Political Parties in Bangladesh Dr. Kazi Shahdat Kabir.

Political Parties in Bangladesh

Dr. Kazi Shahdat Kabir

Political Parties

• According to R.C. Gettell- a political party is a group of citizen more or less organized who act as a political unit, who by the use of their voting power aim to control the government and carry out their general policies. [Introduction to political science p,286.]

Political Parties in Bangladesh: Muslim League ML

• Political Party at partition in 1947 there was practically one overwhelming party in East Pakistan, the Muslim League.

• Parties after 1947 All India Muslim League changed its name to Pakistan Muslim League in December 1947.


• The dissident elements of the Muslim League formed new parties, such as Awami Muslim League, Nezami Islam, Khilfat-i-Rabbani Party, Krishak Sramik Party, etc.


The League's steep decline and virtual death were registered in the 1954 elections of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly in which the United Front scored a landslide victory.


• Ayub Khan caused a split in the Muslim League to float his own party known as the Pakistan Muslim League (Convention). He became its president in 1963. The other branch of the Muslim League, known as the Council Muslim League.


• During the war of liberation (1971) both the factions of the Pakistan Muslim League supported Pakistan and were thus banned in Bangladesh after liberation.

• In July 1976, the party was revived under the name of Bangladesh Muslim League, now almost disappeared.

Political Parties in Bangladesh: Jamaat-e-Islami JI

• Jamaat-e-Islami Hind was established on 26 August 1941 by Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979).

• In Bangladesh a fraction of Jamaat leaders formed another party in 1977 called Islamic Democratic league (IDL) but it was short lived.

Political Parties in Bangladesh: Jamaat-e-Islami JI

• Along with Muslim League it opposed the liberation movement in 1971.

• The party joined the Anti-Ershad movement in the late 1980s and gained significant number of support.

Political Parties in Bangladesh Awami League AL

• The end of the War of Liberation, Awami League took over the control of the new nation on 16 December 1971.

• In the first general election of the country in 1973, the AL again won overwhelmingly.


• But in the context of the deteriorating economic conditions and the famine of 1974 AL switched over to a presidential form of government and a single party system called the Bangladesh Krisak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL) in 1975.


• This phase ended with the brutal killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on 15 August 1975.

Political Parties in Bangladesh: parties emerged from AL

• In 1976, the AL resumed political activities not in the name of BAKSAL.

• But between 1970 and 1981 several people and groups left Awami League to form their own parties, which include the Jatiya League (1970) by ataur rahman khan…Cont.


• Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD, 1972) by Maj. M. A. Jalil and A. S. M. Rob, Jatiya Janata Party (1976) by General mohammad ataul ghani osmany, Gana Azadi League (1976) by abdur rashid tarkabagish, Bangladesh Democratic League (1976) by Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad.


• National Awami Party From the mid-1950s the Awami League suffered a growing conflict between two of its leaders, HS Suhrawardy and Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani around the issues of foreign policy and regional autonomy.

Political Parties in Bangladesh; parties emerged from AL

• Bhasani, a populist leader of great influence among the peasants and workers, opposed HS Suhrawardy for his pro-American foreign policy and his lack of support to the autonomy of East Bengal.


• This eventually led to a split within the Awami League and formed the National Awami Party (NAP) with the support of the left-leaning leaders and workers of the AL.

• It was the first party to oppose the Awami League in 1972.

• But by 1988, the party split into as many as 13 separate parties and factions.

Political Parties in Bangladesh: Communist Party

• The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) was formed in 1948 in the second congress of the Communist Party of India (CPI). The East Pakistan Communist Party (EPCP) was also established at the same time.

Political Parties in Bangladesh Communist Party

• The EPCP broke into EPCP (Marxist-Leninist) and EPCP (pro-Chinese) in 1966.

• Over the years these parties have fragmented mostly into small-armed factions or cliques, and as many as 18 of them can be traced.

Political Parties in Bangladesh: Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP

• Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) the party emerged in the late 1970s as a state-sponsored party headed by President ziaur rahman.

• In the 1979 parliamentary elections, BNP won more than two-thirds of the seats.

Political Parties in Bangladesh Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP

* After assassination of President Ziaur Rahman in an abortive military coup on 30 May 1981, Justice Abdus Sattar took the power.

• Justice Abdus Sattar was forced out of power on 24 March 1982 by another military coup led by General Hussein Muhammad Ershad.


• BNP faced a crisis in 1983 when it split into three factions: BNP (Sattar), BNP (Huda) and BNP (Dudu-Nilu) over the question of leadership.

• The Sattar group tried to consolidate itself under the leadership of Begum Khaleda Zia, but soon after Shah Aziur Rahman (Ex-PM of BNP) also left the party.


• In the general elections of 1991, it performed well by securing 140 seats against Awami League's 88. In the general elections of 1996, BNP secured 116 seats.

Political Parties in Bangladesh Jatiya Party JP

• In the Jatiya Sangsad elections of 2001, the BNP-led four party alliance secured two-thirds of the seats of the Sangsad and formed the government.

• JP It is a state-sponsored centrist party floated on 1 January 1986 under the chairmanship of Lt. General HM Ershad.

Political Parties in Bangladesh Jatiya Party JP

• In the parliamentary election held in May 1986 and thereafter in March 1988, it won easily, although both the elections were said to have been rigged heavily.

• JP has now fragmented into JP (Ershad), JP (Anwar Hossain Manju) and JP (Naziur Rahman Manju now BJP).

Political Parties in Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantric Dal JSD

• Jatiya Samajtantric Dal (JSD) emerged as a major leftist party after the emergence of Bangladesh. Its origin can be traced to the division within the Bangladesh Students League, a student front of AL.


• The leftist group led by Sirajul Alam Khan and ASM Abdur Rab steered the formation of the new party on 31 October 1972 with Abdur Rab and Major M.A Jalil as joint convenors.


• The party vehemently opposed the Awami League in power from 1972 to 1975.

• Its motto was scientific socialism and it sought to establish through revolution a classless society, free of exploitation, under the leadership of peasants and workers.


• A faction of JSD led by Khaliquzzaman Bhuiyan left it and established Bangladesh Samajtrantik Dal (BSD) which claimed to be the true Marxist-Leninist party.

• In 1982, BSD fragmented into two parties, one led by Khaliquzzaman Bhuiyan and another by AFM Mahbubul Haq.


• JSD also split into three groups in 1984, JSD (Rab), JSD (Siraj), JSD (Jalil) over the issue of whether to participate or not in the upazila election, which was held in 1984. In 1986, JSD (Siraj) again broke into two: JSD (Inu) and JSD (Siraj).

Political Parties in Bangladesh conclusion

• In the elections of 1996 in Bangladesh, eighty one political parties participated.

• In spite of the rise of so many political parties over time, the public is essentially grouped under two major political parties, Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party,

Political Parties in Bangladesh conclusion

• the next major parties being Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, based on representation in the parliament.

Political Parties in Bangladesh Dr. Kazi Shahdat Kabir.

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