Talk of a widening gap between Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP) within the 11-party alliance has spread through political circles and the media ahead of the coming local government elections. Speculation about a “crack in the alliance” centres on the decision to contest the local polls, including the Dhaka city corporation elections, separately rather than as an alliance. The talk grew after NCP convener Nahid Islam did not take part in the alliance’s latest long march. Leaders of both parties, however, dismiss it as media overreach and a conspiracy by the ruling party. They say it is not a rift but a considered political strategy: every party will fight the local elections on its own, without that touching the Jamaat-NCP alliance.
Although the date of the local government elections has not been fixed, Jamaat-e-Islami has announced its likely sole candidates and told them to prepare. The NCP is also announcing its own candidates and telling them to prepare in full. The 11-party alliance is therefore not contesting the city corporation and other local elections as a bloc. For several months this has raised the question in political circles of whether a crack or a gap has opened within the Jamaat-led alliance. The question grew louder with Nahid Islam’s absence from the alliance’s long march on Saturday.
Speaking to Jugantor on Wednesday afternoon, NCP member secretary Akhtar Hossain, a member of parliament, said talk of any crack or distance between the NCP and the 11-party alliance or Jamaat was completely baseless. “What is visible between us is only political and organisational strategy,” he said. “Our unity remains intact on building a new political settlement in the spirit of the July uprising and the end of fascism, and on our demands, including trials for the mass killings and implementation of the July Charter. But as a party we have our own plans. We want to reach closer to the people with our own distinct political identity. This is not about breaking an alliance. It is a process of strengthening our own organisational base.”
Akhtar Hossain added that those who do not want the July Charter implemented and who ignore the referendum verdict are the ones who see a rift between Jamaat and the NCP, and that this is part of their conspiracy. “To put it plainly, we will stay on the streets and contest elections according to our own strategy. Jamaat, too, will contest independently with its own strategy and ideals,” he said. “We notice that the talk of ‘cracks and distance’ comes just as we prepare to contest the local elections on our own. Top leaders should attend the alliance’s meetings, processions and long marches. But if a top leader is ill or has some problem, he may not be able to attend a political programme. To read that as a rift or distance within the party is a conspiracy.”
Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Hamidur Rahman Azad told Jugantor on Wednesday afternoon that Nahid Islam had not been able to join one long march. “He could not attend one political programme. He may even have been unwell,” he said. “Some media, people from the ruling party and opponents of July are looking for an issue in Nahid Islam not joining the long march. There is not the slightest distance between us. We are carrying out all political activity together, shoulder to shoulder, in parliament and outside it. Some people talk of distance between Jamaat and the NCP over the local elections. We are contesting the local elections separately. That causes no problem for the alliance. Besides, the door to talks is always open. Through talks there could even be a joint alliance contest. Some media and ruling party people want to design a picture of distance and rift between the two parties as part of a conspiracy.”
Political observers note that the NCP has recently reorganised its committees and changed the posts of its top leaders. Front-rank leaders who had been inactive or kept their distance are being brought back and made active. As a result the NCP is growing stronger by the day, and is contesting alone outside the alliance and holding large rallies and processions. Parties can have their own strategies on seat-sharing or electoral arithmetic, observers say, and presenting that as distance or a break-up in the alliance is media exaggeration.
Some leaders of the 11-party alliance, on the other hand, say that if party chiefs are absent from the alliance’s big programmes, rumours of various kinds are bound to surface, and talk of strain will follow. Conversations with several leaders suggest that a crisis of trust is developing within the alliance over the city corporation and other local elections, and there is some argument among party leaders about it. A section of both parties believes that an alliance candidate would have a better chance of winning the Dhaka city corporation elections if they ran jointly, and that fielding the alliance’s most popular candidate could even secure victory. Party leaders say a joint contest may therefore still happen.
For now, though, Jamaat and the NCP have finalised separate candidates for the two city corporations. In Dhaka North, where the NCP’s candidate is Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuyain, Jamaat has finalised Selim Uddin, emir of its Dhaka North city unit. In Dhaka South, the party nomination has gone to DUCSU vice-president Abu Sadiq Kayem. The NCP had earlier announced Asif Mahmud for the south and Ariful Islam for the north. In September, Asif Mahmud became a voter in Dhaka North and Nasiruddin Patwary a voter in Dhaka South. The NCP has since announced finally that Nasiruddin will contest Dhaka South and Asif Mahmud Dhaka North.
Speaking to Jugantor from South Korea on Wednesday evening, NCP joint convener Monira Sharmin said there could be differing opinions or disagreement within the party, and that the party sees this positively. “Many may think a joint alliance contest would be better; others may not. We respect every opinion,” she said. “But the final decision of the party’s policy-making forum is that the NCP will contest the coming local government elections entirely on its own. The question now is why this decision to contest alone should create any distance within the alliance. Our alliance partner Jamaat-e-Islami is also preparing to contest on its own.”
(Source: Jugantor)
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report