The BNP and other parties in the anti-government alliance hope to finalize the joint outline and intensify the movement between the holy Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azhar, which they consider as a high time to unseat the ruling Awami League from power.
In the next two months, the BNP plans to declare tough programs like protest rallies and long marches, which will be followed by like-minded parties. They hope that the mass people will join their programs to force the government to resign.
In recent discussions, the BNP asked its allies to consider the matter seriously, several politicians who participated in the meetings told this reporter.
A senior leader of Ganatantra Mancha, a coalition of seven parties, thinks that it is not possible to put pressure on the government through street movements after July. As a result, some leaders are considering May and June as the high time of the movement.
The protest programs have already been finalized but the opposition leaders are reluctant to disclose the plans in public now.
A senior BNP leader said they continued their movement during the month of Ramadan. After Eid, they would declare tougher programs, including mass rallies and long marches, and the other parties would follow the suit.
The leader, seeking anonymity, said: “We aim to advance the movement by involving the mass people by avoiding government's provocations and street violence.”
Saiful Haque, general secretary of the Revolutionary Workers Party which is a part of the Ganatantra Mancha, said: “If the people do not join the movement, democracy and voting rights cannot be achieved. Taking this into consideration, the opposition parties have decided to launch an all-out movement after Eid and continue till the government resigns.”
Mahmudur Rahman Manna, one of the key leaders of Ganatantra Mancha and president of Nagorika Oikya, said they were planning to declare programs after Eid. “We all have commonness. However, there was no detailed discussion on the programs.”
BNP Standing Committee Member Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain said: “Our movement is an ongoing process. We are discussing possible programs to be declared after Eid. But we did not have a detailed discussion.”
Joint outline not agreed upon
On April 13, the BNP's Liaison Committee proposed formulating a joint outline at its meeting with the Ganatantra Mancha. The proposal was to further extend its 27-point outline aimed at reforming the state by merging it with the Mancha's 14 points and the BNP's 10 points.
The two groups earlier finalized a seven-point charter, “but the new proposal has created a negative sentiment among the BNP partners,” a leader of Ganatantra Mancha said, adding: “The BNP wants to keep their 10 points intact and extend the 27 points.”
The leader said the BNP's 10 points are only movement issues, “there is nothing about reforms. That is why the two liaison committees finalized seven points by coordinating all the issues including the movement, the fall of the incumbent government and the election-time government. As a result, there has been a crisis of trust between the partners.”
Several influential BNP leaders also feel that the complexity of coordinating the outline remains. They think the programs will run concurrently, but there will be no constructive progress without a joint declaration. The BNP hopes to bring all the opposition parties under one umbrella through the joint outline.
A leader of Ganatantra Mancha said they would sit with the BNP again after Eid. After finalizing the joint outline, they all would go for the simultaneous program.
Another leader of the platform, asking not to be named, said: “We will continue the movement even if the joint outline is delayed. We will resolve this issue within two weeks after Eid.”
Mahmudur Rahman Manna thinks it is already too late to finalize the joint outline. Another leader blamed the BNP's ego problem regarding its 10 points.
Ganatantra Mancha leader Shaikh Rafiqul Islam Bablu, also convener of Bhasani Anusari Parishad, hoped that they would be able to make the movement effective after announcing the joint outline.