The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) prefers the July Charter and the July Declaration to receive state recognition, but not constitutional endorsement.
According to party insiders, senior BNP policymakers believe that giving these documents constitutional status following the 2024 mass uprising could lead to future controversy or complications.
Their concern is that if similar uprisings occur against authoritarian governments in future, demands may arise for those events to also be granted constitutional recognition.
Members of the BNP Standing Committee, the highest policymaking body of the party, expressed this view during a recent meeting, sources said.
The meeting, held on Monday night, discussed the draft of the July National Charter-2025 and the final draft of the July Declaration, both proposed by the National Consensus Commission.
The meeting, which started at 8:00 pm and continued until 11:45 pm, was held at the BNP Chairperson’s political office in Gulshan. Party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, who joined virtually from London, chaired the meeting.
Earlier on Monday, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told newspersons that the party was broadly in agreement with the draft. “We agree with the commitments. However, we will provide feedback on wording and sentence structure to the commission,” he said.
Regarding the July Declaration, BNP’s position is that if it is granted constitutional recognition, similar demands could follow for past events—such as the 1990 mass uprising against HM Ershad—or any future uprisings. This could complicate the matters.
According to BNP sources, the party has communicated its views—along with a few additions and deletions to the drafts—to the National Consensus Commission.
Clause 7 of the draft July Charter shared with the political parties states, “We are committed to ensuring appropriate constitutional recognition of the historical significance of the 2024 anti-discrimination and pro-democracy movement and the mass uprising.” Clause 6 states, “Following the adoption of this charter, we pledge to implement the proposals/recommendations it contains within two years of forming the government through the next national election.”
BNP Standing Committee members believe that it is possible to implement the agreed reform proposals within the two-year term of a future government. However, they disagree with the proposal to give the July Charter a constitutional recognition. As for the remaining six clauses of commitments in the draft, the BNP is in full agreement.
Regarding the July Declaration, BNP’s position is that if it is granted constitutional recognition, similar demands could follow for past events—such as the 1990 mass uprising against HM Ershad—or any future uprisings. This could complicate the matters.
A revolution doesn’t need to be written into the Constitution.
They also noted that the Proclamation of Independence from 1971 was not included in the Constitution until 2011. Though it was added via the Seventh Schedule, a lawsuit has been filed challenging this admission.
In this context, BNP sees no need to incorporate the July Declaration into the Constitution. Instead, the party’s senior leaders favour treating it as a “political document” to be archived by the state as the formal declaration of the 2024 mass uprising.
Speaking about this, a BNP Standing Committee member told Prothom Alo, “A revolution doesn’t need to be written into the Constitution.”
That is why they support only state-level recognition of the July Charter and Declaration.
Previously, however, BNP had indicated interest in including the July Declaration in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution—not in full, but through a paragraph acknowledging the uprising.
According to sources, the Standing Committee meeting thoroughly discussed the final draft of the declaration. The party proposed linguistic changes and the inclusion of a reference to the 26 March Proclamation of Independence.
Another Standing Committee member said, “We (BNP) have already submitted our opinion. There is nothing more to add—we will not provide further comments.”
Party sources confirmed that BNP is no longer willing to discuss the July Declaration, although discussions on the July Charter will continue, as the party remains committed to the issue of reform.