Can we exorcise Sisyphus from our political culture?

Bangladesh's political culture is riddled with unscrupulous blame games. The lust for dictatorship runs deep into the veins of political parties. So far, no political party has stepped down after the completion of its term. The DNA of political culture in this country reveals that the might is the right mandate. Accountability is always found to be on vacation. Professionalism is not found in the lexicon of politics. The cursed Sisyphus is the eternal companion of the party agenda. The bleak future cries for better days to embrace the existential core of our lives.

Now the situation seems to be approaching the shore of light and hope. However, bureaucracy is the main stumbling block. The old wine is still in the new bottle. When corruption becomes part of the system, overcoming the challenges is next to impossible.

The old technique of muscle flexing to take possession of every component of the country is still the popular political stratagem. During all previous regimes, the kinship link was the license to join the investiture ceremony and the kin has taken good advantage of it. They summon the second home culture outside the country to retreat in case of a downfall. For decades, money laundering to fatten one's bank account abroad to have a king's lifestyle for generations has been a threat to the country's economic sovereignty.

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In the meantime, differences in ideology have been used as a ploy to victimise opponents. Torture cells were erected to teach the dissenters a good lesson. Extrajudicial and judicial trials at the beck and call of partisan pontification became commonplace. It became a norm that no matter what happens, one takes an oath to be in power until doomsday. Thus, power has become a lollipop for state-level politics, which is also true for the micro-level, because with power comes certain privileges.   

Fabrication of the truth has become the lifeline of political culture while political vendetta casts an ominous shade on the millions. Spiteful actions find their way into the necessary course of time. While nepotism and biological ties have been the only avenues to achieve primary membership, secondary memberships could be bought in exchange for a hefty monetary contribution. As a result, money has become the elixir of political rhetoric. Transparency is absent from every sphere of political action in the country. The responsibility to be transparent about expenditures of taxpayers' money is not the practice.

The culture has become such that files do not move to the next stage unless the applicant builds rapport with speed money. It accelerates the pace of work, which was supposed to be done without extra-legal money. As inanimate objects, files cannot travel from one place to another. They need to be guided and carried by government employees. Instead of ensuring a smooth journey for the file, these apologists of crony capitalism has build an unethical paywall to construct the edifice of black money.  

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Meanwhile, direct or indirect foreign domination has become the key to sustainable coronation. Depending on the ruling party, political pilgrimage centres change from Delhi to Washington to Islamabad to Beijing. We remain a stooge for political giants. Since politics is about maintaining strong ties with foreign states this strategy and outcome are not ungrounded. Foreign power sycophancy grows and the inevitability of the situation is taken for granted by political parties. In this regard, things are not going to change in the future.   

Citizens suffer under the weight of price hikes, unfavourable bureaucracy, and growing economic inequality. They struggle to make ends meet. Some of them have built a strong relationship with party politics to be financial beneficiaries. Politics has become synonymous with money-churning machines. Welfare politics is the most unpopular form nowadays. Politics should be a rare opportunity to serve humanity. Instead, it has become the most effective way to plunder the nation's wealth. In the past, it was done by the kings and colonisers now it has become the prerogative of the home-grown politicians.   

We do not want that kind of politics anymore. Transparency should be the driving force for a golden future. The ray of hope we can see should not end up as a mirage. We cannot let this change end in smoke. Accountability should be the prime mover of every action of a citizen in the country. Professionalism in politics would ensure that the office is considered as a temporary position subject to critique and change. Politician's integrity towards duty can change the scenario. In the land of humans, we cannot invite the angels to rule over us. We wrongfully hope that incorrigible liars will be replaced with lesser evils. The vicious circle cannot be broken until the lesser evils along with the evils are evicted from the political arena.      

Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam the author is an anthropologist working at Independent University Bangladesh.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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