DHAKA — On the first anniversary of the one-point demand that triggered the fall of the Awami League government, Nahid Islam said at a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar that the country’s fascist system must be uprooted entirely.
Nahid, a coordinator of last year’s Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, had personally announced the one-point demand for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
Speaking at the Central Shaheed Minar on Sunday evening, Aug. 3, Nahid laid out the aspirations behind the formation of the youth-led National Citizen Party (NCP) after the uprising.
“Our one-point demand was that we wanted to abolish the fascist system and establish a new political arrangement. We could not return home in peace by ousting one fascist regime while leaving the door open for another. To take on the responsibility of fulfilling your fierce demand to uproot this entrenched fascist system, we, your students, workers and people, formed the National Citizen Party,” he said.
From the rally, Nahid announced a 24-point declaration titled “Manifesto for a New Bangladesh,” outlining demands including constitutional reform and a roadmap for the NCP’s future work.
“One year after the mass uprising, we stand before you at the Central Shaheed Minar to announce our 24-point manifesto for a Second Republic,” he said.
The 24 points include recognition and justice for the July uprising; a new constitution and a Second Republic; democracy and reform of state institutions; a just judicial system and legal reform; service-oriented administration and anti-corruption measures; decentralization and local government; an education policy for sustainable development; universal health care; dignity for religion, community and ethnic identity; a welfare-oriented economy; people-friendly policing; women’s security, rights and empowerment; research, innovation and an information technology revolution; youth and employment; diversified trade and industrial policy; sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty; independent media and a strong civil society; workers’ and farmers’ rights; national resource management, urban planning, transport and housing; climate resilience and river-sea protection; the dignity and rights of expatriate Bangladeshis; and a Bangladesh-centered foreign policy and national defense strategy.
NCP senior joint member secretary Tasnim Jara said her party stood for problem-solving politics. “We have traveled across the country listening to people’s problems. We will do politics that solves problems,” she said.
“We will create a politics in which every citizen can comfortably participate. We will arrange things so that people of all parties and views can take part. We will build a politics in which expatriate brothers can vote and all citizens hold their rights,” Jara said. “We will build a health system in which every citizen’s health data is on record, ending unnecessary tests and wrong treatment. We will strengthen primary care so that people in every area get quality treatment.”
NCP chief coordinator (northern region) Sarjis Alam said the 1972 constitution belonged to a single party and had been brought in from another country. “We cannot let this Mujibist constitution remain in Bangladesh. We have come to this stage today to tear up the Mujibist constitution and demand a new one,” he said.
“Many of those who stood at this Shaheed Minar a year ago are now martyrs. Their families are here. We have come to demand justice for our martyred brothers’ killings. We have asked this government for guarantees of fundamental reform. We have come to demand rehabilitation for the martyrs’ families and proper treatment for the wounded fighters,” Sarjis added.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report