The central committee of the newly formed political party—National Citizen Party—is going to be extended. The party will primarily focus on strengthening its committees in grassroots.
The party’s leadership will also finalise the strategy on how to integrate the leaders and activists of Jatiya Nagorik Committee and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement to NCP. The party leadership will also become more cautious in issuing statements, making remarks and overall activities.
Four top leaders of NCP revealed these plans after the announcement of the new party at Manik Mia Avenue of the city on Friday. They said the Nagorik Committee and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement will remain operational after the announcement of the new party.
The committees of these two platforms would be revamped soon. These two platforms will have no organisational connection with NCP and they will operate in separate offices.
Electoral symbol of the new party is yet to be decided. Before floating the party, the initiators conducted an opinion poll styled ‘New Bangladesh in your eyes’.
The survey received several proposals for the electoral symbol of the NCP. The proposals include book, notebook, pen, clenched hand, pigeon, water lily, Hilsha and Tiger, among others, as the party’s electoral symbol. The party will take some time to fix the party symbol and establish the party offices to meet the condition to be registered as a political party.
According to The Representation of the People Order, 1972, a political party requires an active central office, offices in one third administrative districts and at least 100 upazilas or metropolitan thanas. Moreover, a political party must have some specific declaration in its constitution for being considered for registration.
The NCP will primarily begin preparations to set up offices and finalise the constitution to get registered as a political party. The party forum will also discuss electoral symbol. The party will apply for registration upon finalising all these, said top leaders of the party.
Expansion of party and establishment of office
NCP got going with a 171-member central convening committee yesterday. However, the size of this committee may soon increase to more than two hundred members, said two leaders of the party.
Apart from the top positions of the party, 16 people have been appointed as joint conveners, 32 as joint member secretaries, 26 as organisers of the southern region, 18 as organisers of northern region, 14 as joint chief coordinators and 43 as members. When asked why so many people were selected for each position, a leader of the new party gave two reasons behind it.
One is the convenience of organisational work, and the other is to include people of different views and classes in the committee. Apart from this, he also said that many people had to be kept in different positions to ‘appease’ the aspirants.
At the moment, the NCP’s main focus is to expand the grassroots organisation, said a leader in the top 10. He said that in the last few months after the July mass uprising, committees of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee have been formed in at least four hundred thanas across the country.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement has also formed around a hundred committees in districts, cities and various educational institutions. Now, the new party’s 171-member central committee has almost an equal number of leaders from the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the SAD.
There is a discussion at the district-upazila and grassroots levels whether the committees of the Nagorik Committee and the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement will be converted into party committees.
The leader said that the grassroots committees of the Nagorik Committee and the Student Movement will be reviewed. Many of those committees will be included in the new political party. However, how this should be done will be decided after a discussion soon.
A leader said that the new political party is looking for an office in Dhaka. He said that several properties have already been checked for the office in Farmgate, Kakrail, Segunbagicha and Hatirpool. The party wants to set up its central office in Farmgate, Shahbagh, and Paltan areas.
A mid-ranked leader of the party said that a two-story building has already been shortlisted for the office in Kakrail. However, it may not be finalised in the end due to its vicinity with the BNP central office.
A top leader told Prothom Alo that the central office will be finalised soon. Moreover, other local offices and committees required for registration will be finalised soon. The party is now eyeing to extend its activities in the grassroots. It will also throw programmes demanding a trial of Awami League.
The leader said the NCP’s organisational activities will go full throttle after Eid ul Fitr. The leaders of the party are likely to attend the Iftar-related parties in the month of Ramadan.
How would two organisations work
The activities of the Nagorik Committee and the Student Movement will continue even after the formation of the new political party. A leader of the Nagorik Committee said the orgnaisation will continue to run its office at Banglamotor. It will now work mainly as a pressure group. A meeting will be held soon to discuss the new organogram of the organisation.
Meanwhile, SAD’s coordinator and chief organiser of the southern region, Hasnat Abdullah, told Prothom Alo yesterday that the activities of the Student Movement as well as Nagorik Committee will continue. This platform will work against fascism and press for the trial of Awami League. However, it is not yet clear if the organisation will run its current office in Banglamotor.
Party leaders to be more cautious in future
The NCP has been launched amid a big gathering in the city. The leaders of the party are ‘more or less satisfied’ for successfully organising the launching event in a short time and by participation of people from different classes and professions.
A top leader of the party told Prothom Alo that the programme lacked proper preparation as managing multiple tasks was tough. Yet the programme was attended by people from different walks of life from Dalit-Harijan to elite class.
That leader also said the presence of more than 100,000 people testifies the organisational strength the Nagorik Committee achieved by announcing committees in over 400 thanas. Most of the people who joined from upazila and thana levels came to attend the programme by their own finance and management.
Asked about his review of the launching event of the NCP, Hasnat Abdullah told Prothom Alo, “Spontaneous participation of people at the party’s launching ceremony has made us more aware of our responsibilities. We might have made mistakes in the past. But we will have to become more responsible and cautious in the future. We felt this urge more due to spontaneous participation of the people.”