We want to start for new Bangladesh changing the governance structure: Nahid

National Citizens Party’s convener Nahid Islam has said that building a new Bangladesh is not possible by keeping the old constitution and governance structure intact.

The journey of a new Bangladesh must be started by changing these, he remarked.

Nahid made this comment in response to a question from journalists after paying tribute at the National Mausoleum in Savar around 8:30 am today, Tuesday.

Stating that the democratic process has been prolonged repeatedly in Bangladesh, Nahid Islam said let’s ensure that does not happen again and the mass-uprisings of 2024 does not fail.

“It is not possible to build a new Bangladesh by keeping the old constitution and the old governance structure. It is not possible to implement the welfare of the people and real democracy by changing the government alone. Therefore, we are saying that the mass uprising of 2024, in which the students and the people shed their blood, does not only change the government, but also changes the governance structure and the constitution. By introducing these changes, we want to start the journey of a new Bangladesh where real democracy, justice and equality would be ensured,” Nahid said.

The leaders and activists of the recently constituted political party, National Citizen Party (NCP), paid their homage to the martyred freedom fighters placing wreaths at National Mausoleum in Savar this morning. This was the first political programme of the party that was launched on 28 February.

Nahid said NCP has been working to build a new Bangladesh by embodying the aspirations of all the struggles from 1947 to 2024.

“We have stated that although we got an independent state through the Liberation War of 1971, our sovereignty has been repeatedly threatened. Our democratic institutions have collapsed repeatedly. We have not been able to build a democratic constitution. The seeds of fascism and one-party dictatorship were sown through a one-party constitution,” Nahid added.

Nahid stated said the NCP wants a new republic, which entails a new constitution and constituent assembly.

“From that stance, we have been advocating ‘second republic’ and are working to achieve that goal. Our party’s main goal now is to expand our organisational activities and widen in districts and upazilas across the country soon.”

He said the party is eying to fulfill the conditions that need to be met for registration as soon as possible. The work for the party's constitution will start within this month.

Calling on the interim government to prosecute those involved in the killings during the mass-uprising and in the last 15 years, Nahid Islam said, “We want to see the trial of the massacres committed during the mass uprising implemented as soon as possible.”

“The political decision on the fate of Awami League must be made through the judicial process. Our pledge to people during the mass-uprising was that those who killed and persecuted people in different ways for the last 15 years must face trial. After the trial and reforms, we want implementation of the July charter and July declaration through dialogues with the National Consensus Commission,” he added.