New student-led party signals shift in political landscape

A new political organisation constituted largely by students and youth previously associated with right-wing, left-wing and centrist politics but united in their participation in the protests that toppled the former regime, has been set up with a pledge to establish a new political system in Bangladesh.

Students and youth leaders under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement – which was at the forefront of last year’s mass uprising that ousted autocrat Sheikh Hasina – and the National Citizens’ Committee (NCC), which also participated in the uprising, launched the new party to be known as the National Citizen Party (NCP) at a mammoth rally at the country’s parliament on 28 February.

“The [July 2024] uprising was a response to the desire for a new political settlement by dismantling the fascist system, aiming to rebuild a state based on the rights of the people. With this goal in mind, we announce the establishment of the National Citizen Party,” Nahid Islam, convenor of the new party, said at the party’s inauguration.

“It will be a democratic, egalitarian, and representative political party”, said Islam, one of the faces of the July uprising, who quit the interim cabinet three days earlier to join the party. At 26, he was the youngest person in the country’s political history to hold a top party position.

After Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India on 5 August, Islam and two other students became members of the interim cabinet led by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Several sources in the new party told University World News two other students-turned-advisers will also resign their positions in the cabinet to join the new party within a few months.

Thousands of people thronged the inauguration venue, filling it to the brim and spilling onto the streets surrounding the parliament. Many had travelled overnight.

“We want change in the country. We fought back against autocracy; now it is our time to rebuild the country,” Sajedur Rahman, a college student from Panchagarh, a district located in the northern extremity of Bangladesh, told University World News.

Anik Roy, joint convenor of the new party, said the activities of the two main organisations that led the July uprising – the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and NCC – will continue separately. “But individuals who will join the new political party will need to leave the old platforms,” he said.

Second Republic and a new constitution

A key objective of the party is a new constitution through a constituent assembly election, with the aim of establishing the “second republic”.

The NCP also says it wants to prioritise reconstruction of the nation’s fractured political and economic institutions and pledged a commitment to transparency, accountability, and rule of law, principles it believes have been eroded over time.

Party leaders argue this transformation is essential to break free from the existing political framework, which they believe has long failed to serve the people, allowing autocrats to run the country.

“We believe that the July 2024 uprising has initiated our struggle to establish the second republic. Through the drafting of a new, democratic constitution, we must eliminate all possibilities of re-establishing constitutional autocracy.

“One of our primary goals is to draft a new constitution through a constituent assembly election to establish our second republic,” Islam added.

He said that they wanted a political culture where unity replaces division at all levels of society, politics, and the state. Justice will replace revenge, and merit and competence will replace nepotism. There will be no place for corruption and favouritism in party politics, said Islam.

The term “second republic” refers to a specific period in the political history of various countries, usually marking a transition from one form of political system or government to another, explained Al Masud Hasanuzzaman, a professor of government and politics at Jahangirnagar University.

“It speaks of correcting the failures of the first republic through reformation and a new constitution, indicating a change in the political system and the entire political settlement,” he told University World News.

What the country achieved through the Liberation War of 1971 (against Pakistan) is the first republic, he said. “Again, our political and social institutions were destroyed, and autocracy emerged. We want to create the scope to correct these things in the second republic,” he said.

NCP’s Roy said elections should be held for a new constituent assembly.

“The parliament that will run the country for [the] next tenure will work as a constituent assembly for a certain period to draft the constitution. After that, they will return to their normal formal activities. Or both works can continue simultaneously,” he said.

“We want to discuss this issue with all political parties,” he added. NCP has started to reach out to potential candidates for each constituency, grooming them as constituency leaders.

“We have a plan to contest in the next polls, and we are preparing for that,” Roy said, pointing to plans to register with the election commission.

Several leaders of the new party, mostly former Dhaka University students, have started the process to contest the next polls, with enthusiastic public reaction at the inauguration boosting their confidence.

However, they will need to appeal to a broader spectrum of voters to be successful in elections alongside the existing Awami League (Sheikh Hasina’s party) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that have dominated politics since 1971.

Launch of non-partisan student organisation

On 26 February, other activists from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement floated a new non-partisan student organisation named Bangladesh Gonotantrik Chhatra Sangsad (Bangladesh Democratic Students' Union [BDSU]) with the slogan: “Student First, Bangladesh First”.

After the launch at a canteen at Dhaka University, BDSU central convener Abu Baker Majumder, a former coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said it would operate independently based on its own agendas and would refrain from partisan politics.

“There could be some ideological similarities, but it will never become a sycophantic student organisation of any political party,” he told University World News, referring to the youth wings of political parties that dominated campuses.

Its leaders will be democratically elected, with none aged over 28 years eligible to be a member, he said.

The leaders of the new organisation said they will work to create an inclusive student movement that does not discriminate based on nationality, religion, or race. It will build the future of Bangladesh through a new form of politics shaped by the July uprising, restoring student unions in educational institutions to safeguard the rights of students, they said.

Inauguration marred

However, the inauguration was interrupted when a group of private university students showed up at the launch venue to protest their possible exclusion. They argued they had been sidelined despite their significant role in the July uprising.

As Baker was announcing the new student body’s name and leadership, the private university students surrounded him, and a scuffle broke out. Several of the private university students were injured.

Tariqul Islam, a student at the University of Information Technology and Sciences, a private university in Dhaka, who was involved in the events at the inauguration, told University World News: “We also played an important role in the uprising alongside public university students. We’re protesting here to ensure we are not excluded from the new student organisation.”

Baker said: “Protests before the committee’s announcement seemed driven by other agendas, but discussions will be held to address legitimate concerns.”