Leaders of various political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party (NCP), attended the July Declaration event as invited guests on Tuesday.
Four mainstream leftist parties, however, boycotted the event, alleging they were not informed about the content of the declaration beforehand and did not wish to be present merely as passive witnesses.
The declaration was read out by Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus at the South Plaza of the National Parliament in the afternoon.
Notable attendees included BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir; Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas and Salauddin Ahmed; Jamaat-e-Islami’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Syed Abdullah Md Taher and Secretary General Professor Mia Golam Porwar; and NCP Convenor Nahid Islam and Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain.
Boycott by four leftist parties
The boycotting parties were the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB), the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), and the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasad) led by Sharif Nurul Ambia.
They said they received invitations but were not given access to the declaration draft in advance.
“We were not informed of what was or wasn’t in the declaration. Therefore, we didn’t feel the need to be there just to bear witness,” CPB General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince told Bangla Tribune.
Masud Rana, coordinator of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), echoed the sentiment: “Had we received a draft of the declaration beforehand, we might have considered attending. Going there without knowing the content could have led to an awkward situation. So, we chose not to go.”