The US ban on former army chief Aziz Ahmed and former IGP Benazir Ahmed’s property spread across the country and the ACC investigation against him are all political arenas. Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir are the main characters in this political discussion. Since the beginning of this June, both have been throwing questions at each other. In response, he again threw arrows of counter-accusations. Jamaat has appeared in the duel between the two main political parties. Party General Secretary Mia Golam Parwar made the statement. But this time, although he did not criticize the speech of the BNP Secretary General, he protested the speech of the Awami League General Secretary.
Mirza Fakhrul said in an event at the National Press Club on Sunday (June 3), ‘The young generation of today does not study. I do not support the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami. But the strategy of their politics is very scientific. Just like the Communist Party. They have study cells in student camps. Every one of them has to study. Publish books and magazines themselves. You cannot be successful without the practice of knowledge.’
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader made a statement on Monday (June 4) after this speech. Protesting, he commented, ‘BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s statement about the anti-independence, radical sectarian evil force Jamaat-e-Islami has once again proved that wherever they are, the BNP has deep ties with the anti-independence Jamaat and communal evil forces.’
Jamaat’s relationship with BNP began in 1991 when the government was formed. At that time, Khaleda Zia formed the government with the support of Jamaat. After a few years, BNP formed an alliance with this party, which was directly opposed to the liberation war. In 2001, the four-party coalition government won, but the government was formed only by ‘BNP-Jamaat’. Since then ‘BNP-Jamaat’ was framed together politically.
Before the 11th national elections in 2018, the BNP ended its alliance with the Jamaat by ending the 20-party alliance by forming the Jatiya Oikya Front. However, before the 12th National Assembly elections, Jamaat joined the simultaneous movement to overthrow the government. After the election, the top leaders of Jamaat and BNP have been in contact several times.
On Monday, Obaidul Quader criticized the BNP Secretary General and said, ‘The matter raised in Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s speech about Jamaat is clearly unscientific and unreasonable. The politics of Jamaat is contrary to the basic spirit of Bangladesh, the ideals of the Great Liberation War and the values of freedom. This line of politics has been proven time and again to be anti-national. A patriotic citizen can never recognize in any way the anti-constitutional politics of the state and the constitution written in the blood of 3 million martyrs. Those whose politics strike at the foundations of the country, their strategy can never be scientific or logical.’
After Obaidul Quader’s statement, Mirza Fakhrul gave a speech in Chittagong on Tuesday (June 4) but did not speak about this. Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar came forward protesting Obaidul Quader’s speech before 8:00 PM today. He termed the ruling party’s general secretary’s statement as ‘vindictive, unreasonable and discourteous’.
Parwar also said, ‘The false statement made by Mr. Obaidul Quader about Jamaat-e-Islami as an anti-liberty and communal force is untrue and politically motivated.’
It should be noted that due to crimes against humanity in the war of liberation, Jamaat’s former Amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, former Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Assistant Secretary General Kader Molla and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Jamaat Executive Council member Mir Kashem Ali have already been hanged. Former Amir Ghulam Azam and Naib Amir Delawar Hossain Saeedi died while serving the sentence.
In the statement, Jamaat Secretary said that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have political relations as fellow travelers of Bangladesh’s democratic movement. He said, ‘From the anti-dictatorship movement in 1983 to 2024, Jamaat is playing a strong role in the movement to establish democracy in Bangladesh. According to Mr. Obaidul Quader, the people spontaneously followed the program announced by 15 parties, 7 parties and Jamaat-e-Islami in the anti-dictatorship movement. At that time Awami League and BNP protested on the same issue.
The issue of joint movement, discussion and meeting of Jamaat with Awami League has been raised several times from the top level of BNP. On April 9, 2017, in an event in Gulshan of the capital, Khaleda Zia, Chairperson of BNP, highlighted the fact that the two parties participated in the first national parliamentary elections in 1986 during Ershad’s regime to prove the relationship between Awami League and Jamaat. There, he said, Awami League went to the elections in ’86 in collaboration with Ershad. we didn’t go They (Awami League) could not find partners then. Going alone looks bad, that’s why he went to the election with Jamaat-e-Islami.
Earlier in a news published on bdnews24.com on October 24, 2014, Khaleda Zia said in an interview to the Times of India, ‘Jamaat-Awami League relationship is historic’. The ruling Awami League has a ‘long history of close relations’ with other ‘extremist religious organisations’, including Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed the liberation war. The BNP leader’s comment about the alliance at that time was, ‘Our relationship with Jamaat is just an electoral compromise. Norms matter here. BNP will always follow its own principles.
For the past several years like BNP chairperson, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee member Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, vice chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu have raised many issues about Jamaat.
Especially since the dissolution of the 20-party alliance in 2018, there has been a cooling between the two parties. The Jamaat protested the statements of Mirza Fakhrul Islam and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku.
On September 26, 2022, BNP Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku raised the question of whether Jamaat’s alienation with Awami League is going on. Jamaat protested on September 27, the day after his speech. Abdul Halim, the assistant secretary general of the anti-liberation war group, said in a statement, “Iqbal Hasan Mahmud’s indecent and ugly statements about Jamaat-e-Islami, which are out of political etiquette, have surprised the countrymen.”
On June 30, 2023, during Eid, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Thakurgaon said in response to the questions of reporters, ‘Communication with the government has become clear. Government people are saying it, others are also saying it. All political parties will have more or less relations with us. Because we are agitating for people’s rights.’
The day after Mirza Fakhrul’s statement, on July 1, acting secretary general of Jamaat, Maulana ATM Ma’chum, said, ‘Jamaat-e-Islami never engages in politics by conniving, compromising or communicating with fascists, dictators and oppressors. There is no question of doing.’ Later, Mirza Fakhrul told Bangla Tribune, ‘There has been a misunderstanding in the whole matter. My statement was not quoted correctly in the media.’
However, at the end of last year, the conflict between BNP and Jamaat leaders took a different form. BNP issued a statement against the leaders of the party to reassure the Jamaat. In an interview given to the Indian English daily ‘The Hindu’ on November 7 of that year, BNP Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said, ‘BNP is a secular political party, which opposes the “political use of Islam”. BNP is a liberal democratic party. We had an alliance with the Jamaat just like political alliances in a democratic country like India. That is in the past now. The question is for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Why he did not ban Jamaat, he should answer.’
After this speech of Iqbal Hasan, the leaders of Jamaat and the right wing of BNP were angry. Under their pressure, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi issued a statement on the instructions of Tariq Rahman, acting chairman of the party. He wrote in the statement, “In an interview given to an Indian English daily ‘The Hindu’, the statements made by National Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku about secularism, political Islam and the views expressed about Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami are his alone. On its own, the party has nothing to do with it.”