To join the parallel action being prepared by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to overthrow the Awami League government, a new coalition of 12 political groups was revealed on Thursday.
These 12 parties were formerly a part of the 20-party coalition led by the BNP. On December 9, the BNP broke from that partnership in order to concentrate on the concurrent anti-government campaign.
At a news conference held at the National Press Club in the nation’s capital, Mostafa Jamal Haidar, the head of a division of the Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), declared the new coalition.
The Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), Bangladesh Kallyan Party, Bangladesh Labour Party, Bangladesh Jatiya Dal, National Democratic Party, a faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, Muslim League, Jamiyet Ulamaye Islam, Islami Oikkya Jote, Jatiya Ganatantrik Party, Islamic Party, and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal are the partners in the newly formed 12-party alliance.
Mostafa claimed that their relationship and solidarity with the BNP, the nation’s largest opposition group, would not change.
He added that there is no room for misunderstanding and that they (the 12 parties) will move together on the path of simultaneous movement. “We are moving forward with new tactics to build a greater unity of the political parties that are against this fascist [Awami League] government,” he said.
Mostafizur Rahman, the head of the Labour Party, read aloud the 12-party coalition’s proclamation.
He added that they will be known as the 12-party alliance and that they have chosen to join the continuing anti-government campaign to restore democracy and the right of the people to vote.
He added that the alliance would continue to be active in the streets alongside the BNP in the parallel anti-government movement for the holding of elections under a caretaker government by creating a new Election Commission.
He added that the 12-party coalition has voiced sympathy with the BNP’s 27-point “Structural Reform of the State” framework and views it as a “national charter of emancipation.”
Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, the chairman of the Bangladesh Kallyan Party, recalled that the 20-party coalition, which was led by the BNP, held its final meeting on December 9 at the office of the BNP chairman, at which the leaders of the alliance resolved not to continue using the name 20-party alliance.
The coalition of 20 parties was established on April 18, 2012.
The Bangladesh Kallyan Party and Bangladesh Muslim League are the two officially recognized political parties that are a member of the new 12-party alliance, he continued.
According to Ibrahim, the other parties in the combine have submitted requests to the Election Commission for registration, and a favorable outcome is anticipated.
Ibrahim added that the alliance would soon make a decision regarding holding programs in the divisional cities after December 30 as a part of the concurrent opposition movement.
“We will participate in all BNP programs, and on December 30 we will organize large-scale processions as a part of the concurrent movement.” At around 2:00 pm, we will congregate in the capital’s Bijoy Nagar neighborhood,’ he added.
According to Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a member of the BNP’s standing committee, the new 12-party combine of like-minded parties is seen as a positive development.
He also asserted that people joining the alliance will do so in response to the BNP’s 10-point proposal.
‘Like-minded parties are forging alliances themselves to participate in the future agitations as there is no longer the formal 20-party alliance,’ he said.
However, the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Oli Ahmed, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a longtime supporter of the BNP, are not currently allied.
According to Oli Ahmed, the party’s president, “The LDP has enough power to organize parallel programs without the participation of any other party and that’s why it did not go with any coalition.”
On Thursday, a BNP standing committee member told New Age that the BNP should no longer be called into question about its ties to the Jamaat.
He claimed that the “friendly separation” would make it easier for the two sides to participate in future movements with more visibility.
The first concurrent anti-government event is planned to take place on December 30 in Dhaka by holding a large procession to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the contentious general election from 2018.
