NCP says Chief Advisor Yunus ‘favouring’ BNP

The National Citizen Party (NCP) has raised questions about the National Consensus Commission discussions, accusing Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus of “leaning in favour” of the BNP.

The Gono Odhikar Parishad (GOP) has also objected to the inclusion of certain parties, claiming that their political position and party registration are not clear.

NCP liaison Ariful Islam Adib and GOP President Nurul Huq Nur flagged these issues during the lunch break of the second round of political dialogue on Tuesday morning.

At 11:30am on Tuesday, the second phase of talks with 30 political parties began at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.

Ariful said: "We raised concerns over the path the National Consensus Commission is taking and the method of selecting parties. Before Eid, we also questioned the chief advisor's remarks as commission president."

“The reform commission earlier laid out six possible ways to formulate a National Charter or July Charter. One of those was post-election constitutional reform,” he added.

"Before Eid, in his address to the nation, the chief advisor announced an election timeframe for early April, leaning towards one of the six proposals, which reflects the BNP’s preference."

According to him, the way the Consensus Commission is currently moving is raising questions about its position on issues related to the election.

“The BNP said reforms will be carried out by the next parliament and the chief advisor’s statement seems to be leaning in that direction.”

Ariful also questioned the selection process of parties invited to the talks. "There are about 30 political parties being called to the Consensus Commission.

“We are not clear about who has what organisational structure, whether they are registered or not, and by what method they are involved.”

He continued, “We have asked the National Consensus Commission - who is being called here? Are they being called in groups based on the recommendations of a particular party? We see that many parties are not making any clear statement at the Consensus Commission.

“They only say yes/no to a particular party. Whenever there is a statement to the contrary, there is a commotion."

The National Consensus Commission should clarify the method by which these parties were selected, he said.

Ariful said the July mass uprising did not happen solely through the involvement of political parties. The public and professionals from different sectors participated widely, and students played a major role--yet many of them have no representation in the dialogue.

He said those who have been invited cannot bring the mandate of the entire population.

“If political parties alone could carry the people’s mandate,” Ariful said, “then the alliances of 64 or 56 parties that united before elections to overthrow the government would have succeeded--but they failed.”

He said, "We think that there are three stakeholders in the mass uprising - one is all political parties, one is the public, the other is all students. In that case, some political parties were called, some were not. We have asked for a clear explanation as to what method was used to decide."

GOP President Nur said, "There is an allegation that the dialogue or discussion of the National Consensus Commission is prioritising a particular party. Some parties, including Jamaat are saying it. We have also said that many people have played an important role in the mass movement apart from the political parties.

“The opinions of all professional organisations, including journalists, need to be taken. We also do not know which party was selected for the commission based on which criteria. In many cases, many have also raised questions about the unregistered parties that are banned.

"Today, when we say that so many parties have reached a consensus on so many issues, what are the criteria defining those parties? It is said here that several political parties will be signatories of the July Charter, along with the participation of professional organisations and people from different levels of society.”

The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince said, "How can we keep things free of party influence? How can we stop the influence of money in elections? How can we free things from brute strength? How can we keep things free of communal regional propaganda, from the reign of fear, or even free administrative manipulation?

“They have written down some things on these issues,” he added. “But they are not bringing it to the public for discussions. I think this is an urgent duty. We have not been able to start that discussion yet. We have raised the issue with them before."