With the presidential election near, discussion in BNP’s policymaking circles has centred on four senior leaders. Because of long political struggle, a clean image, loyalty to the party and experience of leading in times of crisis, one of the four names is now being spoken of most strongly — party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. The other three prominently discussed are Dr Khondkar Mosharraf Hossain, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan and Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram. The first two are members of BNP’s national standing committee; the last is the Speaker and current acting president.
Under the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the presidential vote is due to be held on 20 August.
Observers say the prime minister and House leader, Tareque Rahman, will decide the nomination weighing these assessments, so all eyes are now on him. At its 1 August standing committee meeting, BNP leaders gave chairman Tareque Rahman the task of finalising the next president’s name.
Dr Khondkar Mosharraf Hossain, a veteran standing committee member, is also known as a geologist, academic and author. He joined BNP in 1979 at the call of president Ziaur Rahman and became the party’s first student-affairs secretary. In a long political life he has been elected an MP five times and served as a minister three times, and has been a standing committee member since 1994. He was jailed for nearly five years at various times, including during One-Eleven, and faced 17 cases under the Hasina government. He earned an MSc from Dhaka University in 1968, a degree from Imperial College London in 1970, a PhD in geology from the University of London in 1973 and a DIC from Imperial College in 1974, and chaired Dhaka University’s geology department from 1987 to 1990. He is currently somewhat unwell, a factor the prime minister must weigh.
Furthest ahead in the discussion is the party’s second most important figure, secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. His role over a long political journey and in movements is widely known, and his active part in keeping BNP united through the difficult past 17 years is praised at every level. Known as a clean-image politician, he was also a favourite of former prime minister and BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and has a long, mutually respectful relationship with party chief Tareque Rahman.
Fakhrul was active in student politics at Dhaka University and later took up teaching, joining BNP during the anti-Ershad movement. He was elected president of BNP’s Thakurgaon district unit in 1992, served three times as an MP and held ministerial posts. He was elected senior joint secretary general at BNP’s fifth national council in December 2009, made acting secretary general on 20 March 2011 after the death of then secretary general Khondkar Delwar Hossain, and elected secretary general at the sixth national council in 2016. Over 17 years of movements he faced 111 cases and was jailed 11 times. Many say he never betrayed the party despite pressure and inducements, which is why his name is now the most discussed for president.
Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, besides a clean image, has a long political and academic standing at home and abroad and is seen as a favourite of the United States and the wider West; foreign diplomats often met at his home during times of political turmoil. A brilliant Dhaka University student who also taught there, he earned a PhD from the University of Sussex in England. During his PhD research he joined Bangladesh’s independence movement, after which the then Pakistan government cancelled his scholarship and citizenship; he continued his studies with a British government scholarship and regained Bangladeshi citizenship after independence. He served as an MP five times and a minister three times, and became a standing committee member in 2009.
Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, a Dhaka University political science student, has a career spanning more than six decades as a FIFA-recognised footballer, a Bir Bikram freedom fighter, a military officer, a seven-time elected MP and a minister several times. He is currently serving as acting president. He joined BNP in 1992 and was most recently a national standing committee member; he was later nominated as an MP, then a minister, and elected Speaker in the 13th parliament. Because he holds the acting presidency, his name is widely discussed for the presidency.
Kazi Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, professor in Dhaka University’s political science department, said the president should be a person of standing who can uphold the state’s dignity at home and before the world; BNP must think about this. He said Tareque Rahman would need the president’s office to help implement BNP’s ideals and the commitments the prime minister made on coming to power, and that whoever can maintain a balance with the people and the political parties should be nominated.
Political analyst Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar said all those in the discussion have contributions, and that each of the four is experienced, capable, highly educated and qualified to be president. As far as he had heard, the party had entrusted the party chief and prime minister with the decision, and the prime minister would use his best judgement to choose one of them and finalise the name.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report