Bangladeshi students say no room for 'pro-India, pro-Pakistan' politics

The students' group that led the protests against former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched itself as a political party on Friday, declaring there would be no room now for pro-India and pro-Pakistan politics in the country.

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement or Students against Discrimination (SAD) turned into Jatiya Nagorik Party or National Citizens' Party (NCP) at a rally on Manik Mia Avenue in central Dhaka near Parliament, with one of the key leaders of the July-August uprising, Nahid Islam (26), as its convenor.

The student leaders also issued a declaration that outlined “a transformative political and economic roadmap for Bangladesh” at the inaugural event, which was attended by representatives of some political parties and envoys of the Vatican and Pakistan.

The student movement led a mass protest leading to the ouster of Hasina's over 15-year rule on 5 August 2024. Three days later, Muhammd Yunus assumed charge as chief adviser of the interim government.

The NCP’s inaugural rally began with a recitation from the Quran, Bhagavad Gita, Bible and Tripitaka, followed by the national anthem. A minute's silence was also observed in memory of those killed during the July uprising.

“There will be no room for pro-Indian and pro-Pakistani politics in Bangladesh. We will build the state keeping Bangladesh, the interests of the people of Bangladesh ahead,” said Islam, who resigned as information adviser from Yunus' advisory council earlier this week. “We want to talk about the future,” he said. “We want to move beyond the past and discuss the possibilities of Bangladesh.”

The party would be “solely Bangladesh-oriented, dedicated to the country's progress”, echoed SAD coordinator Nusrat Tabassum.

SAD member-secretary Arif Sohel told the gathering at the inauguration of the party: “People will no longer accept elite groups or dynastic loyalty. Instead, future leaders will emerge from the working class — farmers, labourers, and the children of daily wage earners.” He added that the new political party would uphold this vision and fulfil the people's aspirations.

Family members of those who lost their lives during the July-August 2024 mass protests, and leaders of different political parties (except Hasina’s Awami League and its allies in the past regime) joined the NCP’s inauguration event.

According to the mass circulation Prothom Alo and other newspapers, two foreign diplomats — ambassador of the Vatican to Dhaka and the Pakistan High Commission’s political councillor — joined the function and took the front row seats reserved for foreign diplomats.

Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sent its senior joint secretaries-general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anny to the event. It was also attended by Jamaat-e-Islami secretary-general Mia Golam Parwar and several other Islamic parties and right and left wing groups.

Most of the top leaders of the NCP began their political activism during the 2018 movement for reforms in the quota system for government jobs and later under the banner of the Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad during the 2019 Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) elections.

The new party was floated apparently with the blessings of Yunus, who had assumed as the chief adviser, effectively the prime minister, as the SAD nominee last August.

Neither Yunus nor any other representative of his council of advisers attended the function, however, coinciding with NCP’s launch, the interim government on Friday published a gazette recognising 1,401 individuals injured in the July-August 2024 mass protests as 'July Warriors'.

Yunus had inducted three SAD representatives as members of his advisory council, from which Islam resigned amidst criticism that the new party was being floated using the advantage of being part of the government.

Zia's BNP earlier expressed scepticism about the neutrality of Yunus’ interim administration ahead of expected general elections in December this year, particularly after he extended his support to the proposed student-led party.

Meanwhile, the NCP issued a declaration at the inaugural event that outlined “a transformative political and economic roadmap for Bangladesh, which will begin with writing a new constitution,” newspaper The Daily Star said, adding, with it, the party announced its mission “to dismantle constitutional autocracy and adopt a new democratic constitution.”

The first few lines of the declaration read: “We stand as the people of the Bengal delta, bearing a rich and distinct culture shaped over a thousand years of historical evolution.

“After nearly 200 years of British colonial rule, the state of Pakistan was established in 1947 following a long struggle. However, the general people of this land did not attain freedom from exploitation and discrimination,” it said.

Consequently, the declaration said, after 23 years of struggle, the people of this land waged the great liberation war of 1971, sacrificing the lives of hundreds of thousands of martyrs to achieve an independent Bangladesh.

“However, even after more than five decades of independence, we have failed to establish a political settlement that ensures democracy, equality, human dignity, and social justice,” it said.

Instead, the NCP charter said, over the past 15 years, Bangladesh was “subjected to a brutal fascist regime that recklessly weaponised state institutions to serve the ruling party's interests and destroyed democracy.”

The declaration then went on to outline the new party's vision for various sectors, including foreign policy and economy, and asserted: “Our country, our rights, our future — the second republic is not an unattainable dream. It is our solemn commitment!”