13 leaders of student-led NCP resign over alliance with Jamaat in Bangladesh

Thirteen central leaders of the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) have resigned in the last eight days over its alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami ahead of the elections in Bangladesh in February, a report said.

Apart from alliance with Jamaat, the leaders also raised several common allegations against NCP, including a lack of transparency in decision-making and political compromise, Bangladesh’s web portal The Business Standard reported on Saturday.

The fierce 2024 violent street campaign, dubbed the July Uprising, was carried out under the banner of the Students against Discrimination (SAD), and a large offshoot of the platform in February this year emerged as the NCP with interim government chief Muhammad Yunus’ backing.

Despite the objections, Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman officially announced the alliance with the NCP last week at a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka, the report said. Even before the alliance was formally announced, 30 central NCP leaders submitted a memorandum to party convener Nahid Islam voicing objections to the proposed partnership.

The first signatory to the memorandum and the NCP’s joint member-secretary, Mushfiq Us Saleheen, had told reporters at the time that they had sent the memo titled “Principled objections to a potential alliance in light of the accountability of the July Uprising and party values” to party convener Nahid Islam.