A CLOSE LOOK

Time is propitious for political turncoats


Nilratan Halder | Published: March 24, 2018 00:32:01


Time is propitious for political turncoats

A Bangla adage runs like this when paraphrased: In war and love, no rule applies. Add another more debauched phenomenon -politics-to this. Politics sets no rule or ideal for anyone today. If any move -however immoral and unethical it may be, induction of a person into the fold -no matter if s/he were a sworn enemy a little while ago -proves advantageous or expedient to the party, it goes for the same unhesitatingly. Following the same pattern of politics, a BNP vice president of an upazila in Netrakona has grabbed the nomination for chairmanship of a union parishad (UP) there.

His parent party the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has expelled him following his nomination on behalf of the ruling Awami League. So diehard a BNP activist was he that during the last election to the UP in 2016, he even smashed framed photographs of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Hasina. The other feat to his credit is to ransack a few houses of the Hindus.

This is certainly not the only political turncoat to have changed allegiance for personal gains. In this country, reportedly collaborators have become freedom fighters overnight and have time and again transformed into ruling party followers like the chameleons. Some even had the luck to grace (or better say disgrace) cabinet posts. Politics seems to have banished words like idealism, ethics and shame from its lexicon.

The major political parties fail to realise that such acts do not go unnoticed by the public. At times such moves prove highly costly. One of the major parties in the country is now paying through its nose for the blunder it committed by forging alliance with the war collaborators. In power, everything looks possible and the leaders do not care if their choice of the turncoats does hurt the public sentiment.

A man who abandons his parent party will have no qualms about doing the same when the wind will blow from the opposite direction. Here is a type of political elements who are driven by self interests and could not care less which party or leaders were in power. They are always after their share of cake without making the least sacrifice. Pampering such people can prove dangerous because they can make the political summersault whenever the time is propitious. Devoid of moral scruples and integrity of character they can pose threat to the party as well as leaders. After all it is their self interest which they look forward to advancing.

A debauch in the shape of a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader took no time to change his loyalty to the Bangladesh Chhatra League at the Jahangirnagar University. The lecher had the audacity to declare that he scored a century. Century of what? Not anything pertaining to cricket but one that scandalised the university and the nation. He violated 100 girls during his short student life at the university. He should be considered the Caligula of Bangladesh. This infamous political turncoat made most of his position in a pervert way.

What is amazing is that people -party followers in particular-seem to have turned somewhat insensitive. Why cannot they raise their voice against such injustice and indiscretion? Is there no such environment in a party or they have turned timid? There are certainly dedicated leaders who are overlooked and thus the politics of evil is encouraged. Corruption and moral degeneration thus make their way into politics. When such political animals win, what principles and good work can be expected of them? The political party also lowers down its image to a large extent. This may not invite immediate reversal but over time they count and the tide may turn in the opposite direction. When there is an overriding need for paving the way for clean politics, the debased and morally bankrupt are inducted. This is deplorable.

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