BNP to dissolve more committees

Eight city committees of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its student front Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, as well as the central committee of its youth front the Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal were dissolved in the dead of the night of last Thursday, 13 June. BNP mentioned no reason behind the dissolution of nine party committees in at one go, but people concerned said this organisational decision aims at a major restructuring of the party considering the failures during the past movements.

It has been learned after speaking to several responsible leaders at various levels of the party on Friday, 14 June that various weaknesses were exposed at different levels of the party following the disastrous failure of a greater movement.

Questions started arising over the failure of various important affiliated and associated bodies of the BNP’s city units in various movements in particular after the 7 January parliamentary election, and there were widespread talks on the role of Chattra Dal and Jubo Dal in the moment – the two bodies that BNP hopes to see them as its vanguard.

People concerned said there would be a restructuring after dissolving other committees soon. Many senior and central leaders, however, had no prior knowledge of the sudden dissolution of such many committees because there was no formal discussion on it at the party’s policymaking level. Like previous times, the announcement on dissolving committees was made by sending a press release to the media, and that left many of the excluded leaders dissatisfied and surprised.

The convener of the recently dissolved committee of BNP’s Dhaka city south unit, Abdus Salam, however, opined that the dissolution is an ‘ongoing process of party restructure.’ He told Prothom Alo on Thursday night, “All posts except for that of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman are supposed to go to changes, and I will work wherever and whenever the BNP sees me fit for the sake of the party and its movement.”

People concerned said the Barishal city was the most inactive during the past movement where Mojibur Rahman Sarwar was removed and a committee was formed with Moniruzzman Khan, who is known to be a rival of Mojibur Rahman Sarwar, as the convener, attracting various controversy and internal discords since the beginning. Supporters of Mojibur Rahman Sarwar became active after the dissolution of Moniruzzman Khan-led committee.

Mojibur Rahman Sarwar is currently the joint secretary general of the party. He told Prothom Alo, “To dissolve committees is a part of the political process. Now, a full committee or a convening committee might form. However, what is necessary will have to be done by coordinating with all because party movement and actions experienced a trail of damages during the leadership tenure of the past convening committee and no leadership has been created.”

A reliable source of BNP said acting chairman Tarique Rahman, currently living in London, received a report recently on the role of central and field level leaders in the past movement. The report was prepared at his encouragement and he decided to restructure committees based on it. However, Tarique Rahman has discussed with the leaders of BNP at various levels formally and informally over the matter for several days.

Before announcing the dissolution of the committees on Thursday night, Tarique Rahman held separate virtual meetings with the leaders of Dhaka north and south units, and the central committee of the Jubo Dal. He informed them about the initiative to form new committees and sought their cooperation.

Abdul Monayem, general secretary of the Jubo Dal’s dissolved committee, does not believe that failure is the reason behind the dissolution of the committees.

“It is a regular process to speed up the party. Moreover, the BNP did not fail in its movement, rather it remained in the field defying such a level of repression by the state apparatus. It is the BNP’s success that the people have turned away from voting,” he told Prothom Alo.

A credible source within the party indicated that the expired committees would be disbanded, while those with inactive presidents and general secretaries would get new leadership. The acting chairman has a list of such leaders. He is also considering reformation of the BNP standing committee, executive committee, city and district bodies, alongside that of associate and affiliated bodies.

Following the dissolution of nine committees, many names are being discussed for leadership roles. Among them, Aminul Haque and Rafiqul Alam, member secretaries of Dhaka north and south units, respectively, are believed to be retained in the new committees.

Besides, Tabith Awal, former Jubo Dal president Saiful Alam, Sultan Salauddin, and former vice president SM Jahangir are being discussed for potential leadership positions in the Dhaka north unit, while Habibun Nabi Khan Sohel, Habibur Rashid, and Tanvir Ahmed are in discussion for the south unit.

Despite the dissolution of the Chattogram city unit, its convener Shahadat Hossain is believed to be retained in the new committee, in addition to senior member Ershad Ullah, joint convener Najimur Rahman, SM Saiful Islam, and Abul Hashem.

While talking to Prothom Alo on Thursday, Shahadat Hossain said, “We would accept the party high command’s decision. I have long wanted to join the central committee."

There are also discussions on the new leadership of Jubo Dal. It is being speculated that Abdul Monayem, general secretary of the dissolved committee, might be retained in the new committee. Other names under discussion are outgoing vice presidents Nurul Islam and SM Jahangir, and joint secretaries Shafiqul Islam and Golam Mawla.

Following questions over the Chhatra Dal’s role in the previous movement, a seven-member partial committee was formed on 1 March. Its Dhaka south and north units were abolished on Thursday, while preparations are underway to form new committees.

In this regard, Nasir Uddin, the central general secretary of Chhatra Dal, said, “Firstly, all the committees are expired. We wanted to do this earlier. Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of BNP and organaisational guardian of Chhatra Dal, thought now to be the convenient time. Also, we want to bring a leadership suitable for movements.”