Waiting for Khaleda to join AL!

The ruling Awami League has found the ultimate solution to the country's political conflict--force the BNP-Jamaat apparatchiks to join the Awami League.

According to recent news reports, including The Daily Star's, thousands of BNP-Jamaat leaders have joined the ruling Awami League in the last three months just to avoid political harassment and arrests.

At this rate, one might find BNP chief Khaleda Zia joining the ruling party soon, and then we'll all live happily ever after.

The Daily Star's Wednesday report says that Awami League's strategy of coaxing as many opposition men as they can into joining the ruling party could cripple the BNP, especially in districts that are seen as its strongholds.

Many of these BNP and Jamaat men are on the run. Others are being harassed by cops.

The AL sees nothing wrong with this exodus from the sinking ship that is BNP. Its Presidium Member Nuh-Ul-Alam Lenin was quoted as saying, "If any good organiser from BNP comes to the Awami League, it will strengthen our organisation. But we have to be alert so that nobody uses the name of our party to do wrong stuff."

AL Organising Secretary Khalid Mahamud Chowdhury says, "Those who uphold the spirit of liberation and are not involved in war crimes can join the Awami League. I don't see any problem here.”

The ruling party is not just putting pressure at the grassroots of BNP-Jamaat, it is also putting heavy pressure at the top.

A couple of days ago, a court issued arrest warrant against 28 BNP men including Rafiqul Islam Mia and Aman Ullah Aman on charges of setting vehicles on fire in Mirpur in January.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday the government would form special tribunal for quick disposal of cases against Khaleda for her “instructions for arson attacks” during anti-government demonstrations.

We seem to have already forgotten about BNP senior leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Salahuddin Ahmed.

Meanwhile Khaleda Zia is clueless about any political strategy to fight back. Her trust on diplomatic pressure faltered; her non-stop violent blockade against common people brought shame on her party, and clearly she lives in her own cloud while her party leaders don't know where to turn. She is now seeking heavenly intervention in iftaar party prayers.

So what would be the best solution for BNP? It's best for her and her senior leaders to join the Awami League. It will be a win-win situation for both parties (plus Jamaat)—as they would get to have some pieces of the power cake that the AL has been having alone since 2009. For AL, there will be “peace” in the country.

There will also be no differences on political ideology. There would not be any secular vs non-secular politics; pro-liberation vs anti-liberation issues; progressive vs fundamentalist split. All ideals will dissolve into one -- make money and send it abroad.

Those who thought up this amalgamation of BNP and AL men might get Nobel Prize in Chemistry for successfully mixing oil and water (proven by the mixing of BNP-Jamaat and the AL). They may get a Peace Prize too for a new era of harmony where the lamb and the lion drink from the same spring.

Later on, however, the BNP leaders who have joined the AL could stab the AL in its back at the right moment. It had happened before and it can happen again.

Till that time, let us enjoy this peace in politics.