BNP and Jamaat try to woo Islamist parties under own folds

Within a week of Jamaat-e-Islami amir’s meeting with Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s (IAB) amir, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir met him on Monday amid various discussions centering the time of next election and institutional reforms. Jamaat amir met IAB amir in Barishal around a week ago and the leaders of the two parties talked about an effort of forming an alliance among Islamist parties following the meeting.

Politicians think that there may be various polarization in politics before the next general elections. Although the date of the elections has not been announced yet, the election-oriented activities of the political parties have become visible. Efforts to woo Islamist parties by BNP and Jamaat are visible. A few days before the meeting with the IAB amir, BNP held another meeting with Khelafat Majlis.

Mirza Fakhrul met IAB amir and Charmonai pir Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim at the party’s central office in Purana Paltan yesterday afternoon. They agreed on 10 issues during a long meeting. Mirza Fakhrul performed Zuhr prayer at IAB office and had lunch with its amir. BNP vice chairman Barkatullah accompanied him.

Sources said BNP eyes bridging the gap and improving relations with the IAB ahead of the election. However, BNP mainly wants to stop the top leaders of IAB from criticising the party. The IAB leaders have been making remarks since the July uprising which went against the BNP. The issue of Jamaat-e-Islami was also discussed in the meeting.

Although BNP and IAB did not fully agree on timing of the next elections, the parties agreed on 10 issues including not taking any decision that goes against Islami shariah. The declaration made by the leaders of BNP and IAB had an inkling that the existing gap between the parties had been somewhat minimized.

Jamaat and IAB are two of the major parties whose differences with BNP on various issues including reform and election came to fore after the student-led uprising on 5 August. Alongside Jamaat, IAB’s amir Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim and senior nayeb e amir Syed Muhammad Faizul Karim made scathing remarks about ‘usurpation and extortion’ in different places since the fall of Awami League, pointing fingers at BNP.

Within a month of the fall of the autocratic Awami League regime, Faizul Karim at a rally in Shariatpur said that a certain political party has started looting, killing and collecting extortion since the political changeover. While addressing a party rally in Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan this month, Syed Rezaul Karim remarked that the people of Bangladesh don’t want to see extortionists, usurpers and killers in power any more. On 24 January at an event at the Engineers’ Institution, he said, “Efforts are on to bring the Islamic parties under one platform to contest the next general elections.’ These remarks were supposedly made pointing towards the BNP.

Sources said yesterday’s meeting mainly targeted stopping such remarks in the run up to the next elections. Both the parties agreed on this issue during the meeting. It was on number 7 of the 10-point agreement.  The two parties declared to ‘refrain from making remarks that hurt each other within the anti-fascist camp.’

The IAB leaders in the meeting brought up the issues of ‘usurpation and extortion’ and said Tarique Rahman and senior BNP leaders took stern stance against such wrongdoings but also alleged their stance is doing little to prevent the grassroots of the party. In response, BNP leaders admitted that it is happening in some places, but if specific complaints are received, the party is taking immediate action. A political government is needed to stop these. Once the election is over, such crimes can be brought under control.

A source present at the meeting said that BNP did not agree with the IAB on the issue of holding elections under Proportional Representation (PR) system. Apart from this, both parties could not fully agree on the timing of the election. The IAB is in favour of the PR system. BNP leaders have argued against it, saying that there will be no seat-based candidates under the system. As a result, people will become disinterested in voting. Apart from this, there is an issue of bringing voters to the center during the election. If there is no candidate, no one will show any interest in bringing the voters to the polling centres, the BNP argued.

Besides, BNP wanted national elections in July-August. The IAB wants elections as soon as possible after completing the necessary reforms. In response to questions from journalists at a joint briefing on this matter, Syed Rezaul Karim said, “We have used the word ‘in quick time’. And we are against too much delay, we have said that the reasonable time is within one to one and a half years. As six months have almost passed, we want a fair national election to be arranged within a year. This is what we want.”
Mirza Fakhrul Islam refrained from replying to questions on this issue.

Sources said the Jamaat issue was discussed in the meeting while the issue of criticizing each other among the political parties that took part in anti-fascist movement came up for the discussion. BNP leaders said that continuation of this mudslinging will only benefit Awami League. At that moment, a senior leader of IAB retorted, “It is you who patronized Jamaat and made them ministers”. A BNP leader said that was a mistake.

After a nearly two-hour meeting, Mirza Fakhrul read out 10 points.
Their agreements are: Building national unity to form an independent, sovereign, and sustainable state, free from hegemony, expansionism, and imperialism; bringing corrupt individuals, terrorists, murderers, and money launderers to justice and ensuring exemplary punishment to them; fostering national unity to protect all human rights, including voting rights; holding a fair and acceptable national election in the quickest possible time after carrying out minimum reforms; controlling the rise in commodity prices; establishing the rights of all deprived people; restoring law and order, and promptly removing remaining associates of Awami fascism from the administration.

Both parties also decided to work together in unison with all anti-Awami-fascist forces to build the country; refrain from making remarks that hurt each other within the anti-fascist camp; and remain politically united to prevent any other fascist force, like the Awami League, from coming to power in the future.

Following the meeting, Mirza Fakhrul said, “We had an important discussion with Islami Andolan Bangladesh amir Maulana Syed Rezaul Karim. In this discussion, we have reached a consensus on some issues.”

The IAB amir said they discussed matters related to politics, the country’s situation, and humanity. “These are the same points that the BNP secretary general has presented to you (the media). These are also our statements.”

IAB senior presidium member Syed Mosaddek Billah, secretary general Maulana Younus Ahmad, presidium member Ashraf Ali Akon, senior joint secretary general Gazi Ataur Rahman and joint secretary general Imtiaz Alam, among others, were present at the meeting.

Jamaat-e-Islami amir Shafiqur Rahman went to Barishal to attend a party rally on 21 January. Before attending the rally, he went to meet Charmoni Pir. Since the two Islamist parties have differences on many religious issues, the meeting between the top leaders created a ripple in the arena of Islamist parties. Within a week, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam went to IAB office to meet its amir.

Earlier on 22 January, BNP secretary general and standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan held a meeting with amir and secretary general of Khelafat Majlis. BNP is likely to hold meetings with some other parties.
Political analysts think BNP has started a series of meetings with religion-based political parties to counter a similar move by Jamaat ahead of the next election. However, following the meeting with Khelafat Majlis, BNP said it has started expediting relations with all anti-fascist political parties, especially religion-based parties.

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