Several thousand opposition men join Bangladesh Awami League

Shifting political allegiance, BNP and Jamaat men are joining the ruling Awami League in droves, apparently to get their names off “politically motivated cases” and avoid police harassment.

Media reports suggest several thousand grassroots leaders and activists of the two parties have joined the rival party in the past three months, and sources in the AL say more BNP-Jamaat men will soon follow suit.

Tangled up in an adverse political situation, the opposition men are taking refuge in the AL in efforts to save themselves from the numerous cases filed against them over street violence during the BNP-led alliance's movement since 2013, according to sources in all the three parties.

AL insiders say they want to cripple the BNP, especially in the districts that are deemed its stronghold. As part of this strategy, the party wants to coax as many opposition men as they can into joining the ruling party.

In some areas, opposition leaders have even openly spoken against their own party.

Political analyst Nizam Ahmed sees this political exodus as an ominous sign.

"This is a manifestation of ugly politics. The situation would have been different had we had a healthy democratic atmosphere in the country," Nizam, a professor of public administration at Chittagong University, told The Daily Star. 

On April 15, eight leaders along with more than 1,000 BNP-Jamaat supporters joined the AL in Comilla. Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal himself received them. A ministry press release later confirmed this.

In Joypurhat's Panchbibi upazila, around 500 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists joined the ruling party on June 6 through a press conference. District AL President and party MP Shamsul Alam Dudu was present there.

In Rajshahi, Mokhlesur Rahman, organising secretary of Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, joined the AL on July 2 along with some 200 local BNP men. He is an accused in three cases, including two for setting a police station on fire on the eve of last year's January 5 polls.

Earlier in May, BNP leader Habibur Rahman, also ward-3 councillor of Rajshahi City Corporation, signed up with the AL a few days after his release from prison.

Salamat Ali, joint secretary of Chittagong's Rauzan upazila BNP, is the latest to take shelter in the AL. He joined the ruling party ranks on Monday, hours after his release from police custody. Salamat, an accused in the Jubo League activist Mobarak Hossain murder case, was detained on Sunday.

Many of these BNP and Jamaat men stand accused in cases, mostly over violence. And those who have no cases against them face harassment by law enforcement agencies just because of their political identities, sources said.

Take local Jamaat leader Afzal Hossain Pintu, also councillor of ward-9 of Chapainawabganj municipality. An accused in about a dozen cases, he joined the AL on May 12.

Contacted yesterday, he claimed, "I am not into criminal activities. But I have been implicated as I was involved in Jamaat politics."

More than a thousand leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat in the district followed in his footstep.

According to media reports, hundreds of BNP and Jamaat men joined the AL also in Natore, Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Gazipur, Munshiganj, Noakhali, Chandpur, Moulvibazar, Patuakhali and Bhola.

Another reason for this mass exodus is the poor state of the BNP and Jamaat, particularly at the grassroots.

"There is no democracy in the BNP and the party has no future plan. So I joined [on July 2] the Awami League,” said Mokhlesur Rahman Bacchu, organising secretary of Rajshahi's Charghat thana unit Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal.

Many grassroots AL leaders, meanwhile, are not liking this.

 "They're joining our party for their protection and I don't support this. The Awami League will have to pay for this,” said Chapainawabganj district AL president Moinuddin Mondal.

Satkhira-4 MP Jaglul Haider said most of the BNP-Jamaat men who joined the AL were accused in criminal cases.

"The party should not take in any BNP men linked with criminal activities …. Our party is setting a bad example by receiving BNP-Jamaat men. They will create trouble for the party in future," said Jaglul, also president of Shyamnagar upazila Awami League.

Asked about Salamat joining the AL, MA Salam, general secretary of Chittagong north AL, said, “I don't support this."

Contacted, AL Presidium Member Nuh-Ul-Alam Lenin said, "If any good organiser of the BNP comes to the Awami League, it will strengthen our organisation. But we have to be alert so that no one can do wrong things using the name of our party."

But he added he was against Jamaat men joining the AL.

Khalid Mahamud Chowdhury, AL organising secretary, said, "Those who uphold the spirit of liberation and are not involved in war crimes can join the Awami League. I don't see any problem here.”

BNP leader Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman candidly confessed that the BNP men's joining the AL was strategic. "The opposition men who have joined the ruling party, I believe, have done it for strategic reasons … for their survival."

He, however, alleged the government was using the law enforcement agencies to file cases against the opposition men and harass them.