The remarks by Imam at a well-covered party event was uncalled for, and sadly and rather embarrassingly for his appointing authority the least political, read diplomatic. He has in fact failed in his primary task. Now even if the entire process of selecting candidates for the civil service is free and fair, and one hopes it will be, the person who is appointed to project the values of the party-in-power has done more harm than the 'real' opposition. That indeed is a great damage.
The greater damage, if that is possible, accomplished by Imam has been his toll-free remarks about the management of the 5 January elections, which according to him was won by Awami League because 'their people' were appointed in key supervisory positions. For the opposition, it is letting the cat out of the bag, as they have been harping against the legitimacy of the elections because it was held under a partisan government.
One wonders which side the Imam is leading, the Awami League or the BNP. His past may throw some light. The public servant who has the rare distinction of serving both the beneficiary and the victim of the 1975tragedies, a night perhaps second only to 25 March, appears to have been fishing for points in broad waters by trying to appease, so he thinks, either of the sides that matter.
In effect, he has given a wide handle to the BNP, caught for quite some time in the wilderness. On the other hand, he has put the PM, government and the party in a very awkward situation; to do the reverse was his duty and debt. But, he is unperturbed. In interviews following his TSC blooper, Hallucinating Tongued Imam stated that the image of the government was not harmed, which following cries of foul from AL, BNP and the public only means that he has no idea about either the government or its image.
A question arises in the mind of the 'real' source of power, i.e. the people. In this country of crores of people, is it necessary to appoint to such a key position someone who was the Cabinet Secretary in the infamous Khandaker Mushtaque government immediately after the killing of Bangabandhu, his wife, his sons, daughters-in-law, and other close relatives? Even if he is above suspicion of any complicacy, he should have been left alone to pursue private business, or fishing.
The Daily Star reported that the prime minister was not amused by the verbal antics of now High Tension Imam, and had asked him to resign.
Over the last few decades, interested persons, some with more interest than merely serving the office or the people, are empowered (it is popularly believed) by the PM. In appointing persons to different government, institutional and party positions, many a time the PM has to depend on sources (read political hang-abouts), especially so because it is not possible for the chief executive to know everything and everybody. Here is the catch. The sources, usually without any public base, betray the PM by pushing forward names that will serve the interest of the sources and not the country. A case in point is the appointment of the BUET VC, but more about that some other week.
The practice is not always good, because sometimes the pushed-up person or the appointment-seeker is unqualified and incapable. The chair does not make a man, the man makes the chair.
Often enough, the problem is that the appointed person soon enough forgets what he was before the appointment, and the power albeit human (here the PM) which energised him. He then idiotically assumes a state of pathetic arrogance, realising little or naught that he is merely a solar cell, not the sun, and commences to make errors that eclipses the sun.
Our Imam is not the lone spoiler of a party, and not the first. There are more imams than one in different sectors who serve to impair the very foundations of the tower on which they are pushed up to stand.
There have always been ministers who have soiled the image of the government.
There have always been MPs who have damaged everything a nation stands for.
There have always been government servants who have ill served their purpose by taking recourse to falsehood for their narrow personal gain.
After Imam's 12 November rhetoric, BNP came up with the obvious response; that advisor's remarks have substantiated its allegation that the then government had used the administration to hold the 5 January elections. The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina then came down hard on her Adviser, castigated him, and asked Tofail to advise Imam to resign from his post. He did not. Four days after placating the BCL activists, Imam then took a turnaround and alleged that his statement was distorted. Most importantly, Imam said he addressed the media briefing on the advice of premier Sheikh Hasina, about which the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her severe annoyance and said “Imam has lied before the media by saying that I (PM) knew about the press conference. Actually, I knew nothing,” a cabinet member, on condition of anonymity, quoted the premier.
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We have talked about the great damage Imam has done by pulling the gaffe on the BCS exams, and the greater damage he has afflicted on Awami League by his immature booboo about the elections, but the greatest damage he can do to himself, his (?) party and the nation is to continue in his current position. We hope he will serve us all by doing the needful, and as advised by his appointing authority.
Published: 12:00 am Friday, November 21, 2014
