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The Derailed Despot Departs...leaves behind a Dark political legacy

Published : Monday, 15 July, 2019 at 12:00 AM  Count : 417
Shahriar Feroze
Shahriar Feroze

Shahriar Feroze

His military regime covers the most part of my school years. There was barely a day when the first 15 minutes of the BTV's Bangla news at eight hadn't unequivocally promoted him. Never before the private scandals of a military dictator had become regular talks of the town. His regime took Bangladesh to the heights of political instability. The derailed dictator, Hussein Muhammad Ershad (HME) has finally ended his over two weeks of death drama. Sensing the derailed despot would pass away any time, this piece was written couple of weeks ago.

On that note it's a watershed moment for this writer to remain hanging on a thread for a bit too long. Also to keep the former dictator under life support seemed like combating a lost battle as there was no need for it.
 
However, HME had at least a dozen adjectives, prefixes and suffixes to his name. Among the most common are - Luichha (Womaniser), Shoirachaar (Autocrat), Behaya (Shameless) Pagol (Mad or whimsical) and Poltibaaj (Contortionist). All of them, as far as their actual meanings are concerned, match his characteristics. However, the sincere intent for this write up is not to demean him any further, rather it's about the weird and wicked political value HME.

Political definition of HME is actually different between pre and post 90's generations. In case of this writer, Ershad was a confirmed military evil, but to more than millions of post 90's generation his definition is confusing--somewhere between a benevolent dictator and a necessary evil.

To this writer, despite all his negative adjectives, he is the one and only dictator-cum-politician to have introduced self-seeking politics of appeasement, purely to safeguard his personal existence. He was never a game changer or a decisive factor in our domestic politics. His political value was the few seats won by him and his party. Moreover, his assuming of state power was illegal. However, following his collapse from power, his limited vote bank and popularity scattering across some portion of north Bengal had always made him politically precious to AL and BNP.  

 Even though a branded autocratic ruler, the late president had persistently fought a lost battle on the political front to assume state power in the guise of a civilian politician after his fall in 1990. However, Ershad's frequent switching of sides, unpredictable nature, marriages, secret rendezvous and whimsical speeches in the last decade of his life had often brought him under the limelight.

His Jatiya Party (JP), later dived into multiple fractions is all in diverted and chaotic state. And beyond the massive revulsion surrounding him, Ershad had actually become the iconic symbol of a fluky, opportunist military dictator in the history of South East Asia to have hugely tarnished hic country's domestic politics.

True that the JP never made it to power again, but since the 1991 general elections Ershad led JP had always remained a so-called third political force to reckon with. Both AL and BNP have bitterly competed to have JP on their sides. Perhaps AL was a little more politically considerate than BNP. And the blue-eyed former president appeased with whomever convenient to secure his freedom. For nearly three decades Ershad practiced his appeasement technique with whoever was in power--he imitated Zia when BNP assumed power and became an adherent of Sheikh Mujib when AL came to power.

Mark my words: This is how a loathed military dictator had paved his political destiny in Bangladesh. We have been observing the fall of Ershad routinely on every year since 1991, yet our two key political leaders and their respective political parties had never thought of banning Ershad from politics. It is an un-understood contradiction in our domestic politics.

In terms of legal complexities and prolonged investigation of corruption cases - Ershad is the only high-profile politician to have been convicted of several corruption charges - and simultaneously serve a prison sentence. Even a bigger irony, both AL and BNP had allied to oust Ershad in 1990, and both had miserably failed to challenge and win over his voters in North Bengal. And that is not all - the party in power, despite its every drop of disgust for military rulers had removed all obstacles for Ershad's JP - to become a puppet opposition in the parliament.   

It's a big political tragedy that what our politicians had done with Ershad and his party, and for Ershad it was a battle for his political and personal survival.

The derailed military despot was the unquestionable manifested Lucifer in our political landscape, yet he was needed for settling political and electoral equations. On one hand he is portrayed to be reviled, while on the other, the JP fraction led by him yet remains the preferred third political entity for the party in power. Karl Marx's political theory of dialectical materialism could never have been such dynamic and fascinating without an Ershad in Bangladesh politics.   
   
However, comparing between the popularity of two military dictators of Bangladesh, the Late Zia has the upper hand, but Ershad goes far beyond him. He not only managed to escape assassination attempts unlike the late Zia ur Rahman--he had remained remarkably active, in high esteem except for the last few days of his life.

He banked on his limited success as a military ruler for less than a decade, he had endured a lengthy jail term, dealt with numerable court charges, remarried and divorced, and he never stopped from dreaming to become the impossible - ruler of Bangladesh once more. The romanticism and nostalgia of a typical military dictator had never left him. The dictatorial lust for power - once a ruler always a ruler- had noticeably obsessed him.

On one hand HME lacked the correct political vision for Bangladesh, while on the other he was too busy keeping himself behind bars. In the midst, his private and public rendezvous with attractive young women and alleged experiments with Viagra made him even more distracted from realising his political ambitions. He evidently failed to run his party under a single umbrella for his autocratic and capricious nature. And the most valuable lesson that he taught: Military Cantonments, anywhere around the world, never breeds a politician.

However, when scores of eminent journalists, politicians, intellectuals and civil society members of our country repeatedly condemns HME in TV talk shows and in their columns -I can't help asking - who had allowed him to actively function politically? Why is the ruling party such hell-bent to wipe out the existence of BNP but not the JP, since both are dark legacies of former military rule in Bangladesh? Why couldn't AL or BNP capture and conquer vote banks in specified JP constituencies in the last three decades?

The derailed former dictator has departed for the hereafter leaving these key questions unanswered. He will never rise from the ashes like a phoenix, but the dark charm and machinations of HME would keep haunting our political landscape for many a days to come. HME leaves behind a dark political legacy.

The writer is editor-in-charge, editorial section, The Daily Observer


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