In which direction Jatiya Party will go after Ershad's demise?

In the last years of his life, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad would often attempt to inspire his legions of followers by saying that the party will rise again by “breaking all the shackles”

“I want to see the Jatiya Party in power once again before my death. I want to see the Jatiya Party to become the party of the people… that it has stood beside the people…This is my last wish,” he had told a party programme before the last general election.

His final wish eluded him since there has been no visible drive to make the party one “of the people”.

Ershad allied with the ruling party until his death to survive in Bangladesh’s politics, as the leader of the opposition in parliament after performing the duties of the prime minister’s special envoy.

Like many other army chiefs who usurped power, Ershad had tried to give his rule a democratic cover, forming the Jatiya Party on Jan 1, 1986.

Ruled singlehandedly by Ershad, the Jatiya Party had his brother and Co-Chairman GM Quader as acting chairman weeks before his death after much drama, in which Ershad had announced Quader his heir in the party, only to sack him after a week for “his failure to run it”.

Ershad’s wife and the party’s Senior Co-Chairman Raushon Ershad, whose followers have opposed the move to put Quader at the helm, replaced Quader as the deputy leader of parliament at the time.

Bizarrely, despite being the main opposition in parliament, the Jatiya Party had its leaders in the government’s council of ministers.

It doesn’t have any minister now, but is still in the ruling Awami League-led Grand Alliance. Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga had recently hinted at leaving the coalition following criticism.

Now after the death of Ershad on Sunday morning, questions over its future lurk.

TIME WILL SAY ALL: MUSHTUQ HUSAIN

Bangladesher JaSoD Standing Committee Member Mushtuq Husain believes the time has not come yet to comment on the Jatiya Party’s existence in the post-Ershad era.

“We must wait. It can’t be said just yet which path they will take,” the former DUCSU general secretary said.

He noted that Bangladesh’s first military ruler Ziaur Rahman also formed the BNP and it still exists.

The role of the local and foreign lobbies, forces and groups that exist in the circle of power will also be important in determining the Jatiya Party’s fate, Mushtuq said.

“Let’s see whose interests the Jatiya Party represents now,” he said.

IT WILL SPLIT: KAMAL LOHANI

The death of Ershad has brought the end to the party as well, thinks journalist and cultural worker Kamal Lohani, who was at the frontline of the movement against Ershad in the 90s.

“We are saved as the autocrat is dead. The nation, the country is saved (after the death of) such a controversial politician. This may lead to the party getting dissolved as well. The party will split in several factions if you take the disputes in it into consideration,” Lohani said.

He, however, considers Quader a “very intelligent and brilliant person who may try to keep the party united” despite being younger in politics than the student leaders who joined the party.

“But I don’t think he will be able to do it. I don’t actually want to look it as a political party. They only take shelter in power. I don’t think they have any commitment to the people,” Lohani said.

Recalling the killings and corruption during Ershad’s regime, he said: “I doubt how much honest the people in the party will be tolerating these for so many years.” 

“…I don’t think it will be a united party,” he added.

DEPENDS ON AL: MUNTASIR MAMUN

Dhaka University teacher Professor Muntasir Mamun says the Awami League had to face much criticism for forging an alliance with Ershad, who after Zia, had “destroyed the basic spirits of Bangladesh by usurping power or taking decisions like scrapping secularism through installation of state religion”.

“Ershad changed his political stance in past few years. The (AL-Jatiya Party) negotiation might be for different political reasons. Maybe the Awami League thinks that Ershad is a better ally than the BNP or the Jamaat-e-Islami,” Mamun said. 

In his words, “The Jatiya Party’s existence is entirely at the mercy of the Awami League.” 

NO FUTURE WITHOUT ERSHAD: FORMER LEADER SHAHIDUL

Sheikh Shahidul Islam, the general secretary of the Jatiya Party-JP formed by Anwar Hossain Manju in a split of the Ershad-led Jatiya Party two decades ago, said he sees no future of the Jatiya Party after the death of Ershad.

“Its weakness is that it depends on others,” he said.

“Ershad was personally popular, but the Jatiya Party doesn’t have much support among the public. I don’t see much of a future for this party without Ershad,” he added.

Besides the JP, three other splinters of the Jatiya Party are active in Bangladesh’s politics now. These are the Bangladesh Jatiya Party-BJP, the Bangladesh Jatiya Party and the Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar).

Shahidul thinks the Jatiya Party will survive if all its splinters can come together and practise democracy inside the party.

“There will be a future for the Jatiya Party if it gets united; otherwise not,” he said.

WHAT THE JATIYA PARTY LEADERS THINK

Most of the Jatiya Party leaders, busy at Ershad’s funeral prayers and preparation for his burial, declined to comment on the future of the party.

“It never appears that the party will split again. It will be united in the ideals of HM Ershad,” Presidium Member Syed Abu Hossain Babla said.

He said Quader and Raushon, “tied with the same thread, will lead the party and keep it united”.

Secretary General Ranga said those “who want to bring indiscipline to the party will not be able to do much”.

“GM Quader will keep the party united. The question (of Jatiya Party splitting again) doesn’t arise,” he said.