Mahfuj Alam says NCP moved away from July uprising’s inclusive politics
In a Nutshell:
- Former interim government adviser Mahfuj Alam said the Jatiya Nagorik Committee initially brought together people from both the political right and left before becoming NCP.
- He said NCP later started favouring or excluding members based on their political affiliations.
- Former NCP leader Tasnim Jara said she left because the party moved away from its original position, not because of a personal grievance.
- Former NCP leader Tajnuva Jabeen said those who carried the July movement’s spirit are no longer organised as a political force.
Why it matters
NCP’s biggest political strength was that it emerged from the July uprising as a platform that brought together people from different ideological backgrounds who wanted to move beyond Bangladesh’s traditional party politics. Mahfuj Alam’s criticism is that this changed after Jatiya Nagorik Committee became NCP, with the party allegedly starting to favour some political camps while sidelining others. The departures of figures like Tasnim Jara and Tajnuva Jabeen show that the debate is not only about internal disagreements, but about whether NCP still represents the broad coalition that gave birth to it.
What we think
The question facing NCP is not simply whether it can survive as another political party, but whether it can avoid becoming the kind of politics the July uprising was meant to challenge. A movement that promised to include people beyond traditional ideological lines now faces criticism from some of its own former leaders that it has created new divisions inside its own ranks. If NCP wants to claim the legacy of July, it will need to show that its decisions are based on the movement’s original demands rather than political loyalty or ideological alignment.
