Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and opposition chief whip, said the first session of the 13th parliament was a failure.
He said, “The first session was expected to discuss how various reform proposals would be implemented. However, the government instead ran the parliament in its own way. If this continues, our only option will be to launch a movement with the people.”
He made the remarks while chairing the closing session of a national convention titled “Energy, Economy, Human Rights, Reform and Referendum,” organized by the NCP Reform Implementation Committee at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in Kakrail on Sunday.
Panelists at the event included Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis Ameer Maulana Mamunul Haque, Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party) Chairman Mujibur Rahman Monju, among others. The session was moderated by NCP senior joint convener Ariful Islam Adib.
Nahid said, “For 54 years, we have had to struggle to realize our democratic aspirations. After the Liberation War, democracy was supposed to be established, but Sheikh Mujibur Rahman created BAKSAL instead of democracy.”
He added, “The BNP talks about multi-party democracy, but after elections we have seen them betray the people.”
He further said, “We have proposed a bicameral parliament because in Bangladesh, every government changes the constitution after coming to power. There needs to be a balance of power. We have also proposed that constitutional amendments should require a referendum. Constitutional institutions should not be politicized, and appointments should not be controlled solely by the prime minister. A consensus-based caretaker government should be established, and the judiciary should be fully separated. These steps alone will not establish a democratic state, but we want to move forward gradually.”
Nahid said, “We have proposed constitutional reform, because amendments alone will not make it sustainable. If BNP changes the fundamental principles of the constitution, it will not be sustainable and may be reversed at any time. I have said in parliament that Ziaur Rahman made a historical mistake, which opened the door for the restoration of the ideology and politics of the 1972 constitution under the name of continuity.”
He added, “There are notes of dissent on many issues. You will see this in any parliamentary decision. Many decisions have differing opinions, which are recorded, but the decision is still passed. Since this is a historical document, additional notes were attached to all sections when the July Charter was signed. The party that comes to power will implement it according to its manifesto. In that case, the charter loses its effectiveness, which is why the idea of a referendum has come up.”
He also said that there are ongoing discussions about incorporating the July Declaration into the constitution. “We do not want people to be forced to return to the streets again if the struggle to build a democratic state is obstructed,” he added.
