Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a controversial, right-wing political party known for its opposition to Bangladesh’s liberation war in 1971, has always relied on a bigger political party for its survival. Historically, Jamaat was an ally of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, providing the latter much needed support to form governments in 1991 and 2001. Although no formal alliance existed between Jamaat and the Awami League as is often misunderstood, Jamaat provided support to some political programmes of the AL during the 1996 political crisis, which helped AL win the elections and come to power after 21 years of political exile. Jamaat never did politics on its own, and it acted as a dependent political entity always finding a way for its survival. This is Jamaat’s history for the past 80 years.
That history is long gone. Taking the advantage of a politically changing environment, the historically dependent party has emerged as a safe house to other political parties. On 28 December, Jamaat formed an electoral alliance with National Citizen Party (NCP), a political party much different in ideology and structure from them. As part of the alliance, Jamaat gave 30 seats to NCP, while another Islamist alliance member of Jamaat, the Islami Andolan, received 35 seats, putting it in a much more important position than NCP.
NCP, a political party which was formed by such leaders who had forced a fascist like Sheikh Hasina to step down from power and flee the country amid a mass uprising in July-August 2024, could have stayed independent and instead of focusing on grabbing seats in the next election, could have taken a long term plan and build a support base which could have helped it to cement its footprint in the country’s political scene in the near future.
Instead of doing that, NCP became part of an alliance, risking its legitimacy and acceptance among the country’s young population, who had expected that there would be a chance to get rid of the existing political culture through NCPs coming.
NCP’s guiding principles are liberalism and centrism, with a focus on women empowerment. The party made many women part of their top leadership, unlike other political parties like BNP and Jamaat where women at the top of political leadership is mostly unseen. That’s why NCP forging an alliance with Jamaat, a party which has reservations about women’s participation in the public sphere, raises serious questions. As a centrist and liberal political party, NCP is bound to speak for the rights of everyone, including the rights of the minorities, while Jamaat’s stance on minority rights is questionable.
While forming the party, NCP had spoken of getting rid of the usual politics that runs Bangladesh and building a new political structure with reforms in every sector. An alliance with Jamaat is contrary to this promise, as Jamaat is part of the country’s usual political structure, with more or less the same ideologies, outlook and behavior running through its veins since the party was rehabilitated by late president Ziaur Rahman during the late 1970s.
Could NCP had secured more than 30 seats in the upcoming election if it had remained neutral and fought the election on its own? There are some doubts to this question, as the NCP that began as a firebrand political platform later lost its ignition and became a lip service party, with no clear positions of movements regarding the issues affecting the nation. The July Uprising was mobilized through social media, and the images of leaders like Nahid Islam and Hasnat Abdullah had become known to all through the digital sphere. It will not be correct if someone says that without an alliance, no one had identified NCP candidates during elections. If NCP had remained steadfast in its promise of bringing changes to the country’s age-old political culture, and had taken visible steps towards this goal through actions and words, people would have known them, respected them, and at one point, voted for them.
NCP made some big mistakes during its short lived trajectory, especially when some of its leaders joined the interim government as advisers. As advisers, NCP leaders were far more exposed to the public, and people had wished to see what changes they could bring to the country’s administrative structure. Sadly, as advisers, Nahid Islam, Mahfuj Alam and Asif Mahmud could not do much, and this disappointed the country’s people, further straining NCPs image nationwide.
Sensing that their political doom was near, NCP leadership felt the need for a survival tactic, and this is the reason behind their alliance with Jamaat, a party which has emerged as the true victor since last year’s July Uprising. With BNP’s image as a known political face and NCP waning, Jamaat is seen by a large section of the population as something different, and many people are eager to see what they do when in power. What the Bangladeshi populace initially wanted after the July Uprising was a change in the country’s politics, with someone new doing something exceptional. NCP had the glare at first, but due to political inaction and inertia, they lost the glory. Although Tarique Rahman’s return has created a wave in the country’s political fabric, Jamaat has steadily found its footing too. The absence of a large political party like Awami League has created a vacuum in Bangladeshi politics, which Jamaat is eager to fulfill. And sensing that remaining independent would be a political suicide, NCP has joined hands with Jamaat in becoming if not the first but at least the second most influential political force in the country.
Historically, the political parties that have taken Jamaat as their ally have been prone to a tainted image later. It is to be seen if joining hands with Jamaat gives NCP any political leverage or causes them to backslide further. One thing is certain though. A centrist, liberal party’s mixing with a rightwing, fundamentalist force will further degenerate a political newcomer’s future possibilities.
Muhammad A. Bashed is a Dhaka-based journalist
