The National Citizen Party on Saturday announced plans to launch countrywide street programmes soon, pressing for a clear legal basis and legitimacy for the July National Charter 2025.
聽鈥榃e must reach out to the people, because the July Charter was signed on Friday against their aspirations. Therefore, we will hold street programmes, and we will soon announce the programmes across the country,鈥� NCP convener Nahid Islam said at a press conference at the party鈥檚 temporay central office in the capital.
The press conference was convened to clarify the聽 stance of the NCP on abstaining from signing the July National Charter and skipping Friday鈥檚 ceremony in this regard.
A total of 24 of the 30 political parties that had engaged in nearly a year-long dialogue with the National Consensus Commission to shape the country鈥檚 reform agenda signed the July Charter on the day at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad, in the presence of chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
While representatives from 25 political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, attended the signing ceremony, Gano Forum leaders abstained over specific reservations, and five other parties, including the National Citizen Party, did not participate.
Nahid said that if the July Charter had no legal basis, it would have no value or significance and for this reason, the NCP did not participate in the signing ceremony.
He said that without a legal foundation, the charter would remain merely a formality, a public deception, and a mockery of the nation.
Nahid said that after the 1990 uprising, the framework of the three-party alliance had not been upheld, warning that changing something as important as the constitution required a legal basis.
He said that the attempts to prevent changes were being driven from inside and outside the country by
beneficiaries of the old fascist structures, stressing that their struggle was against a fascistic system rather than merely against Sheikh Hasina or the Awami League.
Nahid said that changing political leadership alone would not resolve Bangladesh鈥檚 democratic problems and vowed that they would not allow the betrayal of the people鈥檚 aspirations that followed the 1990 uprising to be repeated.
Replying to a question, Nahid said that the NCP was not being sidelined from national politics for not signing the July Charter.
鈥楻ather, we see that those who attended Friday鈥檚 ceremony and took part in the signing process have distanced themselves from the uprising and from the people. We want them to come before the public 鈥� the same people who took to the streets during the uprising, faced bullets, and fought for the vision of a new, democratic, and inclusive Bangladesh,鈥� he said.
Nahid said that they would sit with the NCC, if called, in order to continue discussions on the legal basis for the July Charter.
During the press conference, NCP secretary Akhtar Hossen read out a written statement.
He also called for justice over Friday鈥檚 clashes between the police and the July warriors.
