Embrace thy enemy?

The whole-sale induction of BNP-Jamaat leaders into the ruling party is the latest startling development in our bizarre political scene. It is reminiscent of the old days when former president HM Ershad kept changing alliances depending on which party he was in the mood for, an eccentricity he still seems to nurture. Only this time it is less of a comic relief than a sign of decay in our democratic process.

The sudden exodus to the other side is hardly the result of being enamoured by the enemy's disarming charm or political ideology. Nor is it like those fairy tales where naughty goblins turn over a new leaf. A large part of it is out of sheer fear of being arrested, of being put in jail because of numerous cases against opposition activists and leaders or of becoming completely irrelevant in the country's politics.

Of course we cannot rule out the bankruptcy of the BNP- Jamaat that could be attributed for the defection, especially after a failed movement that relied solely on terrorising ordinary people, burning them with petrol bombs in a bid to show that the country would become paralysed unless the demands of the opposition were met. There was no public support for this violent, counterproductive strategy that seemed to be dictated by the Chief of the Opposition's son in London. The complete denial of responsibility for all those deaths, and the lack of sympathy for the victims from the BNP Chief have done little to endear the people towards this age old rival of the AL.

But there can be no denying that the threat of being locked up for years on end after charges of sedition and anarchy, has done wonders in metamorphosing diehard BNP and Jamaat loyalists into strange bedfellows of the AL.

For the BNP- Jamaat alliance it is not just a slap in the face – more like a head-on collision that has left an ungainly pile of debris.

The AL, meanwhile, may think it has won the game of thrones by consolidating its power through a classic luring of the enemy's foot soldiers to its side. But in reality have they really triumphed?

What they have actually achieved is to swell their ranks with individuals who, until the moment they claimed their allegiance, were sworn enemies of the AL. Ideologically, too, they had traditionally been diametrically opposed, at least in the public eye. How can the AL really trust these individuals and be sure that they will not one day turn around to bite them in the face? The AL's mandate has largely been based on its historical role in the Liberation movement and its pro-Liberation image. And all this time, the ruling party has been vehemently saying that the BNP-Jamaat alliance was full of terrorists that harboured anti-liberation, anti secular, fanatical ideologies. Now they are ready to embrace them as one of their own! Such a compromise may not bode well for the ruling party in the future.

And what of the hapless public, the disenfranchised people of this country who may now be witness to another phase of undemocratic politics? For both BNP and AL supporters, this wholesale converting is a big, unfathomable letdown. It will make voting for the party they once believed in a complete farce. The parliament, which has an unconvincing opposition, will be an assembly of yes men and yes women with no real debate over issues that affect the lives of 160 million people. And the silence outside the parliament will be all the more deafening.

The writer is Deputy Editor, Op-Ed and Editorial, The Daily Star.