Two major political parties – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami – have stepped up their efforts to forge separate strategic alliances by courting smaller religion-based parties to expand their support base and enhance electoral prospects as the interim government is preparing for the next general election in December.
The BNP and Jamaat separately held several meetings with Islamic parties but a concrete framework for an election-centric alliance is yet to be finalised.
Leaders of the BNP and Jamaat said that discussions on political unity with different political parties were going on and will continue but finalising the structure for electoral unity and determining alliances would take time.
The discussion on the unity of Islamic parties gained prominence after the January 21 meeting between Jamaat ameer Shafiqur Rahman and Islami Andolan Bangladesh chief Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim in Barisal.
Following the meeting, Shafiqur had told reporters that their primary goal was to foster unity among Islamic parties.
Rezaul had said that they were trying to give a single box in favor of Islamic parties in the upcoming national election.
‘We maintain political relations with everyone and stay in touch with each other. As part of this, we exchange views with other Islamic parties, including the Islami Andolan Bangladesh. However, no election-centric alliance has been finalised yet,’ Jamaat assistant secretary general Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Monday.
‘It will take time…much will depend on when and how the elections will be held,’ he said.
Zubair mentioned that their communications with other parties were going on but there was no significant progress at this moment.
Six days after the meeting between Shafiqur and Rezaul, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir held a meeting with Rezaul on January 27 at the central office of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh in Dhaka.
At the meeting, the BNP and the IAB reached a consensus on a 10-point decision including the national election in the shortest possible time after completing necessary minimum reforms, working together to rebuild the country, and unite all forces against fascism.
They also agreed on taking no actions that go against Islamic Shariah and refraining from making any statements against Islam.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Rezaul Karim said, ‘Regarding election timeframe, we have used the word ‘quick time’, and we have said that the reasonable timeframe for the elections is between one and one and a half years, not too much time. Already six months of the government has passed.’
About the unity efforts with the Islamic party, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that discussions on political unity should continue, and the BNP was engaging in talks with various parties, not just the Islamic ones, with that goal in mind.
‘I think this discussion is nothing new. We have been in alliance with many Islamic parties for a long time. There may be initiatives for consensus on various issues, including the upcoming elections,’ he said.
BNP held another meeting with the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis on January 22 and agreed on seven issues, including holding the national election within 2025 and strengthening national unity to prevent the reemergence of the fallen fascists.
The nine-member delegation, led by Khelafat Majlis ameer Maulana Abdul Basit Azad, held the meeting with BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
Khelafat Majlis, a religion-based political party, was a part of the BNP-led alliance but left the coalition on October 1, 2021.
Party leaders said that they saw no reason to remain in the alliance, as it became inactive following the formation of Jatiya Oikya Front just before the December 30, 2018 general election.
BNP on January 31 held a meeting with the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh and reached a consensus calling for national elections to be held by 2025 after completing minimum necessary reforms.
Senior BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul and Nazrul Islam attended the meetings.
Following the January 31 meeting, Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam secretary general Monjurul Islam Afendi said that they agreed with the BNP on holding the national election by 2025 after completing the necessary reforms within a logical time.
Regarding the election-centric alliance of religion-based political parties, IAB senior joint secretary general Gazi Ataur Rahman said that Islamic parties aimed to participate in the upcoming elections unitedly. He said that they were in discussions with all the Islamic parties involved in the July uprising and that efforts were being made to bridge the gap between them.
Ataur said that the parties had agreed that there would be a single candidate from the Islamic parties for each constituency in the upcoming elections, and Jamaat also agreed on this matter.
