An MP's 'African safari'

In Bangladesh's recently concluded elections, a dissident Awami League (AL) member Haji Mohammad Selim had stood as an independent candidate against an incumbent AL lawmaker. He was among a large number of AL dissidents who won. But his victory was also remarkable for the symbol he chose: an elephant. Nothing exceptional about that, since eastern South Asia used to be elephant country. Only observant naturalists would have noticed that the picture of the elephant on banners and publicity material proclaiming Selim's candidacy was not that of the Asian elephant but its bigger and more distinctive African cousin. An error maybe, but the fact is that the African elephant, unlike the Asian sibling, is almost impossible to domesticate - and that could be an appropriate message for the beleaguered Sheikh Hasina.