Anxiety mounts amid frenzy of political rhetoric over BNP’s Dec 10 Dhaka rally

Such a frenzy of rhetoric creating mass-anxiety centring a specific day is not uncommon in Bangladesh’s politics

Noakhali’s Ariful Islam had planned to visit Dhaka for work-related matters around Dec 10.

He first thought about bringing his adolescent children with him as their school year has already been wrapped up.

But later, Ariful ditched his plan to bring the children along, fearing for their safety.

Instead, he came by himself ahead of schedule and would like to wrap up his work in Dhaka so that he can leave the city before Dec 10.

Ashfaqul Haque's daughter has a school year final examination scheduled on Dec 10. He is worried about the safety of his daughter on that day.

Both Ariful and Ashraful’s fears are common in nature.

They are worried that Dhaka city may turn into the ground zero of something horrible on the day after listening to and reading the rhetoric and veiled threats being hurled from both sides of the political divide centring the BNP’s planned Dhaka divisional rally in the capital,

Not only these concerned parents but people from all walks of life who had been interviewed for this article are also worried about possible violence on that day.

“Whether you’re going to work on a public transport or having tea with your colleagues, you will hear discussions about it [the BNP rally],” said Ismat Ara Jolly, a student of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka.

“For the last couple of weeks, the media bites coming out from the ministers and BNP leaders have been giving me the impression that there’s a good chance of violence on that day or the day before. I’ve spotted an increased vigilance of police and plainclothesmen in my neighbourhood. I don’t think it’s normal.”

Such a frenzy of rhetoric creating mass-anxiety centring a specific day is not uncommon in Bangladesh’s political history though.

The remarks of Abdul Jalil, then general secretary of the Awami League, on flashing a “trump card” on Apr 30, 2004 to topple the BNP-led government, had a similar effect on the people. The threat turned out to be a dud though.

This time, some central and local BNP leaders suggested the country would be run by their Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is barred from joining political programmes by conditions of her suspended sentences in graft cases.

Some suggested she might attend the rally while some others said Tarique Rahman, Khaleda’s son and acting chairman of the party who lives in London, would return home on that day. Tarique has been convicted in multiple graft and criminal cases and the government has been actively trying for years to extradite him from the UK.

Some of the senior leaders, such as Amanullah Aman and Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, had said the BNP would make the government resign that day.

Bangladesh’s politics heats up usually during the period between November and February, but it was not the case in the past few years as the opposition could not mount any anti-government movement after the 2018 elections. The COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted political plans and activities.

But as the Sheikh Hasina administration faces a major economic hurdle amid a global crisis with the next election just a year away, the BNP appears to be adamant to make the government bow down to its demand for an election-time caretaker government.

Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has maintained they will not contest the next election if Hasina does not hand over power to a non-partisan government.

WHAT BNP LEADERS SAY

The scheduled Dec 10 event in Dhaka will cap off the BNP’s two-month-long series of rallies in eight major cities.

Grassroots-level leaders in the previous divisional rallies said they want the party to install a “now or never” approach among the members.

Mirza Fakhrul also hinted about announcing a strategy to that effect at the Dec 10 rally.

“So far, we’ve conducting campaigns to address the people’s misery and troubles. But now we want to mount a campaign to topple the government,” said Rubina Akhter, a member of the party’s female wing. “We’re hoping that the party stalwarts will announce the campaign in the Dhaka rally.”

Some BNP leaders accused the ruling party of creating a panic centring the Dhaka rally.

Mirza Fakhrul in a recent rally said the way the ruling party is talking about the rally as “if it’s not a gathering of people, rather a preparation for a battle”.

Abdullah Al Noman, the opposition party’s vice-chairman and the coordinator of the Dec 10 rally, attempted to cool down the hype centring the rally.

“It’s a divisional rally, not a national one. We’ve organised such rallies in other divisional headquarters in the last two months. This one is a part of the series,” he said.

“The way the ruling party leaders are talking, it sounds like they’re scared of it. We haven’t spread any fear or panic. If they’re scared nonetheless, what can we do about it?”

WHAT AWAMI LEAGUE IS AFRAID OF?

Citing intel gathered ahead of the rally, ruling party leaders said the BNP is planning to bring in people from surrounding districts to Dhaka to muddy the water of political stability on Dec 10.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged party activists to be careful on Dec 10.

"They [BNP] announced that they will terrorise the city on Dec 10, and will bring back arson attacks again,” he said on Friday.

“Leaders and workers will keep vigilance in every ward. There will be vigilance in all campuses including Dhaka University, all over Bangladesh, at district, Upazila, union, ward level, everywhere.”

Recently, Presidium Member Abdur Razzaque also said the BNP wants to inject fear through the rally.

Joint General Secretary Hasan Mahmud said he believes the BNP has an ulterior motive in insisting to hold the rally in front of their Naya Paltan headquarters instead of Suhrawardy Udyan, insinuating the insistence may be borne out of some militancy connection.

Office Secretary Biplab Barua said the leaders and workers of the Awami League would respond directly along with the administration if the BNP disobeys the government's order and violates the peace by illegally gathering at Naya Paltan,

VENUE AT THE HEART OF GROWING TENSION

The BNP seeks to hold the rally in Naya Paltan, but police have designated Suhrawardy Udyan as the venue, with 26 conditions.

The opposition party, however, has its own security concerns about Suhrawardy Udyan.

Amanullah Aman, one of the coordinators of the Dhaka rally, made it clear that they will not opt for Suhrawardy Udyan.

“Suhrawardy Udyan is surrounded on all sides, with only one small gate for people to enter and exit. It is not fit for holding a large rally,” he said, citing security concerns.

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-Ul-Alam Hanif recently said at an event that if the BNP wants to hold a public meeting on Dec 10, they should go to Suhrawardy Udyan.

Mirza Fakhrul, in response, said they will not go to Suhrawardy Udyan under any circumstances and will rally in Naya Paltan regardless of police permission.

When approached about BNP’s security concern, DMP Additional Commissioner AKM Hafiz Akhtar said police usually take additional measures for the security of rallies and similar steps will be taken for the BNP rally if they rally at Suhrawardy Udyan.

ANXIETY MOUNTING

Six of the seven previous BNP divisional rallies coincided with transport strikes, which caused immense suffering to the general people and appeared to aim to obstruct supporters from joining the programmes.

The BNP has been alleging that the ruling Awami League influenced local and national-level transport owners and worker leaders into launching the strikes.

Some of the people bdnews24.com interviewed are worrying that they will experience a similar pattern in Dhaka as well.

Insurance agent Zubair Ahmed, a resident of Narayanganj’s Fatullah, was one of them. “I went to the doctor in Dhaka on Thursday. Instead of setting up a follow-up appointment on the 10th, my doctor insisted that the visit should take place on the 17th to avoid any kind of trouble.”

Police in Dhaka as well as the rest of the country will also keep a close eye on hotels, community houses, and dormitories as part of a special operation launched at the beginning of the month.

Farida Kaniz, staff of a private company in Dhaka, said one of her Kushtia-based relatives, who has been staying at a hotel in Dhaka since Friday for work, was informed by the hotel authorities that he needs to vacate the room by Dec 8, as the authorities suspect police may raid the hotel to search for BNP activists.

"Whenever I turn on the TV, I can't help but worry about the way the leaders are speaking in a provocative manner about the rally. We are concerned because we need to go to work, our children go to school.”

[Writing in English by Adil Mahmood]