JULY uprising student leaders on February 28 launched a political party, the National Citizen Party, with the aspirations of establishing a second republic. Coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination platform, formed seeking reforms in public service job reservations, and members of the National Citizens’ Committee, another platform formed after the fall of the Awami League regime in August 2024, hold key positions in the new party, with the former information adviser as the convener. The party’s official declaration says, as presented by the convener, that the July uprising was not merely about regime change; the mission is to cultivate a political culture in which unity prevails over division, justice replaces vengeance and merit triumphs over dynastic politics. More important, they hope to dismantle constitutional autocracy and adopt a new democratic constitution. The emergence of a new youth-led political party through people’s uprising is generally encouraging, but commenting on their politics will be premature as the party is yet to elaborate on its ideological orientation and make the party manifesto public.
Contrary to the declaration that it will foster inclusive politics, the party leadership is largely male-dominated and members of religious and ethnic minority communities are under-represented. Although the full organisational structure of the party is not announced, the organogram shows a clear patriarchal bias. A similar bias has been reported in the political platform that preceded the formation of the Citizen Party. On the 63-member coordination committee of the Student Against Discrimination announced on July 8, 2024, only two were women. The recently launched Democratic Students’ Council, although not officially an affiliate student body of the Citizen Party, also shows a similar bias. Since the Students’ Council announcement, it has faced violent conflict and controversy for its non-inclusive and reportedly undemocratic processes. The organisation announced its 222-member central committee on February 28 but the committee included only 27 women students. In addition, the committee is also termed urban-centric, with barely any representation of students from outside Dhaka. The private university students who took to the streets during the uprising with similar courage and patriotism allege that the new students’ organisation has failed to uphold the democratic spirit of the movement.
Youth leadership that launched the Citizen Party should reckon with the fact that rhetorical claims of inclusive politics is not enough. A true shift in political culture would mean learning from the past mistakes, reconsidering their male-dominated leadership structure and abandoning undemocratic decision making that have already resulted in a number of violent conflicts on the University of Dhaka campus. All who have participated in the July uprising should be included in real terms so that people’s political aspirations are heard and acknowledged.
