The Rise of Mahmudur Rahman: Bangladesh Politics & Game Theory
by Zia Hassan, translated from Bengali by AlalODulal.org (original Bengali at end)
(Both Bengali & English version is available in the link ).
(Though I am not agree with the conclusion of the writer but here he pointed out some fact about the recent political scenario of Bangladesh . I think Mahmudur Rahman is the unchallanged leader of recent Patriotic movement , Bangladeshi Nationals has get their next leader ) .
The Rise of Mahmudur Rahman
Mahmudur Rahman. The countrys most divisive figure. And the country is clearly divided. Mahmudur Rahman is the unchallenged leader of one side of that division. BNP is now only a side-show. And I dont think BNP realizes that yet. When BNP calls hartal, 50 kids stand, laugh, and give slogans. But when Mahmudur Rahman organized a crowd, almost 500,000 showed up. Mahmudur Rahman was not the excuse for that crowd, he called them. Look closely, Mahmudur Rahman broke his hunger strike yesterday at whose request? Allama Shafi.
BNP thinks, Mahmudur is standing with their support?? Sorry dear.
The forces are with Mahmudur Rahman now (quoting Star Wars).
Tareque Zia is in exile. In last three months, so much water went down the Brahmaputra, bit we didnt even feel the presence of Tarique. Khaleda Zia, is weighed down by makeup. Coco is always high on cocaine. Who is Zubaida Rahman, that Khaleda wants to set into the field. The public accepted Khaleda as the wife of President Zia with his image of honesty. But would they by default accept the wife of Khamba-thief Tarique Zias wife by default? Its not so sure.
Bangladesh public totally fed up by Awami oppression.
So who is left? Who is governments biggest opposition?
That persons name is Mahmudur Rahman. And if you think he has no ambition, you are mistaken. because, every person in Bangladesh, all the way down to the person working in your house, thinks they can run the country better than these two unqualified women. That same thought could be in Mahmudur Rahmans head.
And Mahmudur Rahmans history shows that he has never shown absolute loyalty to Khaleda Zia or BNP.
Theres an article of his circulating on net, I think the title is Khlaeda Zia has nothing left, BNP is finished.
Now if he wanted to come as a new political party, he would get the Hefazat types, the nationalist types, and those who do not consider Tarique a viable alternative because of his history of corruption. All these forces combined are a big group in Bangladesh.
If this equilibrium is disturbed, both sides try to get back to a stable condition; so they can continue to harm each other equally.
If there is an imbalance, it cannot be sustained for very long.
Now, apply this equation to AL and BNP. They each chop the other, put them in jail, make them disappear. They do it in a way that their empire should collapse. But instead the two parties have been in equilibrium for 20 years.
But in more recent times, the equilibrium is breaking. AL has continuously pushed their own people into police, pushed their own people into special BCS cadre, given licensed arms to terror cadres of their own party, handed over all national wealth to their party people. Their strength keeps increasing.
On the other hand, BNP is leaderless and growing weaker. So the Nash Equilibrium is breaking. In order to return it to equilibrium, new forces keep peering out, and we have to see which of them will last.
That is why sometimes Nagarik Shaktis Mahmudur Rahman Manna makes sound sound. In Prothom Alo, Dr Yunus brother Md Jahangir says the youth need to organize. Hefazat got organized. Ahle Sunniyat gave a call. Mahi B announced the call of Blue Band. When Shahbag stood up, I was one of those who said: expand your message. If you got the change to grab control of the car, dont be satisfied with just the handle. But they did not do that, and why they did not is explained in thousands of Facebook notes.
But of all the forces that stood up in this time, none showed the level of ambition, or became as powerful a force as Mahmudur Rahman.
BNP lacks leadership and is in limbo. The nationalists are looking for a voice, a leader. With Mahmudur Rahman now is Hefazat who seem strong after the April 5th show-down. Jamaat, cornered by Shahbag is ready to make Mahmudur Rahman their qibla at any moment.
Now if Mahmudur Rahman decides to dump BNP and advance on his own, its a dangerous situation for AL. Because theres a huge difference between the nationalism of Mahmudur Rahman, and the nationalism of BNP.
Those who think BNP is a right-wing party, you have not yet seen what can be ultra right-wing.
And as a person, Mahmdur Rahman has very strong principles. Look at his hunger strike. It was to demand that the case against his mother, and against Daily Sangram be lifted. A very principled position, he did not go on strike to ask that charges against him be lifted. His supporters give him separate credit for this.
Mahmudur Rahman served jail before this as well. For contempt of court. When any other newspaper editor in Bangladesh was dragged to court on these charges, they begged forgiveness to escape a jail sentence. But not Mahmudur Rahman.
You may not like him, and therefore ignore him but you cannot cancel him. Already Mahmudur Rahman has risen as a credible force. Hefazats 500,000 man rally surprised everyone. It showed us that the song and story that our media feeds us day and night is not the whole there is a huge community that falls outside this tale. And Mahmudur Rahman has been able to grab the pulse of that community.
AL may not study game theory, but they are fully aware of Mahmudur Rahmans strength.
What AL does not understand is that if you keep acquiring unlimited power, and break the spine of a political party that is just as unprincipled and corrupt as you, eventually that will destroy the political equilibrium. And this will bring about the destruction of the AL itself. Whether it is through Mahmudur Rahman or Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Mahi B or Hefajat or Ahle Sunniyat.
To save itself, it is urgent for AL to help BNP to survive. But will power-blind AL understand that in time?
The Rise of Mahmudur Rahman: Bangladesh Politics & Game Theory | ALAL O DULAL
by Zia Hassan, translated from Bengali by AlalODulal.org (original Bengali at end)
(Both Bengali & English version is available in the link ).
(Though I am not agree with the conclusion of the writer but here he pointed out some fact about the recent political scenario of Bangladesh . I think Mahmudur Rahman is the unchallanged leader of recent Patriotic movement , Bangladeshi Nationals has get their next leader ) .
The Rise of Mahmudur Rahman
Mahmudur Rahman. The countrys most divisive figure. And the country is clearly divided. Mahmudur Rahman is the unchallenged leader of one side of that division. BNP is now only a side-show. And I dont think BNP realizes that yet. When BNP calls hartal, 50 kids stand, laugh, and give slogans. But when Mahmudur Rahman organized a crowd, almost 500,000 showed up. Mahmudur Rahman was not the excuse for that crowd, he called them. Look closely, Mahmudur Rahman broke his hunger strike yesterday at whose request? Allama Shafi.
BNP thinks, Mahmudur is standing with their support?? Sorry dear.
The forces are with Mahmudur Rahman now (quoting Star Wars).
Tareque Zia is in exile. In last three months, so much water went down the Brahmaputra, bit we didnt even feel the presence of Tarique. Khaleda Zia, is weighed down by makeup. Coco is always high on cocaine. Who is Zubaida Rahman, that Khaleda wants to set into the field. The public accepted Khaleda as the wife of President Zia with his image of honesty. But would they by default accept the wife of Khamba-thief Tarique Zias wife by default? Its not so sure.
Bangladesh public totally fed up by Awami oppression.
So who is left? Who is governments biggest opposition?
That persons name is Mahmudur Rahman. And if you think he has no ambition, you are mistaken. because, every person in Bangladesh, all the way down to the person working in your house, thinks they can run the country better than these two unqualified women. That same thought could be in Mahmudur Rahmans head.
And Mahmudur Rahmans history shows that he has never shown absolute loyalty to Khaleda Zia or BNP.
Theres an article of his circulating on net, I think the title is Khlaeda Zia has nothing left, BNP is finished.
Now if he wanted to come as a new political party, he would get the Hefazat types, the nationalist types, and those who do not consider Tarique a viable alternative because of his history of corruption. All these forces combined are a big group in Bangladesh.
If this equilibrium is disturbed, both sides try to get back to a stable condition; so they can continue to harm each other equally.
If there is an imbalance, it cannot be sustained for very long.
Now, apply this equation to AL and BNP. They each chop the other, put them in jail, make them disappear. They do it in a way that their empire should collapse. But instead the two parties have been in equilibrium for 20 years.
But in more recent times, the equilibrium is breaking. AL has continuously pushed their own people into police, pushed their own people into special BCS cadre, given licensed arms to terror cadres of their own party, handed over all national wealth to their party people. Their strength keeps increasing.
On the other hand, BNP is leaderless and growing weaker. So the Nash Equilibrium is breaking. In order to return it to equilibrium, new forces keep peering out, and we have to see which of them will last.
That is why sometimes Nagarik Shaktis Mahmudur Rahman Manna makes sound sound. In Prothom Alo, Dr Yunus brother Md Jahangir says the youth need to organize. Hefazat got organized. Ahle Sunniyat gave a call. Mahi B announced the call of Blue Band. When Shahbag stood up, I was one of those who said: expand your message. If you got the change to grab control of the car, dont be satisfied with just the handle. But they did not do that, and why they did not is explained in thousands of Facebook notes.
But of all the forces that stood up in this time, none showed the level of ambition, or became as powerful a force as Mahmudur Rahman.
BNP lacks leadership and is in limbo. The nationalists are looking for a voice, a leader. With Mahmudur Rahman now is Hefazat who seem strong after the April 5th show-down. Jamaat, cornered by Shahbag is ready to make Mahmudur Rahman their qibla at any moment.
Now if Mahmudur Rahman decides to dump BNP and advance on his own, its a dangerous situation for AL. Because theres a huge difference between the nationalism of Mahmudur Rahman, and the nationalism of BNP.
Those who think BNP is a right-wing party, you have not yet seen what can be ultra right-wing.
And as a person, Mahmdur Rahman has very strong principles. Look at his hunger strike. It was to demand that the case against his mother, and against Daily Sangram be lifted. A very principled position, he did not go on strike to ask that charges against him be lifted. His supporters give him separate credit for this.
Mahmudur Rahman served jail before this as well. For contempt of court. When any other newspaper editor in Bangladesh was dragged to court on these charges, they begged forgiveness to escape a jail sentence. But not Mahmudur Rahman.
You may not like him, and therefore ignore him but you cannot cancel him. Already Mahmudur Rahman has risen as a credible force. Hefazats 500,000 man rally surprised everyone. It showed us that the song and story that our media feeds us day and night is not the whole there is a huge community that falls outside this tale. And Mahmudur Rahman has been able to grab the pulse of that community.
AL may not study game theory, but they are fully aware of Mahmudur Rahmans strength.
What AL does not understand is that if you keep acquiring unlimited power, and break the spine of a political party that is just as unprincipled and corrupt as you, eventually that will destroy the political equilibrium. And this will bring about the destruction of the AL itself. Whether it is through Mahmudur Rahman or Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Mahi B or Hefajat or Ahle Sunniyat.
To save itself, it is urgent for AL to help BNP to survive. But will power-blind AL understand that in time?
The Rise of Mahmudur Rahman: Bangladesh Politics & Game Theory | ALAL O DULAL