The year 2024 departed with uncertainty and anxiety in the politics of Bangladesh. How will the new year pass? Will there be an election this year or will there be a new crisis and violence in politics? Bangladesh welcomed the new year with various questions like whether Bangladesh will be bloodshed again or not. The Anti-discrimination Student Movement observed the ‘March for Unity’ programme on the last day of the previous year. The goal of that programme was to announce the proclamation of the July Revolution. Suddenly, leaders of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement announced ‘Now and Never’ through social media at the end of last year. ‘The proclamation of the July Revolution’ had created tension in the political arena. The matter was widely discussed as to why the Anti-discrimination Student Movement and Jatiya Nagorik Committee announced the programme without discussion with the political parties. The country’s political area became worried about the announcement. Meanwhile, contradictory positions were made from the government side in this regard. In the beginning, the Chief Adviser’s press secretary officially said that the government had no relation to the announcement by the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement. But two days later, the interim government changed its position and said it would prepare the ‘proclamation of the July Revolution. This change by the government has increased the discomfort in politics. However, despite the government's decision, the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement didn’t cancel their programme. They observed the programme by changing its name to ‘March for Unity’. But, the reality is that the people didn’t respond to the programme held on December 31. On the same day, there was a council of Islami Chhatra Shibir in Dhaka. Those who came to the council in the morning joined the programme at Shaheed Minar in the afternoon. Not only the mass people but also the students were not interested in the ‘March for Unity’ programme. In the programme, the government had been given time till January 15 to publish the proclamation of the July Revolution. Can the government make a proclamation based on national consensus within this time frame? Or will this demand like the issue of the President's resignation go to the cold storage?
The country’s people ousted the Awami League government unitedly on August 5 last year. National unity in the politics of Bangladesh was important after the fall of Sheikh Hasina. National unity is the only path to open the door to democracy. But, national unity is losing its power day by day. It seems that a section of the civil society has a direct role in this division in the national unity.
Particularly, an influential Bangla and an English daily controlled by the civil society has once again been playing the game of depoliticization in Bangladesh. This group is trying to create division behind the scenes. That's why they are implementing their blueprint in silence by creating disputes between BNP and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee, the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, and Jamaat. As part of this blueprint, an interview of Jatiya Nagorik Committee leader Nasiruddin was published in an influential newspaper at the end of last year. In that interview, the Jatiya Nagorik Committee leader termed BNP as King’s Party. It is an unnecessary, unintended and unwanted debate. But this interview has brought a question to the nation. Is any King’s Party being formed patronized by the government?
Remember, a country cannot be ruled by an unelected leadership for long. It will endanger the politics, economy, society, culture and everything in the country.
There is gossip in the political arena that the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and Anti-discrimination Student Movement will jointly emerge as a political party with the support of the government as part of the blueprint to minus BNP. They want to become the main power in the next election. For this reason, leaders of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee are giving aggressive speeches at various forums against BNP. Criticizing the BNP in multiple ways, an open move to tarnish the achievements of the BNP has been watched in the last two months. Jamaat has also joined with it. Mass people think that the anti-BNP stance of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement have the support of a section of civil society. They also believe that the government has open support in developing the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement as the main political party. Although the government is saying so far that they are non-partisan and neutral. They have no plan to form the King’s Party. But the reality is that since the swearing-in on August 8, the interim government has been unconditionally surrendering to the Anti-discrimination Student Movement. This trend is increasing gradually. After assuming power, Dr Muhammad Yunus announced that his employer is the Anti-discrimination Student Movement. Three members of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement were taken into the advisory council of the interim government. Many think that the advisory council members were appointed as per the wish of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement. The government has done what the Anti-discrimination Student Movement demanded on various issues, including the removal of Supreme Court judges. Even the government was silent about the demand for removal of the President by the students. Two advisers of the government held a meeting with the Chief Justice over the removal of the President. But BNP at that time showed prudence and responsibility as a political party. As a result, the country was saved from a possible constitutional crisis mainly due to the strong position of the BNP. BNP is an experienced political party. After a long period of movement and struggle, the BNP has now strengthened itself in steel-hard unity. BNP has been reborn as a mature and patriotic political party. Not only that, the BNP is now the main political force in Bangladesh in terms of political wisdom and prudence.
Not only the uprising of 2024, the BNP had been waging a movement against the Awami League for the last 15 years amid various adversities. More than a hundred cases were filed against every leader of the party during the period. However, the BNP didn’t lose its path despite the cases. BNP is not a name-based party. So, political analysts think that terming the BNP as a ‘King’s Party’ is a part of blueprint of the depoliticization. It is the extended form of the minus formula. Depoliticization is the part of long-term plan of civil society. Its current aim is to obstruct the democratic graduation in the country. For this reason, we saw leaders of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement at their Shaheed Minar programme on December 31, said that an election will be held after the reformation and justice of the mass uprising. It means they want to delay the election. The Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement have been saying from the very beginning that no election will be held in Bangladesh without the punishment of Sheikh Hasina. It means the election process will take time disrupting the democratic flow and the reign of civil society will longer.
Patronizers of the depoliticization among the government's advisory council, controlled by the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star, have now openly opposed the election. When their position was being criticized in the political arena, they brought the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement to the frontline. This group brought 1-11 in Bangladesh in 2007. They made an all-out effort to keep an unelected government in power for a long time. But in the end, they were not successful. Now they are trying the same. It is mentionable that those who in the government want to delay the election do not want to hold the election at this moment. They are very active now. They want to establish the rule of unelected civil society in the country for a long time. However, the main obstacle to the implementation of this blueprint is the BNP. That is why BNP is currently being targeted. Now, the blueprint started to minus the BNP. If the BNP can be put under pressure, then it will be possible to implement the process of depoliticization. Now, efforts are underway to do that. Civil society will not be able to win the battle of popularity with BNP which has huge public support. For this reason, they (civil society) are trying to make a new political arrangement with the Jatiya Nagorik Committee. For this reason, the name of Jatiya Nagorik Committee has been brought to the frontline as 'King's Party'. And the way the government is surrendering helplessly to the Jatiya Nagorik Committee, it is clear that the 'Prothom Alo, Daily Star group' wants to disrupt the democracy of Bangladesh in the long run using the Jatiya Nagorik Committee. Many people think that an uncertain environment is being created in politics for the implementation of this blueprint. The interim government is currently unable to resolve any crisis. They have less public support. That is why the interim government should quickly hand over power to elected representatives of the people through an election. A new conspiracy has been started to disenfranchise the people by bringing such anti-democratic speeches - not election before justice and reformations. There is no conflict between election and justice and reforms. All are important for the country and all work should be done quickly.
Suddenly, an anti-BNP position is being observed in the politics of Bangladesh. Some members of the civil society are facing the BNP to the Jatiya Nagorik Committee. Remember that the mass uprising of 2024 would never become successful if opposition political parties don’t wage anti-government movement for long. July Revolution has become successful for the continuous movement by the political parties. Undoubtedly, students played a big role in the movement of 36 days. However, the political parties had created the background of the movement. Now, as a result of bringing the Jatiya Nagorik Committee face off against the BNP, the neutrality of the interim government is being questioned. On the other hand, the path to democracy is becoming tough. Negative thinking is being developed in the people’s mind about politics. This is the goal of the civil society. They are implementing the blueprint silently to minus the BNP like in 2007 by creating political chaos in the country. But, remember, a country can’t be ruled by an unelected government for long. It will endanger everything including the country’s politics, economy, society and culture.
* The writer is a playwright and columnist. She can be reached at [email protected]
