Bangladesh uprising 'guru' Mahfuz Alam distances himself from NCP over Jamaat alliance

Dhaka: The main leader of last year's violent uprising that toppled the then government in Bangladesh, Mahfuz Alam, on Sunday distanced himself from his disciples under the National Citizen Party (NCP) banner over their move to forge an electoral alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami.

In a Facebook post, Alam declined to be a "part of this NCP", as a rift in the party over the alliance issue yielded a memorandum signed by 30 of its senior leaders expressing their stance against the move and two ranking ones announcing their resignation.

The fierce 2024 violent street campaign, dubbed the July Uprising, was carried out under the banner of the Students against Discrimination (SAD), and a large offshoot of the platform in February this year emerged as the NCP with interim government chief Muhammad Yunus' blessings.

Alam served as the information and broadcast adviser, effectively a minister, and quit the portfolio just ahead of the Election Commission's December 11 announcement of the schedule for Bangladesh's 13th parliamentary polls amid speculation that he could be a heavyweight contender.

"Under the prevailing circumstances, my respect, affection and friendship for my July comrades will not be erased. But I am not becoming part of this NCP," Alam wrote.

He said "it is not true that I was given a proposal from the Jamaat-NCP alliance but keeping my long standing position is more important than becoming a Jamaat-NCP alliance (candidate) from any Dhaka constituency".

Yunus last year introduced Alam to former US president Bill Clinton in the United States, explicitly calling him the "brain behind the whole revolution" in July 2024 and describing the uprising as a "meticulously-designed" upheaval.

The violent street protest toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League regime on August 5, 2024, while the interim government disbanded the party under an executive order earlier this year, debarring it from contesting the scheduled election on February 12, 2026.

Alam is widely regarded as an NCP "guru", despite his obscure official relations with the party and largely esoteric political views.

His post came hours after NCP convenor Nahid Islam announced that they have joined the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance in pursuit of a broader political unity ahead of the polls.

Islam, however, said the move did not indicate any ideological alignment with the Jamaat.

NCP's joint member-secretary Mushfiq Us Saleheen, who was the first signatory to the memorandum titled "Principled objections to a potential alliance in light of the accountability of the July Uprising and party values", told reporters on Saturday night that they have sent the memo to the party convenor.

The memorandum has expressed concerns over the NCP's proposed alliance with the Jamaat, stating that it conflicts with the party's declared ideology and stance on the July Uprising and democratic ethics.

It has pointed to the Jamaat's controversial political history, particularly its role against Bangladesh's independence and alleged collaboration in genocide and crimes during the 1971 Liberation War, describing these as fundamentally incompatible with Bangladesh's democratic spirit and the NCP's core values.

The memo has further alleged that the Jamaat's student wing, Chhatra Shibir, had in the recent past infiltrated and sabotaged other parties to blame the NCP for various incidents and spread misinformation and propaganda.

The memorandum was made public after NCP senior joint member-secretary Tasnim Jara, a doctor, resigned from her position on Saturday evening and announced that she would contest the upcoming parliamentary election as an independent candidate from a Dhaka constituency.

Hours later, NCP joint convenor Tajnuva Jabeen, also a doctor, announced her resignation in a Facebook post, describing the alliance formation as "a political strategy carefully engineered and brought to this point".

The "Ittefaq" newspaper reported on Saturday that most female NCP leaders were opposed to an alliance with the Jamaat or any religion-based party.

Bengali daily "Prothom Alo" earlier reported that a seat-sharing deal between the NCP and former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was discussed, but no understanding was reached.

"Since then, NCP talks with Jamaat have progressed positively," the report said.

The BNP has emerged as the forerunner in the changed political landscape, with its former ally Jamaat -- its partner during the 2001-2006 tenure -- now appearing as its main rival amid the apparent absence of the disbanded Awami League.