| All the king's men With the national election just weeks away, Mushfique Wadud finds out what the status quo is with the new political parties floated in the first year of the emergency, from Quraishi's Progressive Democratic Party to Ibrahim's Kalyan Party, collectively referred to as the King's Party
'If people like calling us the King's Party, let them,' says Major General (retired) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim. Ibrahim is the chairman of the Bangladesh Kalyan Party. Bangladesh Kalyan Party was formed on December 4, 2007 when the state of emergency prevailed in the country. After the declaration of the state of emergency on January 11, 2007, when leaders of the major political parties even could not sit in their central and local offices, some little-known public figures launched political parties and talked overtly before the media. As a result, many people speculated that an invisible power was behind them. And because of the government's reluctance to halt their political activities and in some instances were active collusion was evident; many strongly believed that the present military- controlled incumbent government's support was with them. On many occasions in the past, during a political transition, non-political governments have been known to first lend their support to a particular party and then eventually acquire it as their launch-pad. Many big parties today have been born out of such efforts (e.g.. Ershad's Jatiya Party was born out of Jana Dal). When any kind of political activity was barred in the country, people were surprised to see the emergence of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus's 'Nagorik Shakti', Firdaus Ahmad Quraishi's Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and Ibrahim's Bangladesh Kalyan Party. The term 'King's Party' started making rounds, especially during the formation of PDP, a party, in which, at one point, many political stalwarts were speculated to join. The term was not only used on these three new parties but also on the break-away factions and reformist groups within the two large parties BNP and Awami League as well as a number of smaller parties who have emerged in recent times and were rumoured to be colluding the current government. A lot has changed since, and the much-speculated 'minus two' formula has been put to rest at least for the time being. Now that the major political parties are in full force again, many people are curious about king's parties' present condition. Have the government completely abandoned them? What are they doing now? Will they participate in the upcoming election? The present condition Speaking to New Age before his eventual decision to join Jatiya Jukta Front, Firdaus Ahmad Quraishi, chair of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) said that his party was discussing forming an alliance with the Jatiya Jukta Front. He informs that some of his party leaders wanted to go to the BNP-led four-party alliance. But he did not agree with them so they quit PDP. He also informs that he does not think that this election can make any qualitative change in politics but his party will attend the election for the sake of the political process. Ibrahim, chairman of Bangladesh Kalyan Party on the other hand promises that his party will attend the election with Jatiya Jukta Front. He also informs that 55 people have collected party nomination papers from his party. He expresses hope that 45 people will be able to contest in the election. He himself will contest in three constituencies. 'I will contest in Dhaka-8, Dhaka-13 and Dhaka-17 constituencies,' he says. A visit to two King's Parties' office A visit to two King's Parties' offices reveal that people are no longer interested in these parties though some people earlier were forced to believe that they were very popular among masses. 'I need my money back,' says a young man to a person who is sitting in the right corner of the room with a laptop. In reply to the young man he says, 'You have no right to ask for the money.' After entering Bangladesh Kalyan Party's Chairman's office which is located at New DOHS, the altercation between the above mentioned two was witnessed. Later the young man who asked for the money revealed to New Age that his name is Faruk Shariar and he collected a nomination form by spending a good amount of money which is why he wants his money back. The altercation was going on for a few minutes. Afterwards Faruk phoned someone and a few minutes later a phone call came to the person who was involved in the altercation with Faruk. This person is Ibrahim's personal assistant. He then asked Faruk to take his money back. When asked why he collected party nomination form first and now left the idea to contest in the election, he tells New Age that earlier some people (he did not mention names) convinced him to participate in the election. 'I was excited at that time but now I think I should not do this,' he says. In another corner, two people were found trying to convince a person to contest the election. His name is Abdul Hye. One of the persons who were trying to convince Hye says that he will be Bangladesh Kalyan Party's candidate in Manikganj-1 constituency. When asked whether he was a party member or not, he informed that Hye is not any level party member. Speaking to New Age, Major General (retired) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, the BKP chair explained his party's slogan, 'Politics for Change' and the issue of people contesting in the upcoming election who are not party members. 'Look, changing the political scenario is a continual process. You cannot expect it to happen overnight. Some of the people who are contesting the upcoming election are our party members and some are not. You have to give us time for the change,' he says. When asked why he wanted to form a party under the state of emergency, he says that earlier the environment was not congenial to form a party. Progressive Democratic Party's (PDP) chairman Firdaus Ahmad Quraishi also speaks in the same tone. 'The attack on the Liberal Democratic Party and Bikalpa Dhara compelled us to form a party under the state of emergency,' he says. The central office of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) is located at 8/4-A, Topkhana Road, Segun Bagicha, Dhaka. After entering the gate, you will find a large hall room. On November 26, at 1:30pm, ten or twenty people were found sitting in this hall room. Most of them are unknown faces in the political arena. A person was found instructing them on how to fill the nomination form. Some of them came to the party chairman's office to take party nomination from the chairman's hand. Quraishi says that if the drive against corrupt people were going on, they would be taking part in the elections alone. 'As the drive against corruption seems to have lost its force, we have to participate in the election with an alliance,' he says. He also informs that after the declaration of the state of emergency, he thought it was the right time to form a party. 'We were supporters of the state of emergency and we wanted to take the advantages of the change situation,' he adds. He also claims that he had earlier tried many times to form a party but did not find the environment congenial. 'I am not a new face in the political scenario. I deserved credit for re-establishing the present BNP after the death of Ziaur Rahman. I was then the senior joint secretary of the party.' Both Kalyan Party and PDP have joined the Jatiya Jukta Front. Both the leaders Ibrahim and Quraishi formed the parties under the state of emergency. Interestingly, both expressed their dissatisfaction with the media. Ibrahim says, 'I have no faith in journalists. If you have enemies in the media, they are enough for your ruin.' Quraishi says 'I expected support from journalists as I belong to this community but they frustrated me.' How they started The trend of forming new political parties under state of emergency started with Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. On February 11, 2007, he wrote an open letter to the public seeking support for his new political party, which he termed a new generation political party as an alternative to the country's out-of-date politics. He, however, also said if the letter failed to gain strong response, he wouldn't enter into politics. In the letter he said, 'My main goal will be to establish political goodwill, qualified leadership and good governance.' Then he named his political party 'Nagorik Shakti' on February 22. On launching the party he said that his volunteers received lots of emails, SMS, and letters from the people urging him to join politics. But after a few days, on May 4, micro-credit guru Muhammad Yunus unexpectedly announced his decision to abandon his efforts to form a political party. Again, he left another open letter for the people. 'People gave me inspiration to enter politics. But when I contacted them, I did not get much response and they were not interested in joining the [proposed] party..' The Yunus euphoria came to an end. Firdaus Ahmad Quraishi became the Progressive Democratic Party's (PDP) chairman in mid-June, 2007. Before that, he arranged many secret meetings with manmy political figures and 'others' even when there was a ban on indoor politics. Earlier there was a rumour that many high profile political figures were going to join Quraishi's party. But that did not happen when he declared his party's inauguration. The last experiment in this effort was Bangladesh Kalyan Party. On December 4, Ibrahim launched a new political party named Bangladesh Kalyan Party. He declared himself chairman for three years, and urged people to join the party to bring a 'change in politics'. The party's draft constitution gives the chairman absolute power to control, supervise and coordinate all activities of the organisation and its national council, advisory council and central executive committee. The national council of the new party will be held within 18 months to 'elect' the party chairman. The two leaders say they had no connection with the present military-backed interim government. 'We are neither a king's party nor a queen's party,' says Major General (retired) Ibrahim. 'We just want to bring a change in the politics.' |
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