The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and the National Citizens Committee announced the formation of a new political party this month. Last-minute preparations are underway to determine the party's structure, constitution, name and symbol. All decisions are likely to be finalized within the next week.
Nasiruddin Patwari, convener of the National Citizens' Committee, said that this new political party, formed by students who led the mass uprising, will be a party of 'moderation'. At a discussion meeting on Friday, he said, the party will not be in a binary process, there will be no ideological division. We have to create a space for unity socially.
Plans to form a 'moderate' party around equality, justice and good governance
The formation of the new student party is being overseen by the National Citizens Committee and the leaders of the Student Movement Against Discrimination. They want the new student party to be neither left-wing nor right-wing in Bangladeshi politics. They call this position a centrist position.
Akhtar Hossain, member secretary of the National Citizens' Committee, said, "We are talking about a centrist politics. We do not want to enter into the divisions of left and right. We want to be united on the Bangladesh issue. We are not in the politics of Islamophobia or radical Islamist or radical Hindutva politics."
In this case, the party does not want to put forward any ideology, whether nationalist, secular or religious.
When asked what ideal or goal the party is talking about, Ali Ahsan Junaid, joint convener of the National Citizens' Committee, said, "We are talking about equality, justice and good governance here. This is what we want to highlight. At the same time, our main focus point is how to move forward through an agreement while acknowledging the pluralism in which different types of people and people of different religions live in a state, just as we have moved forward in the uprising."
He said, "We will not lean to the right, nor to the left. We will be a centrist party around equality, justice, and good governance so that we can accommodate all types of people."
In Bangladesh, there are political parties that are Bengali or Bangladeshi nationalist, as well as secular or religious-based political parties. Especially in a Muslim-majority country, religious identity often becomes important in party propaganda and strategy. However, in this case, the potential new student party does not want to enter into any such identity - secular or religious.
National Citizens' Committee spokesperson Samantha Sharmin said, "We will bring the politics of rights, responsibility and the politics of compromise so that no specific opinion or religion becomes important here. Only Bangladesh, the rights of the people of this country and the work of state formation will become important here. Here, people of any religion, people of any opinion, people of any ideology will freely practice their own religion."
Eyes on Erdogan, Imran Khan, Kejriwal to succeed
Whatever the ideology, there is no way to predict how popular the new student party will be. However, it is also true that no newly formed party in the country in the last 40 years has been able to make such an impact on the electoral field. However, although not in the country, there are examples of new political parties coming to power in different countries of the world in the last few decades. Among them, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party, Pakistan's Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf, and India's Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party have particularly attracted global attention. Students are also scrutinizing the programs, organizational structures, etc. of these three new parties to find the mantra of success.
When asked, Ali Ahsan Junayd, joint convener of the National Citizens' Committee, said, "We are studying how these parties have become popular with the people. We are studying how these parties actually reached the people, what kind of strategies they have adopted in understanding the language of the people, what kind of constitutional structure they have. We are trying to understand what thoughts they have brought in understanding the youth of that region and understanding politics, which the people of that country have accepted and given them the responsibility of governing politically."
He said, "Here you will see that Erdogan's party has focused on justice. Its name is the Justice and Development Party. Which is what we are also talking about. We are talking about justice, we are talking about good governance. On the other hand, India's Aam Aadmi Party has attracted highly educated youth from home and abroad in large numbers. It has carried out anti-corruption activities. We are also seeing that."
Who is in charge?
It is not yet clear who will take the top position of the party. There are strong rumors that advisor Nahid Islam may take the position. In that case, he will resign from his position as advisor. However, whoever gets the top position, it is certain that he will be one of the young people leading the movement. But the question is, will the entire leadership structure of the party consist only of young people, or will there be a place for experienced people as well?
Although young people will predominate in this case, experienced people can be given places at various levels of party leadership, says Abu Baker Muzmder, coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
He said, "Along with the youth, there are many senior citizens who are willing to do politics with us. We are also in the process of bringing in people from various community-based and civil society-based organizations or those who have been in politics for a long time - such people to our new political party. For example, there will be youth and seniors in our advisory panel. Again, there will be seniors along with youth in other committees of the party."
If all goes well, the new student group will come in the third week of February. However, the new group is coming at a time when the national elections could be held by December, the chief advisor said. If that happens, the new group will have to face elections very soon. In that case, there were doubts about whether the group would initially field candidates in all parliamentary constituencies in the country or whether it had the capacity, but now those involved with the potential new group are talking about participating in the elections in all constituencies.
The leaders of the Citizens' Committee believe that they will find the pro-coup parties on their side in their political journey. However, they are not currently thinking of being part of any alliance or forming an electoral unity before the vote. Because they want to become a major political party on their own.
Source: BBC Bangla
