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Published : 28 Jun 2025, 02:28 AM
The Jatiya Party has been plunged into fresh uncertainty as rival senior leaders, once determined to hold a separate national conference to replace Chairman Ghulam Muhammed Quader, have abandoned their plan, instead calling on him to announce a new date himself.
The developments highlight growing divisions within the party founded by late military ruler HM Ershad.
Anisul Islam Mahmud and ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, who lead the faction challenging Quader’s authority, confirmed the suspension of Saturday’s planned conference.
Speaking to bdnews24.com on Friday, Anisul Islam said: “We are not going ahead with the conference for now. We will inform you later of any new plans.”
The standoff comes after the government revoked permission to hold the originally scheduled Jun 28 national conference at the China-Bangladesh Friendship Conference Centre, citing scheduling conflicts with the chief advisor’s events.
GM Quader subsequently postponed the conference. However, Anisul Islam and Ruhul Amin’s faction began mobilising district leaders for a new conference outside the party headquarters in Kakrail, while also reaching out to factions of the party that had split off in previous years, including allies of Ershad’s widow, Rowshan Ershad.
Sources said they sought to unite former leaders who had broken away in earlier Jatiya Party splits, in hopes of forging a broad alliance to replace Quader and “free the party from the stigma of collaboration” with the Awami League during its rule.
Internal dissent intensified as many grassroots activists argued that leadership change was needed to strengthen the party’s position before the next general election.
Critics accused Quader of authoritarianism and blamed his close ties with the Awami League for weakening the Jatiya Party’s credibility as an opposition force.
“The main issue is dictatorship. We want to rid the party of autocracy. There’s no point in talking about democracy if dictatorship exists within,” Anisul Islam said last week.
Aware of these moves, Quader tried to show his strength by announcing a “grand rally” in front of the party’s central office on Jun 28 in a countermeasure to the rival conference.
However, Ansiul and Ruhul’s faction backed off its plan on Wednesday, urging Quader to declare a new date himself.
“We strongly urge the chairman to immediately abandon stubbornness and authoritarian ways, and in honour of party founder HM Ershad, announce a new conference date,” they said in a joint statement.
Party insiders revealed that Anisul Islam’s faction failed to secure police permission for the planned conference at the central office, forcing them to change tactics.
Instead of risking a direct confrontation, they are now applying pressure on Quader to step down voluntarily or agree to a leadership shakeup without shouldering blame for splitting the party.
When contacted on Friday, Anisul Islam told bdnews24.com: “After the China conference centre cancellation, we planned to hold the council in Kakrail, but the chairman himself called a grand rally there. Given all this, we are not proceeding with the conference for now.”
Quader declined to comment directly, referring bdnews24.com to Shamim Haider Patwary, a Presidium member close to him.
Patwary confirmed the suspension and said, “We have postponed the conference and will announce a new date later. For now, we have no programmes planned.”
A Quader loyalist insisted that factional efforts to unseat him had failed. “Nobody has been able to form a platform against GM Quader,” he said, “grassroots leaders remain solidly behind him. Those who left before couldn’t achieve anything, and they won’t succeed now either.”
When bdnews24.com visited the Jatiya Party headquarters in Bijoynagar on Friday afternoon, there was no sign of preparations for either a conference or a grand rally. Local leaders present admitted both events were effectively off.
Haji Md Kamal Hossain, convenor of the party’s Dhaka South volunteer wing, said: “Some leaders called for a conference here, and there was talk of our rally too. But since they postponed the conference, our rally likely won’t happen either.”
Standing beside him, central committee member Anwar Hossain Khan Shanto added: “They failed to implement their conspiracy by backing out of the conference. Even if the rally doesn’t happen, our grassroots are united and will not let any conspiracy succeed.”
The Jatiya Party has a long history of splits since Ershad’s fall in the 1990 mass uprising. The party fractured again in 1997, 1998, 2001, and most recently in December 2013, each time weakening its national standing.
After Ershad’s death, his widow Rowshan led a factional split as recently as Apr 20, 2024.
As the latest internal power struggle drags on, uncertainty looms over the party’s future ahead of next general election.
