THE attack on a police constable inside the courtroom of the Pabna district and sessions judges court on April 15 by leaders and activists of local units of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is yet another worrying sign of the arrogance of power. The police constable was beaten allegedly for stopping the BNP activists from recording a video and taking photographs inside the courtroom. The police have, however, detained the six BNP leaders and activists who went to the courtroom for a hearing of a sabotage case filed against them during the Awami League regime on November 15, 2023. The detained include the Ishwardi municipality unit joint convener and ward 4 general secretary of the Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal and activists of different local units of BNP fronts. Such an attack on a law enforcer in a courtroom is an affront to the rule of law. Since the fall of the Awami regime in August 2024 in a student-mass uprising, many BNP leaders and activists, especially those involved in local politics, have already earned the party a negative image for their involvement in crimes such as extortion, sabotage and vandalism.
On January 25, followers of a leader of a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, attacked the New Market police station in Dhaka to snatch a detained leader of the organisation. Besides, leaders and activists of BNP fronts made the headlines for their unruly behaviour and attacks across the country and a number of educational institutions. Incidents of infighting of the party, resulting in death and injuries of many, have also repeatedly made the headlines. What is unfortunate is that after the fall of the autocratic Awami League regime, when its wings, especially student and youth wings, engaged in all sorts of crimes and eventually earned a bad image and enraged the whole nation, it is expected that political parties would learn their lessons and would avoid following in the footsteps of the Awami League, but signs of a similar frame of mind are evident in activities of many leaders and activists of the different wings of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It appears that errant members of the BNP are leaping fast to fill the vacuum in the culture of extortion and other crimes.
While the law enforcers should go tough on unruly political leaders and activists to stop the re-emergence of the gang culture and the menace of extortion, the BNP needs to do better than issuing statements and warnings and expelling errant members after they commit crimes. It should attend to organisational issues so that none of its leaders and activists can exploit the organisational position to abuse power.
