A faction of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has called a half-day hartal in Jamalpur on Wednesday, demanding the suspension of the district unit’s upcoming conference.
On Tuesday evening, the dissident group, led by district BNP member Shamim Ahmed, held a torch rally under the banner of BNP and its affiliated organisations.
The procession started from the Bakultala intersection and ended at Doyamoyee Chattar after parading through various parts of the town. During the demonstration, protesters chanted slogans demanding the cancellation of the district conference and called for the strike to be observed successfully.
At one point, they reportedly vandalised a fruit shop. Panic spread in the area when 30 to 40 crude bombs (cocktail explosives) were detonated near Medical Road area during the procession.
In response, another faction of BNP and its affiliate organisations staged a counter-demonstration, calling for a boycott of the strike and vowing to ensure the success of the upcoming conference.
According to party sources, the long-awaited biannual conference of the Jamalpur district BNP is scheduled to take place on August 23, nearly nine years since the last one. BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman is expected to address the event virtually as the chief guest.
However, tensions have been rising in the local political scene as internal divisions within the party have become more visible ahead of the conference, with two opposing factions now openly confronting each other.