No scope to appoint acting Jatiya Party chairman, says Shameem Patwary as infighting deepens

However, a party notification says otherwise

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Jatiya Party Secretary General Shameem Haider Patwary has dismissed any possibility of appointing Anisul Islam Mahmud as acting chairman in place of GM Quader, who has been barred from carrying out organisational activities by a court order.

However, Mujibul Haque Chunnu, who was sacked from his secretary general post by Quader, maintains that the decision made at the party’s presidium meeting to install Anisul as acting party chief was consistent with the court’s directive.

On Jul 30, Dhaka’s First Joint District Judge Md Nurul Islam issued an order temporarily restraining Quader and the party’s Joint Office Secretary Mahmud Alam from conducting any party-related activities.

The court also instructed that all party positions and titles, including primary membership, be restored to 10 leaders previously dismissed by Quader amid a power struggle.

The 10 reinstated leaders include Senior Co-Chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud, and Co-Chairmen ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu, Office Secretary MA Razzak Khan, and Presidium Members Solaiman Alam Seth (Chattogram), Nazma Akhtar (Feni), Md Zahirul Islam Jahir (Tangail), Mostafa Al Mahmud (Jamalpur), Jasim Uddin (Netrokona), and Arifur Rahman Khan (Gazipur).

Following the verdict, a party notification signed on Tuesday by MA Razzak Khan, who was expelled by Quader, announced that Anisul had been appointed acting chairman.

“The Jatiya Party Presidium meeting was held, and in view of the order of the 1st Joint District Judge Court, Dhaka, Co-Chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud has been made the acting chairman,” the notification said.

The meeting also decided unanimously to reinstate several other leaders who had been expelled by Quader without notice after the 12th parliamentary election.

The presidium also discussed the current political situation and the party’s organisational direction. The meeting was adjourned until 4pm on Aug 6.

Asked about the appointment of an acting chairman, Patwary told bdnews24.com: “Some of our Jatiya Party co-chairmen have been expelled, their primary membership has been suspended. The verdict given by the court did not ask them to withdraw the expulsion order and return their primary membership. Accordingly, they cannot hold any meeting, they have clearly shown contempt of court.”

“A few people have made a decision by going beyond the court’s verdict. There is no basis for this decision. This is contempt of court, and such decisions by the expelled do not carry any importance,” he added.

In response to whether expelled members lacking primary membership could chair or attend the presidium meeting, Chunnu said: “I ask them [Patwary and Quader] if they have read the court’s verdict properly. Everything we have done has been done in the light of court rulings. We have all the positions, including primary membership positions.”

The Jatiya Party once again faces the risk of disintegration after a faction of senior leaders launched a move to oust Quader from leadership.

The effort, the party says, is aimed at purging the party of the “sin” of its alliance with the Awami League.

Quader’s faction had initially set Jun 28 as the date for the party’s national conference at the China-Bangladesh Friendship Conference Center.

But the government later said it could not grant permission for that date as it clashed with a programme involving the chief advisor.

Quader then postponed the conference. But Anisul and Ruhul Amin Howlader moved forward with plans to hold the event in front of the party’s central office in Kakrail. They began reaching out to district-level leaders, with Chunnu backing the effort.

The group also sought to unite former Jatiya Party leaders and reached out to the faction led by Raushon Ershad, the wife of party founder HM Ershad.

Among a section of party workers, there is a growing view that leadership change is essential to ensure participation in future elections, especially under increasingly difficult political circumstances.

They argue that Quader’s record during the last Awami League administration remains a liability. To strengthen the party, they advocate for a collective leadership model that includes veteran and previously inactive figures.

Anisul and Ruhul Amin Talukder have both pressed for a central conference to help the JaPa shed its image as a “fascist” entity.

At the time, Anisul accused Quader of trying to “do everything alone".

He said their objective was to bring about change.

“The main thing is dictatorship, autocracy,” Anisul said.

“We want to remove it from the party. If there is autocracy in the party, then there is no point in talking about democracy.”

He acknowledged that a process to sideline Quader had begun.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Jun 20, Anisul said: “They cannot eliminate the Jatiya Party. So, the Jatiya Party minus GM Quader is the government’s policy for the coming elections. BNP-Jamaat will not let the Awami League remain. And they wanted to eliminate the Jatiya Party too, but since they cannot, they want it minus GM Quader. They are saying that if they submit it to the Election Commission, they will get Langol too.”

In a countermove, Quader announced a grand rally in front of the party’s Kakrail headquarters on Jun 28, to “demonstrate” his strength in response to the opposing faction’s conference.

But the faction led by Anisul and Ruhul Amin Howlader ultimately backed off, calling for the conference to be rescheduled.

“We strongly urge the chairman to immediately step back from the path of stubbornness and arbitrariness and immediately announce a new date for the conference, paying tribute to the party’s founder, Pallibandhu (HM Ershad),” they said in a statement.

A leader from the faction told bdnews24.com that they had not received permission from the authorities to hold a conference at the party office. That, he said, forced them to reconsider. Their new strategy was to apply pressure on Quader without being seen as the ones breaking up the party.

On Jun 27, Anisul told bdnews24.com: “After the China Friendship allocation was cancelled, a council was supposed to be held in Kakrail. But the chairman has called a general meeting there. All in all, we are not holding a conference for now.”

Quader’s representative, Patwary, said the same day: “We have postponed the conference. We will inform you of the conference date later. We are not doing any programmes for now.”

With both sides stepping back, tensions among party activists temporarily eased.

But within a week, Quader launched a fresh round of political steps.

The Jatiya Party has a long history of internal rifts. Its first major split occurred after the fall of Ershad in the mass uprising of 1990. In 1997, another faction broke away under the leadership of Anwar Hossain Manju and Sheikh Shahidul Islam.

Further divisions followed in 1998 under Kazi Zafar and Shah Moazzem, in 2001 under Naziur Rahman, and in 2013 during a special council meeting.

After Ershad’s death, the party fractured again on Apr 20, 2024, when a group led by Raushon formed its own faction.