I started to fall asleep reading the novel “Lost Battles”1 by Milovan Đilas, who found inspiration in Plav. But the devil obviously didn’t give me any peace - I went on social media to take a look. And don’t lie down, devil - in the first three or four posts, almost identical positions of officials from the ex-DF and the Bosniak Party appeared regarding the election of the president of the Budva Municipal Council, Petar Odžić. “Come on, lie down, son of a mother”, I thought, while a cold sweat covered me - I won’t sleep. I thought Marina Jočić has joined the Bosniak Party… SubhanAllah…
However, this political absurdity is not accidental - it is a consequence of the ideological matrix that the Bosniak Party adopted through its alliance with Andrija Mandić. This alliance was not just a political coalition, but a profound transformation of the political orientation of the BS, which from a party that once presented itself as the voice of Bosniaks in Montenegro is now shaping itself as a satellite of the ex-DF.
The policy of "no position" as a strategic direction
The Bosniak party has been consistently applying a strategy of avoiding clear political positions for some time. When key decisions were being made in parliament, its members often stayed on the sidelines - they did not attend the vote on the budget, did not issue statements about the government's negotiations with the opposition, or perhaps were deliberately late, and their leaders skillfully avoided specific answers to political questions.
However, when the election of the president of the Municipal Assembly took place in Budva, the Bosniak Party suddenly became active. Although they had no role in the local elections, they decided to take a strong stance - not in favor of the interests of Bosniaks in Montenegro, but in defense of political forces close to Andrija Mandić. While they had persistently remained silent on issues crucial to their community, they now found it appropriate to react to the political situation in Budva, attacking the opposition for voting for Petar Odžić.
It is interesting that the arguments put forward by BS officials coincided with the DF narrative. On social networks, through their own, but also fake profiles and pages, they spread the thesis that the opposition (DPS, SD, SDP and URA) cooperates with pro-Serbian parties, while they are criticized for being in coalition with PES and the ex-DF. This narrative is not accidental - it serves to justify Ervin Ibrahimović's political alliance with Andrija Mandić, but also to present the Bosniak Party as a legitimate partner in the new den of the political scene, which is increasingly relying on the legacy of the ex-DF.
Basically, the BS strategy boils down to avoiding responsibility and adapting to political circumstances, instead of taking clear positions. When it comes to defending the interests of Bosniaks - they are silent. When it comes to defending the political survival of their leader - they are louder than ever.
BS as the ideological successor to DF
This political offensive by the Bosniak Party officials is, consciously or unconsciously, an attempt to defend the figure and work of Ervin Ibrahimović. The goal is not only to justify his decision to form a coalition with the pro-Chetnik forces in Montenegro, but also to transform the BS into a political formation that ideologically relies on structures that were once hostile to the Bosniak people. They prefer to call it an “agreement with PES”, not with the DF. Although no one has ever seen that agreement, except that we see ministers without ministries - just as we have seen generals without an army.
In their desire to justify Ibrahimović's mistake, BS officials, blindly bound by authoritarian party logic, are unknowingly or knowingly making an even bigger mistake. Driven by the desire to justify their loyalty to their boss, they fail to realize that they are no longer defending their party leader, but the retrograde policies of Andrija Mandić, while ironically congratulating the Chetnik-Komitist government in Budva.
But what is most difficult for BS officials is the process of the disintegration of the DF. They do not mind that Mandić is a symbol of politics that denies Bosniak history and identity - they mind that this symbol is losing political power. They perceive Mandić's defeat in Budva as their own defeat, because if the DF disintegrates, what remains of their "strategy"? The dark time has come, Ervinov Andrija, when you no longer have full support within the DF, but you do have it within the Bosniak Party. This bizarre situation best illustrates how much the BS has ideologically transformed. They are no longer bothered by the fact that Mandić is the leader of pro-Chetnik politics, they mind that this leader suffered defeat in the local elections.
And so we come to the key problem - the Bosniak Party does not only defend the figure and work of Ervin Ibrahimović, but also unknowingly takes over the ideological framework of the DF. Gradually, but surely, it ceases to be Bosniak and becomes a political servant of the ideological heirs of the Chetniks, taking over their methods, arguments and strategies.
They perceive Mandić's defeat in Budva as their own defeat because they no longer see it through the prism of Bosniak interests, but through the prism of the interests of the DF. Instead of distancing themselves from the retrograde forces, they become their most zealous defenders.
And there is no end to it. That's what happens when the ideological platform of a party is led by trained people with dubious degrees, when party politics is not based on principles, but on blind loyalty to the leader. And when the entire party policy is reduced to one single thing - defending the image and deeds of the boss, at all costs, even at the cost of betraying one's own people.
The author is the founder of the Bosniak Democratic Movement.
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