Preparations to announce a new leadership are at their final stage now that the term of the present central committee of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal has ended. Several sources at the BNP’s policymaking level and within Chhatra Dal said that if all goes to plan, a new central committee could be announced in the first week of September. The names of more than a dozen leaders are under discussion for the posts of president and general secretary.
Several senior BNP leaders said the highest importance is being given, in forming the new committee, to a leader’s role in the movements and struggles, organisational ability, political acceptability and a clean image. Those hoping for the top posts are meanwhile keeping up last-minute organisational activity and lobbying.
A seven-member partial central committee was announced on 1 March 2024 with Md Rakibul Islam Rakib as president and Nasir Uddin Nasir as general secretary. Later, on 15 June the same year, a partial full committee of 260 members in total was approved, including 39 vice-presidents and 111 joint general secretaries.
More than a hundred organisational units were reconstituted under the present committee, including Dhaka metropolitan north and south, various public and private universities, districts, metropolitan areas and medical colleges. With the central committee’s fixed two-year term ending on 1 March 2026, however, the BNP high command is working to bring in a new leadership.
A senior BNP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “There are various issues in August, otherwise the new committee would have been formed in August itself. But this committee’s activities are ending in August. The committee list is on Tarique Rahman’s table. I hope the committee will be formed in the first week of September. The matter is being considered with great importance.”
The names under discussion
Those under discussion for the posts of president and general secretary include the central committee’s senior vice-president Abu Afsan Mohammad Yahia; the organising secretary Aman Ullah Aman; the vice-presidents Dr Touhidur Rahman Awal and Manjurul Alam Riad; the joint general secretaries Ibrahim Khalil, Kazi Zia Uddin Basit, Raju Ahmed and Mominul Islam Zisan; the president of Dhaka University Chhatra Dal, Ganesh Chandra Roy Sahos; and the general secretary, Nahiduzzaman Shipon.
Also under discussion for the top posts are Anwar Parvez, Md Khorshed Alam Sohel, HM Abu Jafar, Ejazul Kabir Ruel, Mostafizur Rahman, Sharif Prodhan Shuvo, Mahmud Islam Kajol and Azizul Haque Zion, among many others.
The present central committee’s senior vice-president, Abu Afsan Mohammad Yahia, previously served as the organisation’s organising secretary. Long active in the movements and struggles, Yahia was injured in what is described as a Chhatra League attack on the Dhaka University campus in 2022. In 2023 he was arrested and jailed after taking part in a BNP sit-in programme. He also served as Chhatra Dal’s coordinator for the Dhaka metropolitan north and west areas in the programmes that followed 28 October. During the July mass uprising he led the movement in the Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Science Lab, Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur areas. In the period after 5 August he carried out programmes on positive student politics at various educational institutions in the Rangpur, Rajshahi and Chattogram divisions.
The present organising secretary, Aman Ullah Aman, was previously a joint secretary of the central council. He was arrested in the movement following 28 October and spent two months in jail. After 5 August he was given responsibility for bringing discipline to the organisation and carrying out programmes on positive politics at various educational institutions in the Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions.
The joint general secretary Kazi Zia Uddin Basit faces nine cases arising from his activity in student politics. He says he was tortured in remand and has served sentences in two cases. Several cases are still pending. He was in hospital for about 10 months in 2015 after, by his account, police threw him from a building under construction during a blockade.
The vice-president Dr Touhidur Rahman Awal previously served as joint general secretary, assistant organising secretary number 1 and assistant health secretary. He faces three cases and was arrested once. He is currently studying for the FCPS at Sohrawardy Medical College.
Speaking about his own hopes for a top post, Touhidur Rahman Awal said: “Forming a committee is a continuous process. All those seeking posts in Chhatra Dal are capable. Whoever our organisational guardian Tarique Rahman selects from among them, we will all give him our fullest cooperation. There is healthy competition for leadership among us. But there is no unhealthy rivalry.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report