no such fighting has been reported.

Of course, all that could change in an instant. The police are ready to take action at the slightest provocation and the same goes for the Chhatra League, who have assembled at various points, including at their home turf – the Dhaka University campus.

With two of its stalwarts, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas, being sent to jail, the BNP has enough fodder to create a real ruckus. In fact, seven BNP members of parliament have announced their resignations from a parliament where they were "barred from speaking time and time again," according to BNP MP Rumeen Farhana (though this was clearly part of the party's strategy).

Indiscriminate arrests of hundreds of BNP members and supporters on the flimsiest or obviously false grounds, sending them to jail, attacking the rallies, deploying excessive police action on rally participants, engineering transport strikes wherever BNP rallies were due, and going through the mobile phones of people coming out on the streets before the Dhaka rally – these acts of unnecessary aggression have proved to be counterproductive to AL's goal of proving BNP to be a weak and unpopular political force. Instead, the ruling party has revealed its own weakness of taking too many extreme steps to crush its opponents.

AL's strategy towards the opposition may well have landed it into quicksand, something that it is finding increasingly difficult to come out of. The more repressive the means it adopts to neutralise the BNP, the more sympathy the BNP gains.

Indiscriminate arrests of hundreds of BNP members and supporters on the flimsiest or obviously false grounds, sending them to jail, attacking the rallies, deploying excessive police action on rally participants, engineering transport strikes wherever BNP rallies were due, and going through the mobile phones of people coming out on the streets before the Dhaka rally – these acts of unnecessary aggression have proved to be counterproductive to AL's goal of proving BNP to be a weak and unpopular political force. Instead, the ruling party has revealed its own weakness of taking too many extreme steps to crush its opponents.

AL's strategy towards the opposition may well have landed it into quicksand, something that it is finding increasingly difficult to come out of. The more repressive the means it adopts to neutralise the BNP, the more sympathy the BNP gains.

The AL is therefore in an uncomfortable position of its own making. The year ahead looks uncertain, ominous, and difficult for the ordinary citizen as the economy is expected to continue to take hard hits and the politics of violence is expected to escalate around the national election.

It is high time the AL abandoned its losing strategy of force, intimidation, and the politicisation of public institutions. While it focuses on bolstering the economy, it must stop the financial haemorrhaging of political cronies.

By forgoing the strategy of violently suppressing its opponents and instead concentrating on supporting the public in every way possible during the ongoing financial crisis, the AL can show itself to be a mature political party that is confident enough to compete, and maybe even win, fair and square.

Aasha Mehreen Amin is joint editor at The Daily Star.

The AL is therefore in an uncomfortable position of its own making. The year ahead looks uncertain, ominous, and difficult for the ordinary citizen as the economy is expected to continue to take hard hits and the politics of violence is expected to escalate around the national election.

It is high time the AL abandoned its losing strategy of force, intimidation, and the politicisation of public institutions. While it focuses on bolstering the economy, it must stop the financial haemorrhaging of political cronies.

By forgoing the strategy of violently suppressing its opponents and instead concentrating on supporting the public in every way possible during the ongoing financial crisis, the AL can show itself to be a mature political party that is confident enough to compete, and maybe even win, fair and square.

Aasha Mehreen Amin is joint editor at The Daily Star.

AL's strategy of intimidation may no longer be working

So far, whatever the ruling party has been doing is going in favour of the BNP.

www.thedailystar.net

Let us hope so.... we need a mass culling of all BAL supporter and complete root and brunch elimination of Hasina, Rehana and their families.

 

[fallstuff]

Let us hope so.... we need a mass culling of all BAL supporter and complete root and brunch elimination of Hasina, Rehana and their families.

US sanctions are holding her back. I know some folks are upset with India, but it is AL doing looting in an unheard scale.

Most folks were okay even where AL cronies were getting the local contract for the mega projects.
We are just about a step or two away from returning to the Mujib rule under AL.

 

[UKBengali]

Let us hope so.... we need a mass culling of all BAL supporter and complete root and brunch elimination of Hasina, Rehana and their families.

Replace a party that has given the fastest growing large developing economy in the world with what?

1. Forex reseves successfully stabilised.

2. GDP per capita at PPP has caught up with India when it was around 75% of India's 15 years ago.

3. GDP growth expected to hit 6.5% this fiscal when a lot of it's markets will be in a recession.

4. Consumer electronics like TVs being sold under BD own brand name in developed markets like Ireland. And no this was not by accident as BAL government has actively supported Walton to become what it is today.


There is no perfection in life but BD would not be where it is today without the quasi-dictatorship we have had since 2009. It shows every sign of becoming a "middle-income" country in the 2030s and this is no time to risk this.

 

[Species]

Replace a party that has given the fastest growing large developing economy in the world with what?

1. Forex reseves successfully stabilised.

2. GDP per capita at PPP has caught up with India when it was around 75% of India's 15 years ago.

3. GDP growth expected to hit 6.5% this fiscal when a lot of it's markets will be in a recession.

4. Consumer electronics like TVs being sold under BD own brand name in developed markets like Ireland. And no this was not by accident as BAL government has actively supported Walton to become what it is today.


There is no perfection in life but BD would not be where it is today without the quasi-dictatorship we have had since 2009. It shows every sign of becoming a "middle-income" country in the 2030s and this is no time to risk this.

Google "Bangladesh Paradox"

The governance has been traditionally weak in Bangladesh and Hasina is no exception. We haven't seen any major reforms under her that could be claimed to be the reason behind this economic growth. The credit actually goes to the the entrepreneurs, foreign workers, NGOs like BRAC, and the general resilience of the people.

While this development mantra has been successful so far, we need to sort out our governance to keep going in the long term and that's why we need checks and balances, doesn't matter who holds the power.

 

[bluesky]

Replace a party that has given the fastest growing large developing economy in the world with what?

What base your BAL party has created to claim extraordinary economic growth? It is borrowing from foreign countries and contracting foreign builders to do a few projects.

The foreign money is circulating inside the country making the GDP seem to be larger than the real.

It is not called development. Only in this FY, BD is to pay back $2.75 billion. Come 2030, it will be $5 billion. And you are shouting it is a great development and BD has surpassed Singapore already and will surpass Japan by 2030.

Bloody bunch of stupid BAL cronies!!

 

[bluesky]

Guys, a special video gift from Pinaki to watch and appreciate.

 

[fallstuff]

 

[Bilal9]

US sanctions are holding her back. I know some folks are upset with India, but it is AL doing looting in an unheard scale.

Most folks were okay even where AL cronies were getting the local contract for the mega projects.
We are just about a step or two away from returning to the Mujib rule under AL.

India is a longer term problem that has to be 'handled' regardless who is in power.

But BKSAL style rule is not going to be tolerated in this country. This is not 1974~75. The polity thinks entirely in a different more mature manner.

Cadre uneducated goondas and looteras cannot run the country. Their time has run out.

I see a Thailand style upheaval. Even almost like Arab Spring. Mild but effective.

Replace a party that has given the fastest growing large developing economy in the world with what?

1. Forex reseves successfully stabilised.

2. GDP per capita at PPP has caught up with India when it was around 75% of India's 15 years ago.

3. GDP growth expected to hit 6.5% this fiscal when a lot of it's markets will be in a recession.

4. Consumer electronics like TVs being sold under BD own brand name in developed markets like Ireland. And no this was not by accident as BAL government has actively supported Walton to become what it is today.


There is no perfection in life but BD would not be where it is today without the quasi-dictatorship we have had since 2009. It shows every sign of becoming a "middle-income" country in the 2030s and this is no time to risk this.

And your point is what exactly?

None of this is anything Hasina can take credit for. It happened because of the apparel boom and natural side-businesses maturing and diversifying the export basket.

There is absiolutely no proof that future govts. are going to hold entrepreneurs back any more like Hasina's preferences to Indians getting zero tariff advantages to export to our market. That is a HUGE factor that prevents the diversification of our industry.

Any businessman or entrepreneur in any one of the chambers in any Bangladesh city will tell you.

 

[UKBengali]

Google "Bangladesh Paradox"

The governance has been traditionally weak in Bangladesh and Hasina is no exception. We haven't seen any major reforms under her that could be claimed to be the reason behind this economic growth. The credit actually goes to the the entrepreneurs, foreign workers, NGOs like BRAC, and the general resilience of the people.

While this development mantra has been successful so far, we need to sort out our governance to keep going in the long term and that's why we need checks and balances, doesn't matter who holds the power.

Nope, as I have my own brain and can work out how things work. Don't need someone else to do my thinking for me.

Do you really think that Walton is now selling consumer electronics like mobiles and TVs in the West without targeted government support over the last decade?

Do you really think that all that infrastructure is building itself that is allowing industry to flourish?

Do you think that the likes of Russia would have lent BD over 11 billion US dollars to build it's first nuclear power station if it had 5 year rotating governments?

 

[mb444]

Replace a party that has given the fastest growing large developing economy in the world with what?

1. Forex reseves successfully stabilised.

2. GDP per capita at PPP has caught up with India when it was around 75% of India's 15 years ago.

3. GDP growth expected to hit 6.5% this fiscal when a lot of it's markets will be in a recession.

4. Consumer electronics like TVs being sold under BD own brand name in developed markets like Ireland. And no this was not by accident as BAL government has actively supported Walton to become what it is today.


There is no perfection in life but BD would not be where it is today without the quasi-dictatorship we have had since 2009. It shows every sign of becoming a "middle-income" country in the 2030s and this is no time to risk this.

With whatever is the peoples choice. That is really the basis of democracy.

If BAL was responsible for any of what you claim they would welcome a free and fair election, for a thumping win surely is the only outcome possible.

 

[UKBengali]

With whatever is the peoples choice. That is really the basis of democracy.

If BAL was responsible for any of what you claim they would welcome a free and fair election, for a thumping win surely is the only outcome possible.

Err, it does not work in a still largely poor and illiterate population.

BD in 2022 is not ready for democracy, especially in these difficult economic times when any charlatan can promise them the world.

Let BD think about democracy in 2030 as now is still too early.

 

[BananaRepublicUK]

With whatever is the peoples choice. That is really the basis of democracy.

If BAL was responsible for any of what you claim they would welcome a free and fair election, for a thumping win surely is the only outcome possible.

Why do you think US opted out of representative democracy?

Instead opted for the electoral college?

And why do you think UK still is a monarchy?

Are you really that dim?

 

[Species]

Do you really think that Walton is now selling consumer electronics like mobiles and TVs in the West without targeted government support over the last decade?

Yes, unless you can point out the exact support they received from the government.

It's funny that you are only talking about Walton's success and praising the government. You know what happened to Walton's motorcycle manufacturing? Few years back they were making great progress and had some market share. They were asking the government for protection against Indian motorcycle imports but got refused. Years down the line, Walton started losing its market share and ultimately had to shut its motorcycle manufacturing. It's the same reason why Walton has not invested in car manufacturing yet

Although I'm against any kind of protective measures in trade but Walton's plea had some justification. Indian motorcycle brands indeed had some undue advantage wrt branding and promotion as Indian media channels have an easy access to Bangladesh while Bangladeshi media does not. Even Munni Saha raised the matter to Dipu Moni in an interview. And I do remember Indian motorcycle brands have an extensive marketing campaign through Indian media.

 

[UKBengali]

Yes, unless you can point out the exact support they received from the government.

It's funny that you are only talking about Walton's success and praising the government. You know what happened to Walton's motorcycle manufacturing? Few years back they were making great progress and had some market share. They were asking the government for protection against Indian motorcycle imports but got refused. Years down the line, Walton started losing its market share and ultimately had to shut its motorcycle manufacturing.

Although I'm against any kind of protective measures in trade but Walton's plea had some justification. Indian motorcycle brands indeed had some undue advantage wrt branding and promotion as Indian media channels have an easy access to Bangladesh while Bangladeshi media does not. Even Munni Saha raised the matter to Dipu Moni in an interview. And I do remember Indian motorcycle brands have an extensive marketing campaign through Indian media.

I am not going to spoon feed you as you need to do your own research.

BD has been gradually reducing tariffs and it is no great loss if Walton lost it's market share in motorcycles as it may be spreading itself too thin. Walton is doing excellently in consumer electronics and needs to focus on doing a few things very well.