Dr. Tasnim Zara, former senior joint member secretary of the National Citizens Party (NCP), said in a Facebook post on 5 August that the harmony and mutual understanding seen among top political leaders on stage is absent at the grassroots level.
She described two scenes: Prime Minister Tarekque Rahman showing respect to Professor Muhammad Yunus and seating him beside him on stage, and Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed calling NCP member secretary Akhtar Hossain by name to calm a commotion at an event.
Zara said that such courtesy exists on stage, but the grassroots experiences hatred, threats, and intimidation, which turn into sticks, rods, and bricks in the field.
She wrote that leaders sit side by side at the table of power at night and talk on the phone for long, while field workers like Alif lose their eyes.
She cited the case of Alif, an 18-year-old NCP worker, who lost vision in his left eye after being caught in political violence in Habiganj.
According to the NCP, Alif was attacked on 28 July after the party's 'July March' in Habiganj, and the party alleges that leaders of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal led the attack, with attackers hitting his left eye with an iron rod.
Zara argued that political courtesy and tolerance should be practiced not only among top leadership but from the center to the grassroots to ensure workers' safety.