Questions about the relevance of the Jatiya Party (JaPa) in Bangladesh’s politics are surfacing, especially as the party, once a stronghold in the northern region, faces a decline in power.
In the recent 12th parliamentary election, the JaPa performed poorly, securing only 11 seats – its worst result since the restoration of democracy in 1991.
During the 1991 elections, the JaPa won 35 out of the 221 contested seats. Subsequent elections in 1996 and 2001 saw the party winning 32 and 14 seats, respectively.
In 2008, the JaPa, contesting under the Awami League-led grand alliance, secured 27 seats. The trend continued with 34 wins in 2014 and 22 in 2018 under the same alliance.
In the latest election, the JaPa fielded candidates in 265 seats, but over 200 remained inactive during the campaign.
Thirty-one candidates withdrew before the election, and 11 more withdrew on election day due to allegations of irregularities.
The Awami League left 26 seats for JaPa, and all 11 winners came from those shared seats.
One reason for the JaPa’s decline is the confusion surrounding its role in parliamentary politics. Internal divisions, conflicting stances on the government, and dependence on the government have contributed to its diminishing popularity.
Internal divisions have led to contradictory stances, with some members praising the government while others oppose it. Rumors persist that during party crises, leaders look to the highest levels of the government for decisions.
The two major parties in the country, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), once vigorously attempted to incorporate the JaPa into their alliances, but this picture is fading from Bangladesh’s political landscape.
The party came into existence on January 1, 1985, nearly two years after military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad seized power in a coup.
Despite Ershad being overthrown in the 1990s uprising, he orchestrated the party’s revival from prison. In the 1991 elections, Ershad secured five seats himself, and his party won 35 seats.
Even after being ousted in a coup and imprisoned for corruption, Ershad remarkably maintained relevance in Bangladesh’s power and vote politics for nearly three decades. However, since his demise, the party has been perceived to have lost all significance.
How it lost importance
In the 1991 elections, JaPa chairman Ershad was elected from prison. From then on, the party had a strong foothold in the Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Sylhet regions for a considerable period.
The JaPa participated in the ninth parliamentary election in 2008 directly within the Awami League-led grand alliance. However, before that, there was a lot of drama surrounding the party.
Ershad, the leader of the party at that time, sometimes leaned towards the BNP-led four-party alliance and at other times towards the Awami League-led alliance.
Nevertheless, since that election, Ershad and his party have been allies of the Awami League for more than 15 years in politics.
In the January 5, 2014 election, the JaPa, against Ershad’s wishes, had to align with the Awami League. During that time, many leaders of the party expressed their discomfort, and various activities were observed around the party in the political arena.
In the 11th parliament, the Jatiya Party is sitting as the opposition party with 22 seats. However, after 2014, despite being the main opposition party, some of its leaders held ministerial positions, leading to confusion about the party’s role.
After Ershad’s death, his brother, GM Quader, took over the leadership, but the conflict between Ershad’s wife, Roshan Ershad, and him sometimes escalated into a serious crisis.
Field position
The strongholds of the party in the Rangpur region are not as formidable as they once were, and the party has also experienced a decline in the Mymensingh and Sylhet regions.
The areas where JaPa was once influential were previously strongholds of the Awami League.
Over the last decade and a half, many leaders have returned to the Awami League. Even in the Rangpur region, many seats that belonged to JaPa now align with the Awami League.
JaPa lacks the ability to win elections across the country on its own, and it will be challenging for the party to secure more than a handful of seats.
In addition to a prolonged association with the government and ineffectiveness as an opposition party, internal strife poses a significant challenge for the party. Many leaders have departed from the party.
Originally, after losing power, JaPa had transformed into a regional party, but they were unable to sustain that status.
In the final week of the election, drama unfolded within JaPa. Party Chairman GM Quader and General Secretary Mujibul Haque Chunnu were not visible to the party candidates. Additionally, the two top leaders of the party had no communication with the committee established by JaPa to oversee the election.
The decision to enter the polls through compromise in 26 constituencies generated a sense of neglect among candidates in the remaining constituencies.
Consequently, a certain distance emerged between the grassroots and the central leadership, posing a threat to the organizational strength of JaPa in the post-election period.
The Jatiya Party is now a diminishing force, incapable of making a significant impact single-handedly in Bangladesh’s politics.