Tensions between NCP leadership and Samanta stretched back months

When the youth leaders of the July 2024 Mass Uprising formed the Jatiya Nagorik Committee (national citizens’ committee), Samanta Sharmeen served as its spokesperson, representing the platform across various programmes, public outreach initiatives, and television talk shows.

Before long, she became a prominent face, articulating these young activists’ political aspirations and vision for the country. Later, when the National Citizen Party (NCP) made its official debut, Samanta remained in the spotlight of politically conscious observers as one of its senior leaders.

Now, Samanta Sharmeen’s departure from the party—forged in the crucible of the uprising—has raised questions among many. Discussions are rife over why she suddenly took such a decision, with numerous individuals sharing their own interpretations and analyses on Facebook.

However, inquiries reveal that ideological friction between Samanta and the NCP leadership began nearly a year ago. She voiced strong objections ahead of the 13th Parliamentary Election when the NCP formed an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami.

Protesting this alliance, more than 20 leaders had previously resigned from the NCP’s central committee. Samanta Sharmeen is the latest high-profile figure to join that list.

Samanta, a former student of the Faculty of Fine Art at Dhaka University, submitted her resignation letter on Thursday to the party’s Convenor, Nahid Islam, highlighting her dissatisfaction with the alliance with Jamaat. Alongside this, she cited the party’s attitude towards women, its process for selecting leadership, and the gradual loss of its independent political identity.

NCP leaders have stated that they were not surprised by her resignation. They noted that they were fairly certain Samanta Sharmeen would leave the NCP at any moment, as she had become largely inactive in party affairs ever since the NCP aligned itself with Jamaat-e-Islami. They maintained that her exit brings neither gain nor loss to the NCP, as her resignation simply gives a “formal shape to her existing inactivity.”

In the aftermath of the July Uprising, a cadre of young faces shot to national prominence as leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee. Alongside Samanta Sharmeen, these included Umama Fatema, spokesperson for the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement; coordinators Nusrat Tabassum and Najifa Jannat; Tasnim Jara, a UK-returned physician; and several other female leaders.

However, when the NCP entered talks to forge an alliance with Jamaat ahead of the national election, Tasnim Jara was among the first to leave the party. She later contested a parliamentary seat in Dhaka as an independent candidate but was unsuccessful.

Other prominent female leaders, such as Tajnuva Jabin and Syeda Nilima Dola, subsequently departed the party in protest against the alliance with Jamaat. Several other central committee members of the NCP followed suit.

Although Samanta Sharmeen did not leave the NCP at that time, she withdrew her membership from the Political Council, the party’s highest decision-making body.

Sources within the NCP revealed that despite repeated invitations from the top leadership to return to the Political Council, Samanta refused. Her stance was firm: she would not return to the party’s Political Council unless the NCP severed its alliance with Jamaat. The NCP subsequently inducted another female leader to the council in her place.

From then on, Samanta Sharmeen was rarely seen participating in the NCP’s organisational activities or programmes. Most recently, when the NCP’s central committee was restructured on 23 October, Samanta effectively faced a “demotion”—she was moved from senior joint convenor to joint convenor in the newly formed committee.

In her resignation letter to Nahid Islam, Samanta Sharmeen outlined four main reasons for stepping down.

First, she noted that due to the lack of a clear, independent political “line,” the NCP is dissolving into Jamaat. The party of young leaders who spearheaded the mass uprising is now forced to play a reactionary and supportive role on various issues for Jamaat. 

Second, contesting the election as a “tail” to a “major” political party has snuffed out the NCP’s own political potential and the promise of a new post-uprising political culture.

Samanta Sharmeen’s third allegation was that the NCP’s role has aligned with anti-women, conservative political trends. In the process of pushing women to the political background, the NCP has become a follower and accomplice to the conservative positions of Jamaat and far-right forces across various spheres. 

Fourth, she expressed dissatisfaction over the restructuring of the NCP committee while bypassing a formal council, stating that this compromised the internal democratic environment of the party.

Samanta stated, “Despite repeatedly requesting a reconsideration of these matters (the four reasons), the NCP showed no interest in altering its course. Therefore, I am resigning from the party.”

However, Sarwar Tushar, a member of the NCP’s Political Council, claimed that some of Samanta’s allegations reflect personal viewpoints, while others are factually incorrect.

He noted that although Samanta spoke to many individuals within the party on a personal level, she was rarely seen raising these grievances in official party forums for discussion.

Sarwar Tushar added that when contacted prior to the recent committee restructuring, Samanta did not express any unwillingness to remain in the committee, though she refrained from commenting on her preferred post.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said, “We did not want her (Samanta) to leave the party. Our convenor also mentioned on various occasions that members holding differing views should not feel uncomfortable or pressured within the party.”

Highlighting that the NCP accommodates diverse ideologies, Sarwar Tushar remarked, “She (Samanta Sharmeen) could have led the anti-Jamaat bloc within the party.”

Sarwar Tushar sees neither benefit nor detriment to the NCP from Samanta’s departure. He told Prothom Alo, “Samanta had been inactive in the party for a long time. By resigning, she merely gave a formal shape to that inactivity. As a result, we do not think there would be any new gain or loss for the party.”

Without explicitly naming her, some NCP members posted critical messages on Facebook referencing Samanta Sharmeen’s resignation.

On Thursday night, the NCP’s office secretary, Sadia Farzana, wrote on Facebook, “Women who are merely media faces or have hundreds of thousands of followers are not the sole claimants of agency for all women... Unfortunately, right from the start, one or two individuals were presented as the female faces of the NCP. It was these very individuals who played the biggest role in preventing other women in the party from developing as political faces and in excluding them from decision-making processes. Taking all kinds of privileges from the party to become a prominent face and then stabbing the party in the chest at an opportune moment cannot be the mark of honest leadership.”

Monjila Jhuma, the NCP’s secretary for the independence struggle and liberation war affairs, also shared a cryptic post. On Thursday night, she wrote that the NCP had given many people a great deal. Thanks to the NCP, many became known as “Daughters of July” even while sitting at home or abroad. They were the first to stab the party in the back. Even now, their media identity remains that of a “former NCP leader.” People whom no one would have glanced at twice without the NCP began using the party as a ladder, considering themselves above everything else.

Many outside the NCP, however, have rallied behind Samanta Sharmeen. Some criticised the “smear campaign and nastiness” directed at her, while others showered her with praise.

On Friday morning, Mahfuj Alam, a former adviser to the interim government and an organiser of the new political platform Alternatives, wrote in a Facebook post that engaging in mudslinging and smear campaigns against those who played a pivotal role in transitioning and expanding the platform from a six-member anti-discrimination liaison committee to a Jatiya Nagorik Committee of over 400 members sets a terrible precedent. This precedent was established by the party’s leadership on the very day of its inception, and the same treatment was meted out to Samanta Sharmeen yesterday (Thursday).

Without naming anyone directly, Mahfuj also wrote, “Remain grateful to those who laid the foundation and later left due to the alliance. It was their day-and-night hard work that gave the party a structure for you to inherit. If you cannot show gratitude, at least remain silent for the sake of political coexistence and good practice.”

Tasnim Jara, who resigned from her post as senior joint member-secretary of the NCP in December 2025 over the decision to join the alliance with Jamaat, posted a tribute praising Samanta on Thursday night. 

Tasnim Jara wrote that Samanta Sharmeen is one of the few individuals who genuinely approach people to understand their lives and stand beside them. In Jara’s words, “Her political journey has a long way to go. Our politics needs more room for people like her.”

Extending support to Samanta, Rakibul Islam, central president of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (the student wing of the ruling BNP-Bangladesh Nationalist Party), wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday evening, “Every single allegation made by Samanta Sharmeen has been proven true. The NCP is operating as Jamaat’s B-team.”