By Satyaki Chakraborty
The anti-discrimination students body which pioneered the massive upsurge in Bangladesh last year leading to the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 and abdication of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India, is set to float their new political party with specific programme and constitution by the end of this month. The preparatory committee is proceeding at a breakneck speed to finalise the list of the members of the proposed leadership and if everything goes as per current programme, the announcement may be made even on February 24.
As of now, the indication is that Nahid Islam, the adviser in charge of information and publicity of the interim government led by Dr. Mohammad Yunus will take over as the general secretary. He is expected to resign from his present position shortly. Nahid is among the two members representing the students body in the interim government. He has been highly active in pushing the students body programmes through Yunus government. He has organisational skill. So he has been selected as the prime leader of the new party. The other adviser from the students body, will remain in the interim government for the time being, it is learnt.
The Jatiyo Nagarik Committee (JNC), the other platform of the anti-Hasina movement will also be a part of the proposed new political party. This party will have a separate students wing which can be also announced along with the formation of the new Party. The students and youth have taken vanguard position in the movement against the Awami League government rule in the last few years. Women, especially girl students have taken part in large numbers. The new political party is expected to include a substantial number of women activists in the political committee which will devise the planning and strategy of the new party.
The anti-discrimination body of students as also the JNC leaders have taken note of the resurgence of the BNP along with its students wing as also some activities by the Chhatra League, the students wing of the Awami League. Earlier, the formation talks were going at a slower pace with indication that the new party will be formed by March this year, but the spurt in the activities of the BNP and to some extent Hasina supporters bid to become pro-active, have led the students body leadership to proceed fast in taking a final decision. The new political party will chalk out its action plan to confront both BNP and Jamaat who are expanding their network to get ready for the national elections, probably by the end of this year.
The students body has deep apprehension that the Yunus government may slacken its efforts to hasten the process of extradition of Sheikh Hasina from India. The students body is firm on this. They have told Dr. Mohammad Yunus that there can not be any compromise by the interim government on the issue of extradition. Also, the students body wants the national election commission to ban Awami League from the electoral fray before the coming general elections. Both BNP and Jamaat are opposed to this. BNP wants that Awami League leaders against whom there are no charges, can be allowed to participate.
The chief adviser Dr. Mohammad Yunus is naturally worried at the pace of political developments in Bangladesh with conflicting pulls and pressures on him. The students body has good influence on him but he as the chief of the ruling regime, can not endorse many of the programmes put by them. The BNP and the Jamaat are sitting on his neck not to allow him to concede to the demands of the students body. BNP and Jamaat are also fighting on a number of issues, but while opposing the students body, they are together.
Dr. Yunus’s immediate worry is how to deal with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has got a sort of green signal from Donald Trump at the February 13 meeting to go ahead with his moves on Bangladesh. Bangladesh adviser in charge of foreign affairs Touhid Hossain had a meeting with the Indian foreign minister Dr. S Jaishankar at Muscat on February 16 at the Indian Ocean conference. The Bangladesh side was very cordial and both sides talked about a number of areas for improving bilateral relations. Ahead of the talks between the two countries on border areas, the talks between the two ministers were significant.
As far as Bangladesh is concerned, the country loses a lot by not having normal relations with India. Dr. Yunus knows that but he has to respect the sentiments of his countrymen who catapulted him to power of the present regime on August 8 last year. They identify Hasina with India and they are hell bent on sticking to Hasina’s extradition from India as a condition for initiating normal relations with India.
Earlier Dr. Yunus tried to have a one on one meeting with Narendra Modi in New York on the occasion of the United National general assembly meeting in September last year. But the Indian Prime Minister deliberately rescheduled his programme to avoid any meeting possibility with the Bangladesh chief adviser. Now another opportunity is approaching. On April 3 and 4, BIMSTEC conference will be held in Thailand where both Dr. Yunus and Narendra Modi are supposed to go. Dr. Yunus is looking for this summit to have detailed talks with the Indian PM. If Indian PM agrees to have full discussions instead to have a courtesy call type meeting, there can be some breakthrough in India-Bangladesh relations.
But in the remaining six weeks, Bangladesh will also try to strengthen its position on Hasina extradition from India by approaching the world forums including the UN Human Rights body based on its report on the atrocities committed by Hasina government in the July-August movement. Already a European body and another UN team have prepared their reports confirming some of the atrocities. The Bangladesh justice department is learnt to be trying to approach the US government on the issue of extradition citing those reports.
At the other level, Dr. Yunus has established a link with Elon Musk which he hopes to be of some benefit in the coming days. Reports emanating from Dhaka say that the draft guidelines for internet linking and broadband have been released and Musk’s Starlink’s entry into Bangladesh is just a matter of weeks. Dr. Yunus played a big role in revolutionizing the telecom market in Bangladesh through Grameenphone which helped in giving mobile access to the rural areas. In the same way, the Bangladesh government officials are viewing that Musk’s Starlink will play a big role in expanding broadband internet in the remotest areas of the country. Dr Yunus has invited Elon Musk to visit Bangladesh. It will be seen whether Musk responds to Yunus’s invitation and it takes place before his visit to India accompanying Donald Trump at the time of QUAD meeting in New Delhi around April this year. (IPA Service)
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