Although the BNP has threatened vigorous but peaceful anti-government movement after Eid, chances are high that it will rather take some more time to regroup; potentially violent programmes such as hartals are currently not on the cards.
Insiders say the party does not have any preparation to stage a strong movement at the moment.
Instead, the plan now is to hold some rallies and meetings in the coming months at the district level and concentrate on reshuffling and reorganising the associate bodies such as student wing Chhatra Dal and youth front Jubo Dal and the party’s grassroots committees.
They also said even if the government obstructed its “peaceful” programmes, protest might remain limited to announcing some agitation programmes instead of staging hartals.
A senior leader said now was not the right time for going on the hardline. He said the party was not organisationally strong enough to substantiate any plan to stage a strong movement.
“There would be some gaps in the movement [if we go on the hardline now] that might end up foiling the plans and inducing more repression from the government,” the leader said. BNP’s partners from the 20-party alliance are also in the dark about the shape of the much-talked-about movement after Eid.
According to a source, on July 22, a central leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, the second largest component of the BNP-led alliance, spoke with a senior BNP leader over phone. The BNP leader reportedly told the Jamaat leader that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia would meet with leaders of the alliance after Eid and apprise them about the course that the proposed movement was going to take.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also did not give any detail about the “strong” movement when he talked to reporters at the Nayapaltan party office yesterday.
“Khaleda Zia has already made clear that our movement would be peaceful and orderly. We do not want to do anything that may lead to chaos... If the government wanted to tread the path of compromise, there would not have been any problem. But they do not want to go for any discussion or talk. It is they who are pushing the country towards a conflict,” Fakrul said yesterday.
He also said the party would sit with its alliance partners soon and lay down the next course of action. Fakrul also brushed aside rumours that a distance had been created between the BNP and its alliance partners, especially Jamaat.
Sources said BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman and his mother Khaleda Zia had reportedly discussed the issue of doing some “homework” after Eid so that they could reorganise the grassroots for the sake of a strong movement to topple the government in the soonest possible time.
Tarique and Khaleda met in Saudi Arabia towards the end of last month when they both went to the country for observing Umrah. At a number of iftar gatherings during Ramadan, Khaleda announced that a strong movement to topple the government would start after Eid.
A number of senior leaders, including Fakrul, echoed the party chief but did not disclose any detail about the course of action they were going to follow.