Khaleda Zia has missed yet another chance to create a positive impact on Bangladeshis. I can understand few frail reasons for her not attending the anti-poverty rally.
1) Few BNP activists through some central leaders may have complained that while the AL is beating and harrassing BNP activists all over the country how can she share the same stage with AL chief!
2) Some BNP leaders may have pointed it to her or she might have just realized all of a suddent that the current government is trying to evict her from her house, how can she be at the rally where the Prime Minister of this government will be a speaker too!
3) Some BNP leaders may have whispered into her years, "madam, don't go to the rally and give the AL a chance to take the credit of organizng a all (major) party rally."
I know many followers and supporters of BNP may think these are very strong reasons for the BNP chief to avoid the anti-poverty rally, but they are wrong.
The politicians of Bangladesh need to come out of these negative and pasimistic political stunts. Not BNP alone, AL and all other parties too.
By not attending the anti-poverty rally, Khaleda Zia has missed out the chances of :
1) To attract more voters towards her and her party. This was an event on which eyes of the entire middle class was fixed on to see both the leaders together. And if she had come and presented a realistic plan of ending poverty in Bangladesh people would have noticed that. Everybody knew or expected only a cliche speech by the prime minister and they were right. It was same old same old. Blaming corruption for poverty and all that. She had no plan to share at the event, no success to highlight and no target to set. What an opportunity for any opposition party to smash the party in power. And all BNP and its chief could do was to ruin it.
2) Creating direct and positive pressure on the government on acting rigoously to fight poverty. Just because of the presence of a strong opposition leader brings more out of a position leader. And if BNP had a good plan or idea to share through Khaleda Zia it would have given the AL a push to come up with a better plan or equal, benefiting the country. BNP and Khaleda Zia could have taken all the credits anyways.
3) To create presure on the Prime Minister by telling her in person what sort of violence and harrasment her party members are facing and requesting to put an end to it. All the complaints Zia had shared the night before the event in a press conference could have been shared in the rally itself. The only thing the people took away from the press conference was that Khaleda Zia is not attending the rally for the same old same old cliches. But if she had presented this at the rally people would have had a lot to talk about, think about, and thank about BNP and Khaleda Zia, for raising these issues in front of the prime minister. All these would have created immense pressure on the governement and the prime minister causing some action, which of course could have benefited the country and BNP as well.
But all Zia could do was, to do nothing. Now who is going to teach the politicians of Bangladesh how to do politics? Who will they listen to?
