DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladeshi students at the forefront of protests that ousted Sheikh Hasina as prime minister last year launched a political party on Friday to contest elections likely to be held by the end of the year.
The launch of ‘Jatiya Nagorik Party’ (National Citizens’ Party), opens a new chapter in the turbulent politics of the South Asian country, which was born in 1971 after separating from Pakistan.
The Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group spearheaded protests that began as a movement against public sector job quotas, but the demonstrations quickly morphed into a broader, nationwide uprising that forced Hasina to flee to India in early August.
The students group has been preparing to launch the new party since Hasina’s departure, to enable it to enter mainstream politics and contest elections.
Nahid Islam, a student leader who went on to become an adviser in the interim government that took charge after Hasina’s exit, quit the administration on Wednesday to lead the new party as its convener.
On Friday, thousands of supporters from across Bangladesh, many of them waving the national flag and sporting bandanas and headbands in the flag’s red and green colours, marched in groups and gathered in front of parliament in Dhaka for the launch.
Islam told the gathering — which included leaders from other political parties — that the new party would present an alternative political choice for Bangladeshis.
“We will keep Bangladesh and the interest of its citizens in mind and join hands to build a new nation,” said Islam, a Bangladesh flag wrapped around his forehead.
“We are committed to adopting a new, democratic constitution,” he read out from the new party’s declaration. “A key goal is to draft this constitution through an elected constituent assembly.”
Islam was a key figure in advocating students’ interests within the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people has been grappling with political unrest since Hasina fled following weeks of protests in which more than 1,000 people were killed.
Political parties have demanded early elections and power to be returned to a democratically elected government. Yunus, an economist, has said that elections could be held by the end of 2025 and that he is not interested in running.
Political analysts believe that a youth-led party could significantly reshape national politics, dominated for decades by Hasina’s Awami League party and her rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
(Reporting by Reuters Dhaka bureau and Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by YP Rajesh, William Maclean)
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