Party leaders prefer Oct to hit the streets
Still looking for a ‘magical overhaul’ to stage a come back in the political landscape, BNP is planning to use the fasting month of Ramadan for its full-scale preparations to wage a ‘strong movement’ after the holy month.
During the Ramadan, BNP wants to reorganise itself and its associate bodies and boost the morale of its grassroots-level leaders and activists.
Although BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has threatened to wage a movement after Eid to force the government to hold a fresh election soon, the party senior leaders think their movement is unlikely to get intensified before October.
According to sources close to Khaleda, the party will start reshuffling the cards with reconstituting the new committee for Dhaka city unit in early Ramadan and then will gradually tidy up Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal and other associate bodies.
The sources said the party will announce programmes on some specific issues, mainly on public sufferings, government’s failures and misdeeds, and national interest to put the party men at war mood after Eid-ul-Fitr as per the announcement of Khaleda. But it is unlikely to announce any harsher programmes like hartal and blockade before October unless the political situation takes a new twist with any major development.
Three BNP senior leaders said their party now do not want to take any violent or harsher programmes that may dent their image abroad as most foreign countries are mounting pressure on the government to hold a fresh inclusive election through talks with BNP.
“We’ll properly use the month of Ramadan to complete the uphill tasks of reorganising the party and strengthen its organisational capacity,” BNP standing committee member Tariqul Islam told UNB.
He also said senior BNP leaders will visit different districts during the month to take all-out preparations for a strong movement and motivate the party leaders and activists at the grassroots level.
The BNP policymaker, however, is still worried about the party’s Dhaka city unit as there is no progress insight in recasting the party’s most important unit taking lessons from its failures during the movement before the January-5 election.
“There’s no alternative to making the party stronger through a major overhaul. Though the party has visible organisational strength across the country, its Dhaka city unit still faces some predicaments. We must fix those immediately before going for a decisive movement,” he added.
Recognising the party’s organisational weakness, BNP’s another standing committee member, Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, said their party has already identified the mistakes and problems for which their movement before the January-5 election had failed to yield desired outcomes. He said they have also taken measures to resolve those.
“Though it seems reorganising of our party is going on very slowly, we’ve have made a significant progress in this regard. We’ll soon complete it and make the party ready for a vigorous movement,” Mahbub said.
Echoing Tariqul, Mahbub also said they will take the Ramadan organisational month to invigorate the party and fix its problems alongside religious activities and functions.
Though he directly did not oppose the BNP chief’s announcement for initiating a movement after eid, Mahbub said, “As an Army man, what I understand is that we need proper preparations before going for any operation. I think, the party should first get it ready for a movement to make it successful. We should take forward a movement very carefully as any imprudent decision can badly damage the party.”
BNP joint secretary general M Shahjahan said country’s people want BNP to wage a movement to free them from the misrule of this government. “An environment for a movement is prevailing in the country right now as people got fed up with the current illegal government. As a responsible political party, we must play a historic role in saving people from misrule and installing a pro-people government through a strong movement.”
Asked whether they are ready for the movement, the BNP leader said people are ready to take to the streets. “We’re also taking preparations to wage a strong movement.”
A party senior leader wishing anonymity said they want to give the government until October to concede to their demand for holding a fresh election through talks.
If the government doe not take any steps within the time, he said the party will then have no option but to wage a strong movement.
The leader said the United Nations, the EU and the US and many other foreign countries are continuously putting pressure on the government to sit with BNP for reaching an understanding over a fresh national election.
In this context, he said they will also announce some peaceful programmes after Eid to mount pressure on the government and force it sit across the negotiation table.
Source: UNB Connect
