Awami League National Council to look for new leadership

The Awami League that led the country to freedom now wants to look for new leadership that can support Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's dream to make Bangladesh a 'middle-income country' by 2021 and a developed nation in another 20 years.

The party's two-day National Council, that kicked-off Saturday at the Suhrawardy Udyan, is being held a year behind schedule.

The Awami League came to power by sweeping the 2008 parliament elections, projecting itself as the party of change.

Five years later, it returned to power in an election that was boycotted by principal Opposition BNP and its allies.

The Awami League has since moved to overcome questions of democratic legitimacy by prioritising economic and human development.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government's plan of action is focused on making Bangladesh a middle income country by 2021 and a developed nation in the two decades after.

Hasina needs a new party leadership that provides the necessary political support to help her realise her ambitious vision.

Hasina inaugurated the National Council on Saturday at Suhrawardy Udyan.

The new leadership of the party will emerge from the council after two days of intense deliberations.

"My government will relentlessly pursue the battle against poverty but it is important the party provides the right kind of support. For that, a new leadership will have to emerge from the National Council," Hasina had told the party's preparatory committee last Tuesday.

Hasina, who has led the Awami League (AL) for the last 35 years, had said recently that she would be 'happy' to retire given the opportunity and if the party, founded by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, manages to find a new leader.

AL leaders, however, insist that there's no alternative to Hasina.

She has made it clear that the council will elect the next batch of leaders, but party leaders are depending on her to make decisions.

The much-discussed issue ahead of the council is about who will be general secretary - whether Syed Ashraful Islam will be retained or replaced.

Speculations are also rife about changes in the party's policy making presidium council, national committee and executive committee.

However, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraf ruled out major changes.

“In a democratic state system, councils are not subjected to sudden or sweeping changes. This is incremental. New ones are inducted by replacing old or ailing (leaders). This new committee will have both old and young leaders,” he told the media on Friday.

And over rumours about his replacement, Syed Ashraf said, “I know what will happen. Nobody other than the prime minister and myself are aware about what is going to happen. You all will know soon."

67 years of Awami League

The Awami League was formed on Jun 23 in 1949 at Rose Garden in Old Dhaka's KM Das Lane. Among those instrumental in its formation were Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Shamsul Haq.

Throughout the 1950s, a young Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who would come to be known as Bangabandhu, carried the party's organisation to every nook and corner of erstwhile East Pakistan.

Bhashani left the party in 1957 to form the National Awami Party.

Following the death of Suhrawardy in December 1963, Sheikh Mujib revived the Awami League, which had become part of the National Democratic Front after the imposition of martial law in Pakistan in October 1958.

In 1966 the Awami League announced the Six-Point programme for regional autonomy.

Bangabandhu was put on trial, along with 34 others, in the ‘Agartala conspiracy case’ in June 1968 but was released after a mass uprising in February 1969.

Under Bangabandhu’s leadership, the Awami League won a majority of seats, 167 out of a total of 313, in Pakistan’s first general election in December 1970.

Prevented from assuming power by the Yahya Khan military junta, the party was forced into an armed movement for independence by a brutal military crackdown in March 1971.

Afterwards Bangabandhu was arrested and flown to West Pakistan to stand trial on charges of waging war against Pakistan.

The War of Independence, led by Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam and Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad, culminated in the emergence of a sovereign Bangladesh in December 1971.

Bangabandhu returned from Pakistan in January 1972 and took over as prime minister.

He was killed with most of his family in a brutal military coup on 15 August, 1975.

Until Sheikh Hasina was elected leader of the Awami League in May 1981, the party was divided into three factions, with no single powerful figure to lead it out of the doldrums.

Her arrival reunified the party and it went on to wage a long struggle against military dictatorships until December 1990.

The Awami League returned to power in 1996 after 21 years. After the five-year term, it lost the 2001 polls but returned to power with a huge majority in Dec 2008.

The party is now ruling for a second successive term after winning the January 2014 parliament polls.