Dear Editor,
Hope you are doing well and thanks for publishing my previous write ups.
This is an article titled "Serving Country without scripted strategy". I will be highly honored if you would publish this article. I would appreciate your time to read this article.
Thanks
Have a nice time
With Best Regards
Ripan Kumar Biswas
New York, U.S.A
Hope you are doing well and thanks for publishing my previous write ups.
This is an article titled "Serving Country without scripted strategy". I will be highly honored if you would publish this article. I would appreciate your time to read this article.
Thanks
Have a nice time
With Best Regards
Ripan Kumar Biswas
New York, U.S.A
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Serving Country without scripted strategy
Ripan Kumar Biswas
Amid high unemployment and sluggish economic growth, the winning strategic decisions made by President Obama's team during the 2012 presidential campaign would be focusing Latino and minority voters, building the world's most sophisticated media targeting program, or the Biden debate strategy since Obama lost the first debate with a listless performance etc. But surely all of these strategic decisions were based on why people should support the president and why they should get out and vote.
David Plouffe, former Senior Advisor to President Obama from 2011 to 2013 and campaign manager for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and, according to the Chicago Tribune, who was "the mastermind behind a winning strategy," told that his biggest challenge was to make sure the advices he used to give must be consistent with what president promised to the American people.
Though the news is yet to be confirmed and verified and may be too early to write about, but according to a Dhaka based national daily newspaper, the ruling Awami League party in Bangladesh is about to set its next election campaign strategies, especially by engaging a Harvard professor, who is highly expert in publicity campaign for political parties. Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is also a Harvard graduate and son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is now working on the party's publicity strategy and would strengthen his team by adding up that Harvard specialist.
Report says that the campaign strategies would be tailored to a specific constituency, mindset of the voters' in the constituency, or regional factors etc. Suppose, if a constituency needs something special like a bridge or a road, the campaign will be focused on it in that constituency. Among other strategies would be focusing on terrorist and militant activities occurred during the last BNP-Jamaat rule or engaging theology scholars to remove confusion over religion-based propaganda.
In general, strategy is all about "what to do" and "what not to do." In research on political campaign strategy, it is often assumed that campaign strategies and tactics are highly important for explaining election outcomes. Most research in political science tends to emphasize the importance of political substance, long-term factors such as party identification, and real-world conditions for explaining election outcomes. On the other side, although political parties in practice treat election campaigns as highly important and consequential, but there is virtually no proved strategy available on how party elites perceive the importance of campaign strategies and tactics when explaining election outcomes.
Observing Bangladesh's political parties's vigorous effort toward formulating campaign strategy just before the election rather doing nothing over the years, people believe that campaigning is usually only done when all else has failed. Rather an in-depth analysis and understanding of voters' needs is essential. All the strategies and analysis are usually set to find, "why should people support a party and why they should get out and vote." And the answer is according to David Plouffe, what the party has promised and what it has given.
While Awami League got only 62 seats in 2001 Parliamentary elections when Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led alliance got 193 seats which allowed them to form a government, but in 2008, Awami League led alliance won landslide victory having 229 seats out of 295. That landslide victory clearly indicated that the voters were hungry for change that the BNP government was simply incapable of delivering. Bangladesh had no evident economic development and the people's living standard also had no clear improvement in BNP time. The people wanted a country free of terrorism and corruption; they wanted a just and progressive society. So what the changes general people have after 4 and half years of Awami Leahue led alliance's ruling?
In a recent party meeting, Awami League led grand alliance partner and Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon MP said that the ruling Awami League has failed to fulfill people's expectations due to rampant plundering, extortion, killing and terrorist activities by the leaders of activists of the party and its associate bodies. He further mentioned that the 11-party had jointly participated in the last polls with Awami League and formed the government based on 23 points, but none of them fulfilled properly.The government failed to bring to justice the instigators of the share market crash that harmed around 33 lac investors. People expressed their anger over Padma bridge corruption issue. There is also growing dissatisfaction over Chattra League's persistent reckless behavior that went fairly unchecked by the government. Also, people didn't like the Awami League's stand against country's only one Noble Laureate Professor Yunus.
There are lot of things can be mentioned. But did the Awami League make good on their promise to clean up Bangladesh's historically graft- and violence-plagued politics? In Bangladesh, concentrated wealth, fear of terrorism, theocracy, empire building, corruption in government and politics, arrogant and ignorant executives, and violation of civil liberties and human rights always put the country in many difficulties. How then do voters go about evaluating and choosing a right candidate who really cares about those important things? In politics, for providing an objective, quantified approach to explaining and predicting political behavior, tact, diplomacy, and hospitality are essential. Political campaigns and candidates' sudden and seasonal appearance can bombard voters with sound bite impressions of candidates and their positions that are often more confusing than informative.
In his first public speech on his return to Bangladesh on July 16 at an Iftar party at Dhaka, Sajeeb Wazed Joy said that if the Awami League would come to power again through the next general elections, it would develop the entire country as the capital Dhaka has been developed. He further heavily criticized the main opposition BNP and asked the countrymen to compare the Awami League's four years and a half with the BNP's past tenure. But people are far less interested to judge who the best is. Rather they want to see what positive changes they would have. People count those who put more positives agendas in front of them rather using any negative narrative for any matter that goes against national expectations or interests.
In its 2008 election manifesto, Awami League says that it is committed to freeing Bangladesh from its current state of crisis and building a country whose citizens are able to live prosperous and happy lives. Though giving a prosperous and happy lives to all citizen won't be done overnight, but since Joy has living and working experiences in a developed country, he would better understand what are the basic rights Bangladesh people should have and what strategies are needed to accomplish those rights.
We believe, there's no scripted strategy available to serve the country. To reach a consensus on basic national issues, shunning all negative and destructive politics, all political parties have to come up with right and best interest to establish a congenial and stable atmosphere so that the nation can come out from the vicious grip of backdrops and corrupt elements.
August 01, 2013, New York
Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York
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