Desk Report,
BNP, other parties eye July manifesto
The much-discussed ‘July Declaration’ is being announced on the anniversary of the July Uprising. Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus will read the declaration at a rally on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital tomorrow, Tuesday afternoon.
BNP, other parties eye July manifesto
Political parties as well as the conscious civil society are interested in what is in this July Declaration. Concerned people say that in addition to releasing the July Declaration at this program on Manik Mia Avenue, the Chief Adviser may announce a possible date for the next national election. As a result, on this anniversary of the fall and flight of the autocratic Sheikh Hasina government, all quarters are focused on two nationally important issues. Especially political parties including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Nagorik Party (NCP), Islamic Andolan, who are very politically active on the issue of the July Uprising and the election.
Through long discussions and several rounds of correspondence with political parties, the government has prepared a national charter and a July declaration on the anniversary of the mass uprising. The declaration will be published tomorrow. Before finalizing this declaration, the government sent its draft to various political parties. Meanwhile, BNP has finalized some amendments to the draft declaration on a party-by-party basis and sent it to the government. The relevant sources said that the declaration was finalized after considering the opinions of the parties.
The government mentioned in the draft that the July declaration should be included in the preamble and schedule of the constitution. Some political parties including Jamaat and NCP also had this demand. But BNP did not agree to it.
According to relevant sources, BNP has finally agreed to give appropriate state and constitutional recognition to the student-people’s uprising of 24. They have agreed to include this declaration in the Fourth Schedule of the constitution, and nothing more.
According to a government source, the party finalized the declaration by adding some historical events and making wording changes to the draft sent by the government. It can be seen that the first point of the 26-point draft of the July declaration sent by the government mentioned, ‘The people of this land stood against the deprivation and exploitation of the dictators of Pakistan for 23 years and established the state of Bangladesh through a bloody liberation war for national liberation by building mass resistance against indiscriminate genocide.’
In this point, the BNP built mass resistance, then added the words ‘declared independence on March 26, 1971’.
In this regard, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters today, ‘There were issues that could be raised in the government’s draft declaration. We said that this nation began with the War of Independence in 1971. It should be presented with due dignity, then other events that took place in national life. There, they did not want to or did not mention March 26, 1971 correctly. That was our objection and we have included it and sent it to the government.’
The fourth clause of the government’s draft states that ‘the post-independence Awami League government, contrary to the democratic governance that was the main motto of independence, established a constitutional one-party regime under the name of Baksal by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman…’.
In this clause, the BNP has mentioned the establishment of a one-party regime under the name of Baksal. Here, the BNP has not named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Apart from this, in this clause, the party has added the words ‘in 1979, the one-party Baksal system was abolished through the fifth amendment to the constitution and multi-party democracy was reintroduced’.
The eighth clause of the government’s draft states that ‘the misrule of the previous Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, the Peelkhana tragedy, and extrajudicial killings like the massacre at Shapla Chattar’ are mentioned. There, the BNP proposal did not mention the ‘Pilkhana tragedy, the massacre at Shapla Chattar’.
The 17th clause of the government’s draft mentions ‘the indiscriminate killing of nearly two thousand people, including women and children, in the uprising of the indomitable student masses against the fascist forces’. There, instead of two ‘thousands’, the BNP has said that more than two thousand people were indiscriminately killed.
In this clause, it is mentioned that ‘the Chhatra League brutally tortured ordinary students in various educational institutions of the country, countless people suffered from paralysis and blindness. As a result, the students declared 9 points, which were later transformed into 1 point, and at the final stage of the movement, members of the military supported the democratic struggle of the people’. In the BNP proposal, the words ‘the Chhatra League brutally tortured ordinary students in various educational institutions of the country…, as a result, the students declared 9 points, which were later transformed into 1 point’ have been omitted.
In the 19th point, it is mentioned in the government’s draft that ‘in the final stage of the intense movement, in the face of the turbulent march of the people towards Ganabhaban, the illegitimate, unelected, fascist Sheikh Hasina resigned on August 5, 2024 and was forced to flee the country along with her cabinet, the Speaker of the National Assembly and other members of parliament’. Here, the BNP has even mentioned ‘fascist Sheikh Hasina resigned on August 5, 2024 and was forced to flee the country’. It did not include the words ‘she, along with her cabinet, the Speaker of the National Assembly and other members of parliament’.
