Even after being overthrown in the mass uprising of 1990, Jatiya Party managed to secure 35 seats in the 1991 election. The head of the party, Hussain Muhammed Ershad, even though he was behind bars, managed to win 5 seats. But from thereafter, cracks, rifts and division began to assail Jatiya Party.
In the 1996 election (12 June), Jatiya Party won 31 seats. In the 2001 election it won 14, in 2008 it won 27 seats as part of the mahajote (grand alliance), in 2014 it won 26 and in 2018 in secured 22 seats. In the latest election held on 7 January, Jatiya Party (JaPa) came to an understanding for 26 seats, but managed to win 11.
Rangpur, once the fortress of Jatiya Party, is now almost bereft of JaPa. The party only won a single seat in Rangpur, that of GM Quader.
What is the reason behind this fiasco of failure for JaPa? Firstly, it is the rashness of the leadership and its vacillation. From around two years ago, the party's top leadership had given the party leaders and activists, as well as the general people, an idea that it would not join the polls unless all other parties participated too. And if it did join the election, it would do so independently. Their stand was to maintain an equal distance from Awami League and BNP. Many JaPa leaders even tried to exert their presence by making fiery speeches in parliament.
But no one believes a party that bears the stigma of opportunism. The party chairman Ghulam Muhammad Quader has termed Awami League as being an autocratic party. He even has written columns in the newspapers about this. But after a visit to Delhi a few months before the election, he changed his tune.
In the party's last extended meeting 25 of the party's 27 delegates gave their opinion against contesting in the election under Awami League. Two days after that, JaPa announced that it would join the election.
In the meantime, the conflict between the Raushan camp and the Quader camp within the party went beyond scope of reconciliation. At one point, Raushan Ershad called upon the prime minister, seeking her intervention.
It may be recalled that after the party sent letters to the party candidates before the 2014 election announcing a boycott of the polls. The Raushan camp decided that they would join the election and reached an understanding with Awami League for 26 seats. While the pro-Quader elements managed to eject the pro-Raushan elements from the party before the election, they failed to avoid a dismal failure in the polls. The party men demanded resignation of the party chairman and secretary general, and called for a new council.
JaPa still suffers from indecision even after the election. The leaders take different decisions at different times. The party secretary general first said they would not take oath on Wednesday. They would announce the date for their oath taking later on. Just a few hours after that, they announced they would take oath on Wednesday after all
Prothom Alo reported, a group of the party's leaders and activists demanded that party chairman GM Quader and secretary general Mujibul Haque (Chunnu) take responsibility for the party's poor performance and resign.
A group led by a number of defeated leaders of the party on Wednesday agitated at the Dhaka party office, giving a 48 hour deadline for the party's two top leaders to resign. Police had to be summoned to being the agitating party men under control.
JaPa's additional secretary general Shahidur Rahman has accused the party's chairman and secretary general of making the party a family affair, involvement in nomination trading and of weak leadership. The written allegations stated that over the last four years GM Quader has taken the party to the brink of extinction by means of his organisational weakness, lack of political farsightedness and inefficiency. This was reflected in the election. Over 200 JaPa candidates boycotted the election.
While JaPa managed to get the government to concede only 26 seats in an election understanding, it still faced a bleak outcome in the polls. The party men had expected that the party chairman and secretary would take responsibility for this fiasco and maintain their self-respect by resigning voluntarily. But they did not do so. Now there is a demand from among the party leaders and activists at all levels for them to be removed.
JaPa still suffers from indecision even after the election. The leaders take different decisions at different times. The party secretary general first said they would not take oath on Wednesday. They would announce the date for their oath taking later on. Just a few hours after that, they announced they would take oath on Wednesday after all.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury swore them in at 12:00 noon in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
Many top leaders of the party maintain that the election had not been fair. It had been a government-controlled election. The results were predetermined. Again, many believe that the seating sharing understanding between Awami League and JaPa hadn't been correct.
The two leaders who had been given responsibility to negotiate the seat sharing had failed to uphold party interests. JaPa had been dropped from three important seats in Dhaka. GM Quader's wife Sharifa Quader had contested from one of the seats and even lost her deposit.
Jatiya Party had won in the last three elections at the mercy of Awami League. This time too they bargained and managed to get an understanding for 26 seats from Awami League. But while Awami League withdrew its nominated candidates from these seats, the independent candidates remained. This made it difficult for Jatiya Party to win.
A political party has certain principles, ideals and programmes. Jatiya Party dispensed with any principles or ideals long ago. It did not have initiatives to keep the spirit of the party men up, or to inspire them.
In the 2008 election they became ministers and MPs as well as leader of the opposition, at the behest of Awami League.
Jatiya Party hardly had adequate number of member in the new parliament to constitute the opposition. They have 11 members of parliament and may get two in the reserved seat for women.
Meanwhile, there are 62 independent candidates. If they unite and form a group, Jatiya Party's dream of becoming the opposition in parliament will remain an unfulfilled dream.
* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet
* This column appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir