Announcement of new party likely on 26 February

The structure of the new political party to be formed under the initiative of Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Students against Discrimination will be the same as it is now. That is, the new political party will have a convener, member secretary, chief organiser and a spokesperson similar to the two platforms.

It has been finalised that Nahid Islam will be the convener of the new party. Names of several top leaders of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Student against Discrimination Movement are being discussed for the remaining posts.

A leader said the official announcement could come on 26 February. A programme will be organised in Dhaka for the announcement. The programme is likely to be held at the Manik Mia Avenue.

Three leaders of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee have said that Nahid Islam would resign from the government at any time. Speaking to Prothom Alo on Wednesday, they said most of the leaders of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Student Movement against Discrimination wanted Akhter Hossain as the member secretary of the new party. The names of Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah are being considered for the posts of chief organiser and spokesperson.

Jatiya Nagorik Committee is mainly leading the process of forming a new party. The committee includes people with different views and idealistic grounds. There are three main groups – former leaders of Gonotantrik Chhatra Shakti and Chhatra Adhikar Parishad, former leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir and former leaders of left leaning student organisations.

One of the former Shibir leaders met Akhter Hossain in the second week of this month and said if none of them hold any of the four top posts, they won’t join the new party. The former Shibir leaders started a campaign supporting Ali Ahsan Zonayed after this meeting. In addition to that, there was also a campaign that Akhter wants to do politics with the leftist leaving Shibir behind, which created quite a buzz on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Akhter Hossain’s well-wishers started posting on Facebook. They claimed a plot was underway to minus Akhter Hossain which sparked arguments on social media between former Shibir leaders and former leaders of Chhatra Shakti and Chhatra Odhikar Parishad as well as several centrist leaders.

The former Shibir leaders wanted Jonayed to be the member secretary of the new political party. He became a member of the Nagorik Committee on 26 November last year. Later, he became the joint convener of the committee on 9 December.

At the same time, a large majority of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee wants Akhter Hossain in the post of member secretary. He was elected the social welfare secretary of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) from the panel of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad. He left Chhatra Odhikar Parishad and formed Gonotantrik Chhatra Shakti. He became the convener of the newly formed student outfit. The frontline leaders of the July uprising were mainly members of Gonotantrik Chhatra Shakti. The Jatiya Nagorik Committee was formed in November following the uprising. Akhter Hossain was made the member secretary of the platform.

Amid the argument centering the post of the member secretary, Akhter Hossain’s followers started a campaign on Facebook highlighting his contributions in the July uprising and in different movements before that. The former Shibir leader also launched a similar campaign highlighting their contributions in different movements and demonstrations.

On last Friday, interim government adviser and former coordinator of Students Against Discrimination Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan joined the argument. He pointed fingers at the former leaders of Shibir for distorting history. Anti-discrimination Student Movement chief coordinator Abdul Hannan Masud also made the same allegations.

Amidst the ongoing feuds, the leaders of Jatiya Nagorik Committee held meetings in two phases on Sunday and Monday. However, the former Shibir leaders refrained from joining the meetings. The official negotiations between the Nagorik Committee leaders and former leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir started Monday afternoon. It has been learned that the leaders have reached a consensus, several Nagorik Committee leaders say.

They said as per the negotiation Ali Ahsan Zonayed is likely to be the senior joint convener and Nasiruddin Patwary is likely to get the post of senior joint member secretary.

A reliable leader says adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan was one of the key coordinators during the July uprising. There are also proposals to bring him in the leadership of the new party.

Again a section of the committee wants to see at least one woman and one person from the minority community in the top leadership of the party. The names of Jatiya Nagorik Committee spokesperson Samantha Sharmin and joint member secretary Anik Roy are in the discussions in this regard. Samantha Sharmin was once affiliated with Rashtrochinta. Anik Roy is the former general secretary of Chhatra Union.

The Nagorik Committee considered two places – Central Shaheed Minar and Manik Mia Avenue - to hold the programme for the announcement of the new party. One reliable leader told Prothom Alo last night that the programme was likely to be held on the Manik Mia Avenue.

The leaders say the initial plan was to hold the programme on 25 February. But the plan was scrapped later as the 25 February marked the anniversary of BDR Mutiny. So the programme is likely to be held on 26 February.

Already a committee has been formed to organize the inauguration programme. The committee includes 68 leaders from the Nagorik Committee and 30 leaders of Anti-discrimination Student Movement. They held a long meeting till 10:30 pm at the central office of the Jaitya Nagorik Committee in the capital’s Banglamotor. They discussed different aspects of the programme.

Speaking to Prothom Alo following the meeting, two Nagorik Committee leaders said the meeting was held mainly to distribute works.