Jatiya Party secretaries general in and out of power all the time

Jatiya Party’s secretaries general have always gained and lost their positions like in the game of musical chairs.

Since it was formed in 1986, the HM Ershad-led party has seen more than ten leaders holding the position in the past 30 years.

The chairman's word is law—none can defy it and decision to appoint and change the secretary general has never involved the party’s council.

The latest is Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, who was sacked on Sunday and replaced by Ershad's trusted lieutenant Ruhul Amin Howlader.

Former leaders of the party say military dictator-turned-politician Ershad runs his party like an ‘autocrat’.

Ershad himself often refers Jatiya Party as ‘my party’, which he repeated during Tuesday’s media conference, telling all that that Bablu was no more the secretary general.

Shah Moazzem Hossain, now a BNP leader, served as the party’s secretary general for over two years in the early 1990s.

He says the party’s constitution authorises the chairman to appoint the secretary general.

“He (Ershad) had appointed whoever he wanted as the secretary general. It was never done through the party’s council,” Shah Moazzem told bdnews24.com.

After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then army chief Ziaur Rahman came to power through a series of coups and counter-coups in the army.

He had proclaimed himself president after becoming the chief martial law administrator.

Zia formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to pursue politics.

Ershad followed the similar path to come in power after Zia’s assassination in 1981 in a coup.

The High Court had later ruled that both Zia and Ershad seized power illegally.

When Ershad formed Jatiya Party in 1986, MA Matin, who served as minister under administrations of Zia and Abdus Sattar, was made the secretary general.

He was later replaced with former BNP MP advocate Mahbubur Rahman. 

Mahmudul Hasan, a former major general who faced allegations of widespread corruption, was given the position after Rahman was removed.

In 1990, when the movement to topple the Ershad regime was at its peak, Shah Moazzem Hossain, who had been both with the Awami League and BNP in the past, was appointed to the position.

Ershad had to go to jail on corruption charges after he stepped out in December the same year. 

In mid-1992, Shah Moazzem was removed on disciplinary grounds. He returned to the BNP, where he is still a vice-chairman.

“I was one of the founders of the Jatiya Party.

“During my time in Jatiya Party, I moved several times to change the clause (giving the party chairman absolute authority), but I failed. That was one of the reasons for leaving the party,” he told bdnews24.com.

Ershad replaced Shah Moazzem with one Khaledur Rahman Tito from Jessore, when behind the bars.

But Tito only managed to be in the position for two years.

In 1995, Ershad sent a note from jail, in which he appointed Anwar Hossain Monju as secretary general.

The next year, the former military dictator came out of jail. Before that, his party joined the Awami League-led coalition government and Monju was made a Cabinet minister.

But in 1997, Monju fell out with Ershad, when he opposed the party chief’s idea to leave the AL-led government.

Monju was promptly removed, but he continued as a minister and formed another party named Jatiya Party (JP).

Monju is a MP from his party as well as a Cabinet member in the current Hasina-led administration.

After removing him, Ershad appointed Naziur Rahman Manjur for the role. The former MP from Bhola, was the Dhaka mayor and the local government minister during Ershad’s regime.

After almost three years, during the run up for 2001 national elections, a rift occurred between the two over joining the BNP-Jamaat coalition.

Manjur left Ershad to form the Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), now helmed by his son Andaleeve Rahman Partho after his death, and an ally of the BNP.

After the Manjur-episode, Ershad brought in former JaSad leader from Bogra ABM Shahjahan for the job in 2001.

But in 2003, he was replaced by Ruhul Amin Howlader. A yes-man to Ershad, Howlader was the longest serving secretary general; for 12 years.

In the run up to the Jan 5, 2014 national elections, Ershad’s Jatiya Party once again found itself in a crisis over joining the polls.

Ershad was reluctant to take part and asked party candidates to withdraw nominations while a section of senior leaders, including Bablu moved against him with Raushon Ershad.

Amid much drama, the party contested the BNP-boycotted elections and then has been both in the government and in the opposition.

The former military dictator was appointed as a special envoy to the PM, his wife the Raushon Leader of Opposition while party leaders Anisul Islam Mahmud, Mashiur Rahman Ranga and Majibul Haque Chunnu were made ministers.

The same year, Howlader was replaced by Bablu, who is known to be close with the Awami League.

Party activists say that Bablu is loyal to Raushon, not Ershad.

After Ershad’s announcement in Rangpur of making brother GM Quader as party co-chairman and his successor, Babul retaliated the next day by announcing that Raushon has been made the acting chairperson.

The deposed president cut short his trip to hometown Rangpur and returned Dhaka on Tuesday to appear before the media announcing Bablu’s removal.

Bablu joined Jatiya Party in the 1980s, while he was the general secretary of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) elected from a leftist students’ body.

Bablu, who was an adviser to Ershad and later minister, was dubbed as a ‘traitor’ by the then students’ leader for his move.

Speaking to the press at his office on Tuesday, Ershad once again affirmed that he is the only authority in Jatiya Party.

Amid an upheaval over Bablu’s removal, he referred to previous incidents of replacing secretaries general. “No one questioned when I replaced Ruhul Amin Howlader with Bablu. Then why now?”