After a communication breakdown since 2018, the opposition BNP and its long-time ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami have once again started communicating. Recently several leaders of the Jamaat held talks with two high level leaders of the BNP standing committee. The process of cutting down on the existing gap between the two parties also took place in that discussion. Some high-level leaders of the BNP and Jamaat revealed the information to this reporter.
The location of the meeting, however, is not known yet. Sources said that the two sides have started to minimize differences as per consent of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher spoke to this reporter and said: "The BNP and Jamaat are currently in communication.”
Another leader of the party confirmed that discussions are being held between the two parties.
What increased distance between the parties?
The BNP started re-considering its bonds with the Jamaat before the Dhaka city polls in 2015 on the pretext that it is a fundamentalist party. Then when the national polls arrived in 2018, the party started distancing itself from Jamaat in the face of increasing pressure from grassroots level leaders. But just before the elections, the BNP again eradicated all distances and gave the sheaf of paddy symbol to several Jamaat leaders to contest in the national polls. However, the situation did not remain that way for long.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the BNP seriously started considering distancing itself from the Jamaat. A senior leader of the Jamaat told this reporter that under the influence of a political party of a neighbouring country, the BNP started considering Jamaat less important. At that time some senior leaders of the BNP had said that the religion-oriented parties were losing their importance in geopolitics and therefore, the BNP had to change its position.
This member of the Jamaat also confirmed that his party is currently maintaining close ties with top officials of a Western country posted in Bangladesh.
Multiple sources at the BNP chairperson's office suggested that the BNP's relations with the Jamaat will not be visible from the outside. They always keep in touch with the BNP's power pockets.
A central Jamaat leader feels that it was easier to maintain relations with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia than with the party's acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
Recently, the US State Department in its human rights report on Bangladesh described Jamaat as the largest Muslim political party, adding that their leaders and members could not exercise their constitutional freedoms of speech and assembly because of harassment by law enforcement authorities.
Rights activists condemned the US report for recognizing Jamaat though its registration was scrapped in October 2018.
Reasons for tension among the two parties
The BNP started the work of building political unity around the 12th national elections at the beginning of 2021 just like the formation of the Jatiya Oikya Front before the 11th parliamentary elections. During the process the coldness among the BNP-Jamaat came to light.
On October 30, 2021, BNP Standing Committee Member Dr Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain had blamed the Jamaat for the country's political situation terming it as the party's irresponsible acts.
Meanwhile, at the end of 2022, Jamaat's ties with Jatiya Oikya Front and the 20-party alliance was severed. In the same year, BNP refrained from attending any public meeting with Jamaat even though it exchanged views with other opposition parties.
Earlier, on September 26 of that year, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, another member of the BNP's Standing Committee, in a party gathering had termed the Awami League's inability to denounce Jamaat as a political party as cunning as maintaining an illegitimate affair. The Jamaat immediately protested the BNP leader's statement.
Another BNP leader maintaining anonymity said that the AL government has good ties with the Jamaat and the Jamaat is on good terms with foreign embassies in Dhaka.
Will Jamaat join the simultaneous movement?
A clash broke out between the law enforcers and activists and leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Chhatra Shibir in the capital's Malibagh as they tried to bring out a procession as part of the ongoing simultaneous movement of the opposition parties. Several people, including police personnel and Jamaat- Shibir men sustained injuries during the clash. The law enforcers detained several Jamaat-Shibir men over the incident. They have not held any other program since then.
An influential leader of the party's executive council said that they will join the simultaneous movement. The BNP had severed ties in the middle and now they are reconnecting it.
Sources at the BNP said that brushing aside any doubt that is in the air right now, the BNP will go on a one-point movement after Eid and take all other opposition parties with it.
The Jamaat had intended to hold a rally in the capital on Monday but postponed it to next Saturday as it did not get a green signal from the police. An influential leader of the party told this reporter that they were requested by a high-ranking ruling party man to not hold their program on Monday.
Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher denied any such request by the AL or the government.
What BNP leaders say about Jamaat ties
There are mixed reactions among BNP leaders to the party's rapprochement with Jamaat. Some leaders think that now there is no chance to bring Jamaat close to the BNP.
A vice chairman of the BNP told this reporter that Jamaat was no longer needed with the BNP as their party is capable of going out on the streets alone. He said that the BNP has reformed and is now stronger than before.
Several leaders of the BNP said that Jamaat's return to the simultaneous movement might confuse both the AL and BNP which will in turn benefit the Islamist party.
Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, another standing committee member of the BNP, told this reporter on Monday that he did not know of Jamaat's return to the simultaneous movement. “We have our secretary general and two liaison committees, you may talk to them on this matter,” he said.
Later, four other members of the BNP standing committee were called on their cell phones but could not be reached.
