Formalin is now a state necessity. There has to be a short supply of formalin for the traders who use it illegally to hide the fact of rottenness in the commodities they sell for public consumption. The use of formalin is a matter of great concern for its wide use in all kinds of food items as formalin is poisonous for health. Now and then the media give us information that huge amounts of fish, fruit or vegetables had to be destroyed for finding traces of formalin in them by mobile courts. Still the use of formalin remains a threat for health unabated. The business of formalin is booming. The people are more disturbed to know from their Prime Minister that the use of formalin has become also a state necessity rescuing rotten party politics. She claimed that she is keeping alive BNP, by applying formalin. She claimed so in a jovial mood in reply to the opposition’s criticism that her government is decaying and it is being given more time to decay completely.If we may say so the Prime Minister also needs a lot of formalin to sell her own unelected government as elected government.So there is no hope that political leaders have any intention of saving the nation from sick and undemocratic politics. The Prime Minister has revealed another truth and that is, to justify the Awami League government in power she needs BNP and she is ready to do everything to preserve it decomposed but not to be seen as dead and gone.Formalin, a chemical widely used as a preservative, recently became an instrument for attacking each other by leaders of major political parties of the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina used the word formalin to attack her arch rival BNP Chief former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. The Prime Minister has lashed out at Begum Zia’s remark that the government was ‘rotting’. “It’s she (Begum Zia) who’s rotting. We are trying to keep the BNP alive with formalin. Otherwise, how could they have talked so much?” She said at a press conference last Saturday on return from Japan.Begum Zia made the remark against the ruling party at a rally of pro-BNP lawyers in Dhaka on May 24. “We have to give them some time to rot fully. We have to be patient,” she said.The BNP, which boycotted the January 5 polls, has been describing the elections as illegal, and the new government, as a consequence, was also illegal.” “Her party decided to boycott the polls. If a politician takes wrong decisions, they have to pay for it,” Sheikh Hasina said.BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday ruled out the Prime Minister’s allegation over formalin issue. He termed the AL rule as formalin era for all pervasive corruption in the country.”The PM said now formalin is everywhere. In fact, her rule is the era of formalin,” Mirza Alamgir said at a press conference reacting to the Prime Minister’s remark against the BNP. He said “They have very competently used formalin in politics, society and economy.” It is not understandable how political leaders of both the ruling party and the major parties keep themselves most of the time engaged in war of words on non-issues at a time when the country has been experiencing widespread problems of killing, abduction and forced disappearance. Our political leaders are anxious to be in power and enjoy state facilities. People’s burning issues seem not to be their issues. The fact is they also do not know how to deal with them. It looks as if running of the government is left for the bureaucrats to do.When the country is going through total uncertainty because of lack of political leadership joking over use of poisonous formalin to keep each other’s politics and power in their grip, hurts the people most. Now even people’s votes are not necessary to remain in power. So why the government should feel accountable about serving the people? What may be useful for the self-styled political leaders trying to survive through use of formalin is to know that formalin cannot stop decaying for long.
