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In the shadow of Bangladesh’s parliament building, crowds poured into the streets, many adorned in the red and green of the national flag. Just six months ago, these same roads had been a battleground littered with bullet casings and bodies, as students fought against armed police to bring down the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina.
This time, students who successfully overthrew the prime minster were here for a different purpose: to launch their Jatiya Nagorik or National Citizens’ party (NCP) in the presence of thousands of supporters.
“During the July revolution there were slogans of ‘Who will be the alternative?’” said the new party’s leader, Nahid Islam, to loud cheers from the crowd. “Today, with this new party, we are offering the alternative.”
In the six months since the student-led revolution toppled Hasina in early August, vast changes have taken place in Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel prize winning Bangladeshi economist, was brought back to head an appointed interim government tasked with restoring democracy, which was obliterated under Hasina’s oppressive government. Three student leaders, including Islam, were brought in by Yunus to serve as advisers to the interim government.
Freedom of speech returned to Bangladesh and political parties that had spent the 15 years of Hasina’s rule being routinely targeted were allowed to function freely once again.
Initially, those in the Yunus government had spoken of being in power for several years, in order to see through their ambitious roster of reforms. However, mounting pressure has led him to announce that elections – promised to be free and fair, for the first time in decades – will probably take place in December.
With Hasina’s Awami League party in tatters and its leadership in jail or hiding abroad, it is widely predicted that the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) will sweep any upcoming polls. However, the launch of the NCP by the student leaders – many of whom enjoy popularity among the country’s vast youth – could seismically shift the electoral landscape.
‘We have had enough bloodshed’
Speaking at the party’s launch, the newly appointed NCP leaders said their intention was nothing short of building a new Bangladesh, what they are calling a “second republic”. Among their ambitious pledges are creating an entirely new political system and rewriting the constitution, arguing that Bangladesh has never truly been free or democratic since independence in 1971.
Getting justice, particularly for those killed during the July revolution, is also at the core of their purpose. A recent UN report on the July uprising found evidence of grave human rights abuses and possible crimes against humanity committed on Hasina’s orders as she tried to crush the unrest, with about 1,400 people killed.
Among those who spoke at the party’s launch was Nowsher Ali, the father of six-year-old Zabir who was among those who died in the police violence. “We have had enough bloodshed,” he said. “I hope my country will be safer in the hands of this party.”
In his first interview since the NCP was launched, party leader Islam said there had been a demand for students to form their own political party since they toppled Hasina, but it had taken them several months to agree on what form it should take.
“It’s important we have a voice in the development of a new democratic Bangladesh,” he said. “There is huge demand among the young people of this country for a political party which represents their views and demands. We were also worried that the fall of Hasina meant there was a power vacuum in the election, which would be problematic for the democratic process.”
Islam said rewriting the constitution would be their primary focus, arguing that the current version – written after independence in 1971 and amended multiple times, including by Hasina – was not fit for purpose.
Islam acknowledged there were challenges in their transformation from a motley crew of street fighting students with little political experience to an organised national party ready to contest a general election in a matter of months. Prior to the party’s launch, there were widespread reports of in-fighting, and the launch event was chaotic, beset with long delays and technical issues.
“Of course it’s not easy,” he said. “We were a successful revolutionary force, now we want to be a democratic force. But right now, getting elected isn’t our primary goal. It’s more important we are a driving force behind the necessary reforms that need to happen.”
Islam described his own role in the interim government as a “bittersweet journey” wherein Yunus had the right ideas of the necessary reforms for Bangladesh, but found himself up against a “resisting force” within the bureaucracy, which is still stacked with Hasina loyalists, making changes hard to implement.
There has also been some unease around NCP in more liberal circles, with concerns raised over factions that appear to be aligned with more hardline Islamic elements, raising fears for the party’s vision of a secularised “second republic”. Since the fall of Hasina, there has been a notable surge in support for Islamist parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami, which were banned and routinely targeted under Hasina’s government. At the NCP launch event, Islam was repeatedly referred to as an “imam of democracy”.
Islam pushed back against these allegations, describing them as propaganda meant to tarnish the party’s reputation. “Islam is the majority religion in Bangladesh and we are sensitive to that, we are sensitive to those values, but we do not want to create any extremist party or any pro-Islamic party. This is very clear.”
The formation of the party could also pose problems for Yunus’s interim government. It is already seen as very close to the student leaders who invited Yunus back to lead the country. In an interview with the Guardian, Yunus said he was supportive of the students’ decision to form a party: “It’s a good thing, I always encourage young people to take the lead. That’s the only way we can create a new world.”
While Yunus insisted there would be no compromise to the interim government’s neutrality, the senior BNP leader Amir Chowdhury said he had concerns otherwise. Islam resigned from his ministerial post to lead NCP but two other students remain in the government.
“All eyes are on the government to maintain that neutrality and not be partisan to any sides,” said Chowdhury. “There are major suspicions that have called this neutrality into question. If they do not course correct quickly, then we will have to ask for a caretaker government for the electoral process which will be very unfortunate.”
For all the questions over their experience and organisational capabilities, those within NCP’s executive committee said they had confidence the party would only get “bigger and bigger” in the buildup to the election.
“Just wait, in three months we will have a presence at every local level across the country,” said Abdul Hannan, the NCP senior joint chief organiser. “It’s my strong belief we will form a significant part of the next government.”
