Learn from November 7 NCP tells BNP

Invoking the spirit of the November 7 uprising and its lessons on political change, the National Citizen Party (NCP) on Saturday urged the ruling BNP to respect the people’s mandate and establish a constitution reform council in accordance with the outcome of the referendum. In a press release issued to mark National Revolution and Solidarity Day, the NCP called on the BNP, founded by Ziaur Rahman, to draw lessons from history and avoid limiting fundamental constitutional reforms to an amendment to the existing Constitution.

“On this historic day, our call to the BNP, the party founded by Ziaur Rahman, is to learn from history and abandon the attempt to squeeze fundamental structural reform of the constitution into the narrow box of a constitutional amendment,” the statement said. “Respect the people’s mandate in the referendum and take steps to implement it immediately,” it added.

The party specifically called for the formation of a constitution reform council in accordance with the referendum verdict, warning that any attempt to disregard the people’s mandate after assuming power through an election made possible by the July uprising could invite historical accountability.

“Form a constitution reform council according to the people’s verdict,” the statement said. “If it denies the people’s mandate after coming to power through the election made possible by the July revolution, it will one day have to stand in the dock of history.” Marking the day, the NCP also paid its “deep respect” to Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, describing him as a freedom fighter, sector commander and proclaimer of independence.

The party said regional powers had repeatedly attempted to undermine Bangladesh’s independent political course and the sacrifices made by its people. However, it said, the people had repeatedly broken the “chains of domination and servitude” through historic movements, including the sepoy-people’s uprising of November 7, 1975, and the July uprising of 2024.

Describing Ziaur Rahman as an exceptional figure among military rulers, the NCP said he had abolished one-party BAKSAL politics and restored the multiparty political system. However, it argued that his attempt to establish democracy while retaining the “fascist structure” inherited from the BAKSAL era had not been entirely successful.

The party said Ziaur Rahman had sought to introduce democratic changes through the Fifth Amendment within that existing framework, but the same constitutional structure was subsequently used to have the amendment declared illegal by the courts. “Sadly, the BNP, founded by Ziaur Rahman, has learned no historical, political or constitutional lesson from this,” the statement said.

The NCP alleged that the BNP was now seeking to accommodate fundamental changes proposed under the July Charter within an 18th constitutional amendment, leaving the reforms vulnerable to legal challenges by courts or reversal by a future parliament. Hasnat accuses BNP of following Awami League’s path Meanwhile, speaking at a discussion organised by the NCP at Banglamotor in Dhaka around noon, the party’s Senior Joint Convener and MP Hasnat Abdullah alleged that the BNP wanted to capitalise on every political uprising and eventually follow the path of the Awami League.

He said that although the BNP portrayed November 7 as a revolutionary day, some of its statements on the 2024 uprising appeared contradictory. “The BNP has always shown the Awami League the way. The party wants to take the benefit of every movement.

The BNP suffers from an inferiority complex over the July uprising,” he said. Hasnat also criticised the BNP’s reported position on the rehabilitation of the Awami League, arguing that those responsible for crimes during its tenure in power must first face justice. “The crimes committed during the Awami League’s rule must be tried first.

Only then can its rehabilitation or relevance be discussed,” he said. He further predicted that after a year in office, the BNP government would be seen to have failed in several sectors, including the economy and law and order. Another NCP leader, Sarwar Tushar, urged the BNP to identify alleged infiltrators within its own ranks rather than looking for them in other political parties.

He also cautioned the ruling party against repeating what he described as its earlier mistake regarding the Awami League.