On 7 November, BNP celebrated National Revolution and Solidarity Day.
On this day, the news headlines sent by Prothom Alo's Naogaon correspondent read: "Send one lakh taka to this number." Belal Hossain, a BNP leader at Badalgachhi upazila of Naogaon, demanded bribes from an Awami League leader in order to remove names from the list of accused in a case. An audio of a conversation between the two leaders regarding this matter has gone viral on social media.
Another report from Prothom Alo's Jashore office on the same day mentioned that allegations of physical assault on Harun Or Rashid, the superintendent of Jashore General Hospital, for "failure to procure full medical supplies" worth Tk 5 million. The incident occurred last Thursday at the superintendent's office, led by AK Sharfuddowla, a member of the Jashore district BNP.
On 12 October, Prothom Alo reported that after the political change on 5 August, various actions have been taken against 1,023 BNP leaders due to specific allegations including violence, forceful occupation, extortion and non-compliance with party instructions. That was statistics of two months, and in the last month, incidents like those in Naogaon and Jessore prove the growing number of such events.
Despite the BNP leadership’s strong position, they are struggling to control their grassroots leaders and activists. When central leaders were asked about this, they responded, saying the BNP is a large party with thousands of leaders and workers, so some isolated incidents are bound to happen. However, when such incidents exceed a thousand, they are no longer isolated incidents. Those become common phenomenon.
The BNP's hurry to hold elections is also fueling the reckless behaviour of their leaders and activists. The party leadership believes that once the election process begins, all leaders and workers will jump in, trying to strengthen their positions within the party through organizational activity.
Other reasons for BNP's urgency regarding the election include demonstrating their control over the government, and justifying their firm stance on the resignation of the president. BNP leaders believe that their members have suffered the most under 15 years of Awami League rule, and if an election is held before the memories of this oppression fade, BNP will benefit.
BNP leadership believes that if the Awami League fails to jon the elections for any reason, they will gain support from some of the Awami League's voters. After the student-led uprising, BNP leaders also see positive signs in the support of the Awami League's fugitive leaders in their speeches and statements.
Ironically, when the Awami League was in power, they would often mock BNP leaders’ speeches, calling them from 'Tora Bora mountain' and claiming they had no credibility. Now, that mockery has come back to haunt them.
BNP also has another fear—after the 1/11 political change, the ruling regime formed a ‘King's Party’ to sideline the two main party leaders, though this ultimately failed. There is concern that something similar could happen again, and BNP wants a roadmap for the elections announced before any such attempt to form a probable King's Party.
Since the beginning, there has been a debate between the student movement and the BNP leadership over the credit of student-people's uprising. The student leaders believe that political parties failed to overthrow the Sheikh Hasina government in 15 years, but they succeeded. On the other hand, BNP and other parties argue that their continuous efforts laid the groundwork for the downfall of the Hasina government, with the student-people's uprising delivering the final blow.
This debate reached its peak over whether president Md Shahabuddin should resign or not. The student leaders wanted to erase the ‘last symbol’ of authoritarian rule, while BNP and its allies were firmly against this, fearing it would lead to a constitutional crisis and make the election uncertain, pushing the country toward chaos.
There are differences of opinion between BNP and the student leadership regarding the nature of reforms. BNP leaders argue that the interim government should focus on holding a free and fair election and make only the necessary reforms to prevent the return of authoritarian rule. They believe that going beyond these reforms would create problems.
On the other hand, student leaders contend that in order to bring about a new political system, everything—including the constitution—needs to be completely overhauled. While all active political parties support the interim government, student leaders hold more influence. There are no political party representatives in the government, but there are two representatives from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. The Jatiya Nagorik Committee (National Citizens' Committee) is also monitoring the government, and the role of political parties is largely limited to voluntary consultations.
BNP's crisis under the Awami League government was primarily one-way. Their focus was to protect themselves from repression. It has now become multifaceted. Grassroots leaders and activists are involved in disputes over shares of local power. BNP's leaders and activists have taken control of terminals, stations, and markets that were previously under the control of Awami League leaders and activists.
BNP's 'isolated incidents' are being used as political leverage by their former ally, Jamaat-e-Islami. Jamaat ameer Shafiqur Rahman has been critical of both Awami League and BNP on various issues. According to him, Jamaat is the only party whose members have not faced any allegations.
After the fall of the Awami League government, Jamaat-e-Islami is re-evaluating its alliances in the new political reality. Party leaders have discussed privately that their primary goal is to form a government with other Islamic parties. If that is not possible, they will focus on strengthening their position as an opposition party. This shift is one reason why, although BNP initially called for a national government, it is now seeking to form an electoral alliance with parties outside Jamaat. BNP has also instructed its leaders and activists in several constituencies to assist their allies.
BNP leaders believe that, regardless of Jamaat's claims of being democratic, the party opposed Bangladesh's independence struggle. Their alliance with Jamaat has always been strategic, not ideological. Furthermore, Jamaat's view is that there is no fundamental difference between the Awami League and BNP—both are "parties of occupation."
The most discussed issue in political circles at the moment is when and how the elections will take place. The government is attempting to argue that reforms must be completed before a fair election can happen. But the questions remain: who will implement these reforms? The interim government or the next elected government? There are also debates about the scope and extent of the reforms.
Within the government, one faction believes that reforms must be completed to prevent a return to an authoritarian system. On the other hand, most political parties contend that it is not this government’s responsibility to finalize all the reforms. Instead, they say the government should only implement the necessary legal reforms to facilitate elections and leave the final, broader reforms to the elected government.
Meanwhile, student leaders view this process as a method of re-establishing fascism. On 7 November, leaders of the Chhatra Dal, BNP's student wing, faced protests when they tried to put up posters for National Solidarity and Revolution Day at Dhaka University. BNP leadership does not view this favourably. The question remains whether the alliance formed between the two factions through the student uprising will survive, or if it has already reached its end.
*Sohrab Hasaan a joint editor at Prothom Alo and and poet.