In the 54 years since the country’s independence, the people of Chougacha have never had a member of parliament from their own upazila. Election after election has passed, and Chougacha has only been left deprived. Despite repeatedly petitioning central leaders, leaders of the three big parties have failed to secure a parliamentary nomination from Chougacha. Yet before independence, in the 23 years of the Pakistan era, three distinguished sons of Chougacha upazila were elected members of parliament: Khan Bahadur Abdul Aziz of Narayanpur village; Mobarak Ali, a distinguished son of Ichapur village and former headmaster of Chougacha Shahadat Pilot Secondary School; and the martyr Mosiur Rahman of Singhajhuli village. Of them, Mosiur Rahman, elected an MLA in the 1954 election, became the provincial government’s minister of law and justice.
Chougacha upazila is a prime example of how the people of such a politically rich area can be kept away from the centre of power. Not for one or two years, but for half a century, the people of Chougacha have been kept politically bankrupt. In the 50 years since independence, across 12 national parliamentary elections, the big political parties have not fielded a single candidate from Chougacha upazila. Political analysts believe the chance of Chougacha getting a parliamentary nomination in the upcoming 13th national election, too, is very slim. Chougacha residents are so unlucky that even when candidates were brought in from outside the constituency, no Chougacha political leader’s fortune ever turned.
An inquiry shows that the first election after independence was held in 1973. At that time the greater-Jashore seat was the National Parliament’s 83rd seat, Jashore-6. In that 1973 election, the then-prominent Awami League leader Abul Islam was elected on the party’s boat symbol. The second parliamentary election was held in 1979, when the greater-Jashore seat was the 87th seat, Jashore-6; the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) brought in advocate Badrul Ala from Jashore town as a candidate, and he was elected. The third election, in 1986, placed the seat at 86th and renamed it Jashore-2, with a boundary of 11 unions of Jhikargachha upazila and 11 of Chougacha — 22 unions in all — which remains its shape today. In that election, Jamaat-e-Islami’s candidate Makbul Hossain of Jhikargachha was elected.
In the fourth election, in 1988, Jatiya Party candidate Mir Shahadatur Rahman of Jhikargachha was elected. In the fifth, in 1991, Awami League’s professor Rafiqul Islam of Jhikargachha was elected. In the sixth, on 15 February 1996, BNP’s advocate Kazi Monirul Huda of Jhikargachha was elected. In the seventh, on 12 June that same year, Awami League’s professor Rafiqul Islam of Jhikargachha was elected again. In the eighth, in 2001, Abu Sayeed Muhammad Shahadat Hussain of Jhikargachha was elected from Jamaat and the four-party alliance. In the ninth, in 2008, Awami League’s Mostafa Faruk Mohammad of Jhikargachha was elected. In the tenth, in 2014, Awami League’s advocate Monirul Islam of Jhikargachha was elected. In the eleventh, in 2018, Awami League’s Major General (retd) professor Dr Nasir Uddin of Jhikargachha was elected. Most recently, in the twelfth election in 2024, Dr Tuhinur Rahman of Jhikargachha was elected.
Most strikingly, the runners-up to the winning candidates all also had their homes in Jhikargachha upazila. In other words, in none of the 12 national elections held since independence did either the ruling party or the opposition field a candidate from Chougacha upazila. It can be said that Chougacha upazila holds no value for the political parties — which is why, not for one or two years but for a long 54 years, Chougacha residents have been neglected.
Asked about this, Chougacha’s veteran politician, BNP leader and former Singhajhuli union chairman Samsul Arif Shanti Mia said that since independence the central leadership of all the big parties has treated Chougacha residents like a stepmother, which is why in 50 years they have not fielded a parliamentary candidate from Chougacha. Former Chougacha upazila BNP president Jahurul Islam — the only BNP leader under whose hand the party’s grassroots base was built in Chougacha, and who, unlike many BNP leaders who joined the Jatiya Party in the Ershad era, never left BNP for any other party — said he had tried hard to get a party nomination from Chougacha but could not soften the central leaders’ hearts. “Let us see whether the centre looks kindly on Chougacha residents in the next election,” he said.
Upazila BNP general secretary and three-time elected Hakimpur union chairman Masudul Hasan said he was strongly demanding that the party high command give a nomination from Chougacha upazila in the next national election. Young politician and upazila Krishak Dal general secretary Shahinur Rahman Shahin said he did not understand why, despite many capable leaders in Chougacha, the centre does not give a party nomination from the upazila. Jubo Dal leader M Ilias Ali, Tuhinur Rahman, BNP leader Abdur Rahim and many others demanded a parliamentary candidate from Chougacha.
Upazila Jamaat ameer Maulana Golam Morshed said the centre does not want to field a candidate from Chougacha because it has slightly fewer votes than Jhikargachha. He said Jamaat’s candidate for the 13th national election had already been announced — Dr Mosleh Uddin Farid, a son of the Kharki Pir Bari family of Jashore town. “For us, which upazila someone is from is not a factor. What matters is whether the person being made a candidate is honest and capable,” he said. Chougacha Press Club president principal Abu Jafar said that, in truth, not fielding a candidate from Chougacha had become an ego matter for the central leaders of the Awami League, BNP and Jamaat, and that the situation needs to be resolved. Chougacha Model Secondary School headmaster and upazila Jamaat assistant secretary master Kamal Ahmed said that if an honest and capable person is elected there is no discrimination, in which case which upazila they come from does not matter. Chougacha’s teachers, journalists and politicians all say the same — that half a century has passed and yet not once has anyone from Chougacha been elected MP, which is very hard to accept. So the people of Chougacha demand that the big political parties give a nomination from Chougacha in the upcoming 13th parliamentary election.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report