The curious case of ‘Asol BNP’

Yesterday’s attempt by a group of people to occupy BNP headquarters has raised many eyebrows.

The move comes at a time when the party is preparing to demonstrate on January 5, the date when the last general election was held.

‘Asol BNP’, literally meaning ‘Real BNP’, which made the attempt, is a group that came into existence a year ago after the BNP-led alliance started a protest following authorities’ denial for demonstration against the January 5 election.

It questioned the leadership of BNP during its launch. But its sudden resurgence again in January when BNP is planning to hold anti-government rally has given birth to questions about their real intent.

A group of around 100 people of ‘Asol BNP’ marched to occupy BNP headquarters at Nayapaltan. They locked in clash with BNP activists there and had to retreat.

Talking to The Daily Star a day into the incident, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir blamed the government to be helping the group.

Terming the attempt as a conspiracy of the government to split BNP, he said: “It was nothing but a part of evil plan of the government to divide BNP. It is also outcome of the government’s political bankruptcy.”

He alleged that the government was playing “a dirty game by letting loose its agents” to split BNP.

When The Daily Star contacted Kamrul Hasan Nasim, who claimed to be the convener of ‘Asol BNP’, said they staged the showdown in a bid to realise their demand for reforms in BNP.

Photos and videos show the two groups clashed with sticks. Nasim however denied that his people were carrying any stick.

“I belong to BNP in body, mind and soul. We want its unity from the bottom of my heart, rather we want reforms to its supreme leadership. I have been raising the demand from January 2015,” he said.

Digging back, The Daily Star found out that Kamrul, hailing from Jessore, was a central leader of Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, a unity of farmers under BNP patronisation, back in 2004. He founded his ‘real BNP’ on January 9, 2015. In the remainder of the time until now, his group’s activities were limited to press statements and a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in June.

However, Fakhrul said Kamrul was “a nobody. He is just a street boy. He has gone mad. Who is he to raise demands for such reform? He is surely a government agent.”

Rejecting allegations of being a government agent, Kamrul blamed Khaleda for “misguided leadership” of participating in the recently-concluded municipality polls. “She knew there was no level-playing field. She ignored it and participated in the election. Participating in this election would only mean that BNP now wants to be a domestic opposition in local government.”

“We will continue the showdown until our demand is realised,” Kamrul said slamming the prevailing leadership for biasing the party towards Jamaat-e-Islami.

“Its supreme leadership including Khaleda Zia and her elder son Tarique Rahman have failed to organise the party upholding spirit of the party founder Shaheed president Ziaur Rahman,” he said.      

During the latter half of last year, several BNP leaders had alleged that the government was hatching conspiracies to divide BNP in order to eliminate any strong opposition in the political horizon.

Ruling party leaders have repeatedly asserted that there was no such plan and that there was division inside BNP that arose out of Khaleda Zia’s misguided leadership.

Now, the political setting in Dhaka is stirring up with both Awami League and BNP calling for simultaneous rallies at the same venue on January 5 with contrasting views to the second anniversary of last general elections.

The last time such a thing happened, in January 5 last year – ended up with three-month long  blockade on rail, water and roadways and violence that left over a 100 people dead.