Jamaat tie-up faces pushback from 30 NCP leaders

Just 302 days after its launch, the National Citizen Party (NCP) is facing its first major internal rupture, as 30 senior leaders have formally challenged the party’s reported plan to forge an electoral alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami–led eight-party bloc, submitting a protest memorandum to convener Nahid Islam.

The letter, titled “Principled objections to a potential alliance in light of the accountability of the July Uprising and party values,” was submitted on Saturday amid reports that seat-sharing talks between the NCP and the Jamaat-led alliance are nearing completion.

Confirming the development, NCP Joint Member Secretary Mushfiq Us Saleheen, the first signatory to the letter, told Jago News that the memorandum had been handed over to the party leadership. “Thirty central leaders have conveyed their objections and concerns to the convener,” he said.

In the letter, the leaders cite the NCP’s declared ideology, democratic ethics and its historical responsibility following the July mass uprising as grounds for opposing any alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami. They allege that over the past year Jamaat and its student wing, Chhatra Shibir, have engaged in divisive politics, propaganda, infiltration of other parties and online campaigns targeting the NCP and its affiliated student organisations.

The signatories further argue that Jamaat-e-Islami’s political history – particularly its role during the Liberation War of 1971 and its stance on war crimes – stands in direct contradiction to the democratic spirit of Bangladesh and the core values of the NCP. Any alliance with Jamaat, they warn, would weaken the party’s moral standing and damage its long-term political credibility.

The letter also points out that NCP leaders, including convener Nahid Islam and chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari, had repeatedly pledged to contest the elections independently in all 300 constituencies. The party has already announced 125 candidates after selling around 1,500 nomination forms. Entering an alliance for a limited number of seats at this stage, the leaders argue, would amount to “betraying public trust.”

The dissenting leaders said they have observed growing public backlash whenever media reports of a possible alliance with Jamaat surface, claiming that supporters, organisers and moderate voters have begun distancing themselves from the party. They warned that such a move could erode the NCP’s moderate support base and undermine its promise of “new politics.”

In their concluding appeal, the leaders urged the party to take a clear and principled stand against forming any political alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, stressing that strategy should be guided by ideology and values – not the other way around.

Signatories to the letter include NCP Joint Convener Khaled Saifullah, Joint Member Secretary Mushfiq Us Saleheen, Central Organiser Arman Hossain, Joint Convener Nusrat Tabassum, Joint Chief Coordinator Khan Md Mursaleen, Organiser Rafiqul Islam Aini, among a total of 30 central leaders.