Bangladesh News

Internal feud has raised its ugly head in BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) ahead of the formation of a new central committee as part of the party’s initiative to reform its associated organisations.

The row was sparked over whether a fresh full-fledged central committee will be formed or a convening committee will run the organisation as a stopgap measure until the formation of a full-fledged committee, JCD sources said.

JCD central committees are traditionally picked by BNP high-ups without any election, although in the student organisation’s constitution there are provisions for the central committees to be elected by national councils or to be picked by the BNP chairperson.

The sources said some influential top leaders of the organisation are lobbying the BNP high-ups quite hard for a convening committee, as they will possibly not be included in a new full-fledged central committee due to their age, but if a convening committee is formed they will automatically be in it until a new central committee is formed.

On the other hand, some younger junior leaders and a section of senior leaders, who still have a chance of being included in the new full-fledged committee, are demanding a fresh central committee excluding elderly leaders who are above the age of 40, married, and involved in professional lives, the sources added.

The two-year tenure of the existing central committee, with Azizul Baree Helal as the president and Shafiul Baree Babu as the general secretary, expired in 2006.

Most of the central leaders of the Helal-Babu committee are above 40, and many of them are involved in different professions, the sources said.

Helal and Senior Vice-president Sultan Salauddin Tuku also contested the last parliamentary election on BNP tickets.

The sources said BNP high-ups might declare a fresh JCD central committee soon after reorganising BNP district committees in line with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s instructions.

But since the emergence of the row, a tension has been prevailing within JCD.

Some JCD leaders and activists even got involved in an altercation at a hospital in the capital a few days ago over who will and will not find places in the next full-fledged committee, according to the JCD sources.

“Some top most leaders who are in the present committee and will not find places in the fresh committee, are lobbying BNP leaders very hard for a convening committee,” a JCD central leader said on condition of anonymity.

“But, we the junior leaders, want fresh leadership giving priority to young leaders,” he said adding, “JCD should come out of the grip of existing elderly leadership.”

JCD General Secretary Shafiul Baree Babu and Senior Vice-president Sultan Salauddin Tuku are allegedly lobbying for a convening committee while Organising Secretary Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Jewel, Joint Secretary Amirul Islam Khan Alim, and some other top leaders of Dhaka University unit are demanding a fresh full-fledged committee.

Shafiul Baree Babu however said, “A convening committee might run JCD for a while after BNP district committees are reorganised.”

“Some leaders expressed their demand for a convening committee to the chairperson while some others proposed a full-fledged committee,” Babu said adding there is no internal feud in JCD except some competition for being in the leadership.

Tuku said, “We are demanding a convening committee, so we may reorganise grassroots committees before forming the new central committee, as we the older generation has the experience for doing that.”