Witha view to quell anger among leaders and activists at the grassroots as well as to make the party more dynamic, central leaders of the ruling Awami League are now set for field visits this month.
Besides, these field tours are also aimed at assisting the local leaders in the selection of party's sole candidates in the upcoming elections to Union Parishad and other local bodies.
It is widely known that leaders and activists of the grass root level of Awami League are angry for a long time over not getting expected posts in the party. Although the party is in power, a section of leaders and activists feels that they are off-sided in the party. For these reasons, there is anger among a large section of party men at the grass root or field levels.
Besides, in many areas, no party councils were held for years. As a result, there is grouping and intra-party conflicts among the leaders at the district and upazila level.
In this circumstance, the central leaders of the Awami League think that there is a lot of instability and stagnation in the politics of the grass root level of the party.
Considering this situation, central leaders of the ruling party have decided to conduct field trips this month with a view of reorganising the party at the field levels.
Several leaders engaged in the policy making of the party said the objectives of the tours also include the candidature selections in the upcoming elections to UP and other local bodies.
Central leaders said their first task would be to try to get deeper into local issues through discussions with grassroots leaders.
Mahabub-ul-Alam Hanif, a joint secretary of the Awami League said that since the party has been in power for a long time, a standstill situation is prevailing in the party. There are also some misunderstandings among the leaders at the local and grass root levels.
Moreover, councils are not being held at different ward, union, upazila and even district levels year after year, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic is also responsible for the standstill situation in the party, he added.
Hanif said, “All these complications will be eliminated by the remaining months of this year. Basically teamwork will be done from the center to the grass root levels.”
Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan, an Organising Secretary of the Awami League, said, “We are making preparations for the field trips. Our main objectives would be to reorganise the party’s field level or grass root level. It would be the most important political task of the party.”
Faruq Khan, a presidium member of the Awami League said, a total of eight teams have been formed for the purposes of field visits by the central leaders, who would identify the problems and also find out their solutions.