The major opposition BNP has started reshuffling its different units, front and associate organisations through removing ‘failed’ leaders as the party plans to wage a fresh spell of anti-government movement with ‘renewed vigour’.

In the latest development, the party dissolved different convening committees along with the committees of the party’s youth and student wings - Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD).

It dissolved the convening committees of its Dhaka South and North city units as well as Chattogram and Barishal city units.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the decision in a press release on Thursday night.

Besides, the central committee of Jubo Dal, led by President Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and General Secretary Abdul Monayem Munna, was also terminated.

According to another press release, JCD’s Dhaka North, South, East and West unit committees were also abolished.

The fresh committees for these units will be announced at a later date, the party added.

Insiders said the BNP high command decided to take organisational action against its leaders who failed to strengthen the organisation and wage an ‘effective’ movement to compel the government to resign, and who are not performing duties as per the party’s directives.

At the same time, the party also wants to bring new faces to the committees of its different important units and front and associate organisations, including Jubo Dal and JCD, eyeing a fresh anti-government movement.

“Reshuffle is a routine activity in a political party. There may be some weaknesses in the organisation.

We’re working to overcome all weaknesses and loopholes of our party,” BNP Standing Committee member Selima Rahman told the Daily Sun.

On 2 August 2021, the Dhaka South City unit committee of the BNP was announced with Abdus Salam as convener and Rafiqul Alam Majnu as member secretary while the Dhaka North City unit convening committee was formed with Amanullah Aman as convener and Aminul Haque as member secretary.

Later, Dr Farhad Halim Donar was made acting convener of Dhaka North unit on 16 September last year. The committees were asked to form committees of different units by three months but they failed to do the job, the party sources said.

The performance of the leaders was highly questionable as they could not organise the party and failed to form committees. Even at the peak of the movement before the last national election, various questions were raised about the role of the top leaders on the streets though some of them were arrested and imprisoned during the movement.

At the same time, the responsible leaders created controversies during the movement. While activists fought for their lives, some of the responsible leaders were busy gaining personal interests like embezzling the funds of the movement instead of standing by the imprisoned and ‘persecuted’ leaders and activists, sources said.

In this situation, the BNP high command held a series of meetings with senior leaders in recent days to find the reasons behind their failure and look for ways to strengthen the organisation to prepare for their fresh phase of the anti-government movement, the sources added.

“The committees (of Dhaka city units, Jubo Dal, JCD and others) have been dissolved as part of reshuffling the party. We also want to intensify our movement in the days to come,” BNP Vice-Chairman Mohammad Shahjahan told the Daily Sun.

Insiders said the party has also decided to bring new faces to its central command and standing committee as many posts remain vacant while many leaders either have quit politics or remained active for long.

However, the party is still undecided about whether they should hold a national council session to form a new central body, chairperson’s advisory council and national standing committee as it fears the party’s internal conflict may deepen if the council is held, the sources added.

In a recent meeting of the BNP standing committee, its member Salahuddin Ahmed raised the issue of holding the party’s national council session while party’s acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir agreed to it but no decision was finalised to this end, the meeting sources said.

Party sources said if they cannot hold the council soon, some new members may be included in the national executive committee and standing committee of the BNP.

Talking to the Daily Sun, a senior BNP leader, wishing not to be named, said the party is preparing for a fresh phase of anti-government movement and they have already held a series of meetings with other opposition parties who are in simultaneous movement.

In a meeting held on June 3, the BNP Standing Committee decided to forge movement on issues related to public interests, including price hikes of essential commodities and utilities.

At the same time, they also decided to raise their voices against different corruption scams and financial crises, the sources added.
Mirza Fakhrul in a programme recently has also said they will intensify the movement soon.