Although the ruling BNP and the main opposition Jamaat-e-Islami have largely been engaged in a war of words since the national election, the National Citizen Party (NCP), a partner in the opposition alliance, has faced several physical attacks.
While sporadic clashes have taken place between BNP and Jamaat at the local level, no such major incidents have been reported at the central level. Several central NCP leaders, however, have been injured in attacks allegedly carried out by BNP and its affiliated organisations.
According to a section of political analysts, the NCP has greater potential than Jamaat to make inroads into BNP’s centrist and young voter base in the future.
The emerging political equation has become a major topic of discussion across the country following a series of attacks and obstructions allegedly carried out by BNP and its affiliated organisations, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal, against NCP central leaders during the party’s recent ‘July March’ programmes in Sylhet and Habiganj.
The incidents began last Tuesday when the motorcade of NCP Northern Region Chief Organiser Sarjis Alam and Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari came under attack near the Circuit House in Habiganj, close to the venue of the party’s July March programme.
The following day, Wednesday, NCP Convener and Opposition Chief Whip in the Jatiya Sangsad Nahid Islam and other leaders faced police obstruction when they attempted to hold a protest rally in Habiganj town. After remaining stranded on the highway for a prolonged period, the party later filed a case at the Kamaichhara Police Outpost in Bahubal.
The next day, bricks and stones were thrown at Sarjis Alam’s vehicle and ‘fake, fake’ slogans were chanted as he was travelling to Kanaighat after meeting families of martyrs in Golapganj, Sylhet. The vehicle’s windows were shattered in the attack.
In the case filed by the NCP over the Habiganj attack, Habiganj District Chhatra Dal President Shah Rajib Ahmed Ringgon and 10 others were named, while another 100 unidentified people were also made accused.
Denying the allegations, Shah Rajib Ahmed Ringgon told TIMES of Bangladesh, “The NCP’s central leaders came to Habiganj and made provocative and obscene remarks about the BNP, its Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and other senior leaders. This created anger among students and the public. It was out of that anger that students and members of the public attacked them. Neither the BNP nor Chhatra Dal had any organisational involvement in the incident.”
He described the case as “politically motivated and false”.
The NCP views the attacks and obstructions as a serious threat to the democratic environment.
At a press conference, party spokesperson Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan said, “BNP leaders and activists are recording and circulating videos of the attacks themselves, which indicates their political patronage. The failure to take legal and organisational action over these incidents poses a direct threat to democracy, freedom of expression and the freedom to conduct political activities.”
The party’s Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain alleged that incidents such as a crude bomb explosion in Savar and the hanging of an effigy in Meherpur were part of a continuing pattern of obstruction.
He said: “BNP, Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal leaders and activists are carrying out planned attacks on the party because it is speaking on behalf of the people and highlighting what it calls the BNP government’s broken promises.”
NCP leader Nasiruddin Patwari’s vehicle was also attacked after he travelled to Benapole in Jashore on 3 June.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed told TIMES, “We do not consider any political party an adversary. However, if anyone deliberately picks a fight with us, they will not be spared.”
Former Professor of Government and Politics at Jahangirnagar University Dilara Choudhury believes it is essential to ensure that opposition parties can freely express their views and conduct political activities in a democratic environment.
Criticising the violence, she told TIMES, “What Chhatra Dal has done reminded me once again of Chhatra League. We do not want to see that kind of old politics again.”
She also expressed concern, saying, “The old politics is returning in a new form.”
Asif Bin Ali, a geopolitical analyst and doctoral fellow at Georgia State University, said the NCP may be attracting attention.
He said Jamaat has an ideologically committed support base, while the NCP is seeking right-leaning young voters who might otherwise support the BNP. The NCP, he added, receives media attention disproportionate to its organisational strength, while Jamaat has been less successful in using modern media and shaping public opinion.
However, he cautioned that this visibility is stronger in the media than on the ground, making it premature to conclude that the BNP sees the NCP as a greater rival than Jamaat.
He said the ruling party must ensure peaceful political activity adding that provocative rhetoric cannot justify violence and that political speech should be answered with political speech.
