A few days after the formation of the National Citizens Committee, the organization announced the formation of a new political party. Through this organization, the 'moderate approach' political party is going to start its journey with people who want to take Bangladesh forward in the court of the world. The announcement of the new party may come in February or March, said multiple sources of the civic committee.
Various speculations are going on everywhere about the formation of a new party. The National Citizens Committee and anti-discrimination student movement is also gaining importance in the discussion of the political circles about the debut of a new political party.
Who can come in four top positions
The process of forming a new political party under the leadership of the Civic Committee and the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement is underway. The top leadership structure of the party will consist of four posts – Convener, Member Secretary, Spokesperson and Chief Organiser. According to related sources, Naseeruddin Patwari, convener of the civic committee, member secretary Akhtar Hossain, chief organizer Sarjis Alam and convener of the anti-discrimination student movement, Hasnat Abdullah, can come to the top positions.
Samantha Sharmin, Spokesperson of the Citizens Committee said while talking to Bangla Tribune, we will do politics by getting out of the culture of running the party on the decision of a single leader. We have to work for this culture change and new political settlement. Here we have the opinion of an ordinary member and the party leader will be of equal importance.
Advisors are away from the party for now
Initially, there were discussions that the three advisers of the interim government, Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Mahfuz Alam, would resign and join the new political party. But it has been decided, they will not resign for now. Sources said that they may join the democratic process as members in future.
The platform will continue to operate
Even if the new party is formed, the activities of the civic committee and anti-discrimination student movement will continue. Those who want to enter politics directly, have to leave the civic committee membership to join the new party. However, a person cannot be on two platforms at the same time, said the top leaders of both organizations.
Party formation on moderate ideology
Leaders said the new party will be built on moderate ideals. The principles of the party will be human dignity, democracy and justice. Samantha Sharmin, the spokesperson of the Citizens' Committee, said, “The opportunity will be kept for people of different views to come together in order to protect the sovereignty, interests and future of Bangladesh.”
Arif Sohel, member secretary of anti-discrimination student movement, said, 'The ideal of our party will be moderate. We want to work with everyone who is uncompromising on the Bangladesh issue. Accordingly, the ideals of our party will be determined.
Constituent Assembly elections are important, not Parliament
The party's target for now is not parliamentary elections. The leaders believe that the election of the Constituent Assembly should be prioritized by the rehabilitation of the martyrs' families, the trial of genocide and the reform of the electoral system. Samantha Sharmin said, 'to keep the coup constitutionally upheld, changes must be made through the Constituent Assembly.'
The name of the political party has not been finalized yet
The draft constitution of the civic committee will be published by the end of January. It is being developed under the leadership of the legal wing of the organisation. However, the constitution of the new political party will be different. There is a possibility of creating a new trend in the political arena through the formation of new parties. However, it is said that the name of the team has not been finalized yet.
Samantha Sharmin, when asked about the formation of a political party under the initiative of the civic committee and the formulation of the constitution of the party, said, 'There has been no discussion on this issue yet. We will sit down with them very soon.
The convening committee will form the representative committee
Talking to the entrepreneurs, it is known that until December 28, the National Citizens' Committee has announced a committee of 125 units including thana and upazila. The platform aims to announce almost all Thana-upzilla committees by January. After the formation of Thana Committee, the organization now aims to expand neighborhood-based activities. Union and ward level committee formation work is nearing completion. They can be announced only after the Thana and Upazila Committee announcements are over.
According to sources in the civic committee, the police station-upzilla level committees have been declared 'representative committees' and asked to prepare a list of convening committees based on mutual understanding. However, they have not yet discussed the district level committee.
'Inclusive Committee'
The National Citizens Committee made its debut by announcing a 56-member committee on September 8. Then on October 3, 7 lawyers of the Supreme Court were added to the National Citizen Committee. After adding these 7 people, the number of members of the civic committee stands at 62. Then on November 25, 45 more people were added to the committee. As a result, the number of committee members increased to 107 people. With the addition of 40 people, the number of members of the Central Committee of the National Citizens Committee has reached 147.
Analyzing it, it can be seen that the former leaders of Daksu, Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Shibir, Chhatra Adhikar Parishad, lawyers, student union, and former leaders of student federation are in the central committee. There are also activists and influencers. The civic committee is calling it 'inclusive'.
Young leadership will be important
There are whispers in the political arena, the party is looking for a 'King'. They want to gain the trust of the people by keeping them in front. A few people have been mentioned as kings. However, the National Citizens Committee says that there is no discussion between them. Some might think of making a king's party. But overall the National Citizens Committee will not allow that to happen.
The National Citizens Committee will give importance to youth leadership in their political parties. Samantha Sharmin said, 'We will definitely prioritize young leadership in the new political party.'
The new party will not do lame student politics
Anti-discrimination student movement has given convening committee in 18 districts, three cities, one university and one polytechnic institute till December 28. Among them, the anti-discrimination student movement made a committee of 238 members in Gaibandha.
Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and National Citizen Committee will act as self-starter platform after the announcement of new political party. Arif Sohail said that it will not present itself as a political student organization. He told Bangla Tribune, 'We will never declare this as a political platform. It will work on its own. The announcement of the political platform of the students means that student politics has come to the fore. Since one of the passions of the movement was to stop lewd student politics, we will not do that.
There are currently no plans for student council elections
One of the demands of the July People's Uprising was to stop the laziness of student politics in all universities and educational institutions and continue regular student parliament elections. After the movement, the anti-discrimination student movement talked with the administration of Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University about the election of student parliament. However, Arif Sohail said that despite having an official meeting with the Jahangirnagar University administration, there was no formal meeting with Dhaka University.
They said that they will talk to the university administration about holding student council elections within a minimum reasonable time. However, Arif Sohail said that there is no plan so far to provide any panel under the banner of anti-discrimination student movement.
