Sunayan Chakma
Former President, Hill Students’ Council
In this election, the most appropriate and realistic
strategy for the Jumma political parties would have been for all parties
together to put forward common or joint candidates in all three constituencies
of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In fact, well-wishers and supporters of the
Jumma people at home and abroad wanted exactly that. UPDF had agreed to this
and, for that reason, did not field any party candidate in the election.
Past experience shows that when UPDF and JSS form an
alliance, they achieve good results in elections. This is quite natural. In the
2014 election, JSS (Santu) candidate Ushatan Talukder won with the support of
UPDF.
If common candidates had been fielded in all three
constituencies in this election, the chances of victory would have been
extremely strong. Instead of doing that, however, the JSS Santu group chose to
support the BNP unconditionally. This essentially means selling their own party
strength (which also represents a part of national strength) to a party that
seeks to turn the Chittagong Hill Tracts into a Muslim-majority region (in the
words of the Santu group itself).
On what grounds did the Santu group unconditionally
support the BNP in exchange for some money? Had they considered the national
interests of the Jumma people, they would not have supported the BNP in this
manner. What they considered instead were personal power interests and
financial gain. What is that calculation? They assessed—and it is also the
general perception—that in the upcoming election the BNP will win and form the
government. Therefore, if the Santu group does not appease the BNP, they may lose
control of the Regional Council. With this consideration in mind, they are
supporting BNP candidates in all three districts. (In the Khagrachhari
constituency, Samiran Dewan must certainly be regarded as a BNP candidate,
because he is still a member of the BNP and has not resigned.)
If the Santu group had prioritized broader national
interests over personal power, and had prioritized the interests of the people,
then they would have fielded common candidates in all three constituencies
together with UPDF and other Jumma parties. In that case, the common candidates
could easily have won. Even in Bandarban, where the number of hill voters is
relatively lower, if the settler votes were divided among themselves, there
would still have been a strong chance for the common candidate to win. Given
the special situation there, if the Santu group had proposed their own party
leader as the common candidate, UPDF and JSS (M. N. Larma) would surely have
accepted it. Therefore, it can be said that by refusing to field common
candidates, the Santu group squandered the opportunity to win all three seats.
In this way, the JSS Santu group continues to repeat
the same mistake again and again. In the 2001 election, they announced a
boycott and resistance. However, sensing the defeat of the Awami League in that
election, they secretly reached an understanding with the BNP. At that time,
Santu Larma met with BNP Secretary General Mannan Bhuiyan and supported BNP
candidate Mani Swapan Dewan in the Rangamati constituency. In Khagrachari,
under the pretext of boycotting the election, they worked indirectly to block Prasit
Khisha and pledged to ensure the victory of Wadud Bhuiyan.
In reality, since 1991 the Santu group has alternately
clung to the Awami League and the BNP in national parliamentary elections. In
doing so, the JSS Santu group has indirectly encouraged Jumma people to join
the Awami League and the BNP. This is a colossal mistake by the Santu group.
The floodgate they have opened can no longer be closed. For small benefits,
Jumma people are now joining the Awami League, the BNP, the Jatiya Party, and
even Jamaat-e-Islami. If the Santu leaders themselves can support the Awami
League or the BNP for personal benefit and power, then on what grounds and with
what moral authority can the Santu group stop others from joining or voting for
the Awami League, BNP, or Jamaat for similar benefits?
It is astonishing to think about the harm the Santu
group continues to inflict on the Jumma nation in the name of political
struggle. Does anyone pour the rice they have harvested through hard labor into
someone else’s granary? That is exactly what the Santu group is doing. They are
unconditionally pouring their own votes and their own strength into the
electoral granaries of the Awami League at times and the BNP at other times. As
a result, while Santu group leaders feast lavishly under government patronage,
we—the common people—are left to starve. Therefore, if we do not want to die of
starvation, we must abandon the leadership of the Santu group. We must stop
following their directives. There is no other path to survival. The interests
of the Santu group and the interests of the people are not the same. Therefore,
in the next election, do not vote for candidates supported by the Santu group.
Place national interests above all else. If the nation survives, you will
survive. If national existence is lost, you too will have no existence.
26.01.2026
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