After the collapse of the Awami League government in the mass uprising of the students, the party suffered a major disaster.
After the Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister and fled to India and the party’s leaders, ministers and MPs at all levels went into hiding, the allied parties, who had been happily side by side for a long time, also started to change the bowl. Even though they have enjoyed various privileges of the government for 16 consecutive years as allies, now the partner parties are not willing to take responsibility for any past misdeeds of Awami League. However, a complaint was filed at the International Criminal Tribunal last Wednesday against the Awami League and its 14 parties as the orderers of the massacre.
Allies are very uncomfortable about this issue. As the complaint is in the initial stage, the alliance partners are currently monitoring the matter. According to them, each party in the alliance has its own constitution. They have political ideals. Although the Awami League-led alliance was formed in 2004 based on faith in the spirit of the liberation war. After winning the December 2008 elections, the Awami League-led coalition has been in power for 16 consecutive years, but the workers party, Jasad, Japa, Tarikat Federation are among the beneficiaries of government ministers and MPs. Among them Awami League was the main alliance. Everything was going according to their word. They are the privileged beneficiaries of the government. All the looting, disappearances, murders, suppression of opposition parties and other misdeeds have been committed by the Awami League leaders and activists in this country. The parties were active only during the national and local elections. As a result, they also question why partners should take responsibility for their past misdeeds.
In this context, there was a conversation with Md. Ismail Hossain, joint general secretary of NAP, one of the partners of the alliance. He told Naya Digant that since the fall of the government on August 5, the Awami League alliance has not really worked. The alliance chief has left the country. Other Awami League leaders are also in hiding. Some have already secretly migrated abroad.
He said, not only the students’ movement, we were vocal about all kinds of disappearances and murders in the past. But Sheikh Hasina did not listen to anyone. Awami League government is responsible for the killing of students. In response to a question, Md Ismail Hossain said that Awami League decided to ban Jamaat and impose curfew to suppress the movement before August 5. Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon and Jasad President Hasanul Haque Inu were present in that meeting. None of us were called. We were not even in the government. Therefore, we will not take responsibility for these misdeeds of Awami League.
Communist Party Secretary Dilip Barua’s personal mobile number was found to be switched off, but he spoke to Communist Center convener Dr. Wajedul Islam. He told Naya Digant, we were always against the disappearances and killings. Always tried to speak in alliance meetings. But Sheikh Hasina did not listen to anyone. Despite that, even though they disagreed on some issues, they were forced to give support. So I think the responsibility lies with all those who were in the government.
A former general secretary of another member of the Awami League coalition, who did not want to be named, said that Sheikh Hasina has completely broken the back of 14 parties. 14 teams have broken down and now it has become 28 teams. He said, it will not be right to blame 14 parties.
Only those parties in the alliance who were ministers-MPs of Awami League government, who were privileged by Awami League government, will take responsibility. Others cannot take responsibility for the misdeeds of Awami League. Disagreeing with his statement, freedom fighter Shahidul Islam, vice president of Jasd, is speaking in a different tone. He admitted that the partners of Awami League alliance must be responsible for all crimes including murder, disappearance, robbery, extortion. There is no escape. He told Naya Digant, after the elections on January 5, 2014, we asked to focus on establishing good governance in the country. I suggested to implement the aspirations of the people of the country in the matter of voting. But Sheikh Hasina did not implement any of them. Rather, Sheikh Hasina has eliminated ideological politics. Shahidul Islam said that small parties could not get out of power politics. As a result, there is no qualitative change in politics.
On August 21, 2004, after the grenade attack on the Awami League rally in the capital’s Bangabandhu Avenue, the 14-party alliance started on the basis of 23 points with other opposition political parties. First, Awami League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASD), National Awami Party (NAP) and 11 parties formed a 14-party alliance. However, soon after the formation of the alliance, 11 parties broke up and a few parties including the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Basad) left. A few parties including Workers Party and Gano Forum remained. Yet the coalition is known as the 14-party. In 2007, Dr. from the alliance. Kamal Hossain-led Gano Forum exits. Ahead of the national elections the following year in 2008, the Jatiya Party (JP) led by Anwar Hossain Manju and the Tariqat Federation led by Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari joined the alliance. In 2013 and 2019, the Jatiya Party (Japa) left the coalition. In 2016, Badal-Ambia-led Bangladesh Jasad left the coalition when Inur Jasad split. Now there are 12 parties in the 14-party coalition including Samyabadi Dal, Basad-Rezaur, Democratic Labor Party, Gana-Azadi League.