Leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party at different levels, including from grassroots and associate bodies, have demanded massive reforms in party committees to ensure success in future movements for restoring democracy.

Speaking to New Age in the past week, many leaders and activists of the party and its front organisations said that they wanted such reforms as they observed that the party’s one-point movement to oust the ruling Awami League from power had failed.

They said that a full-length discussion and extended meeting of the BNP, a joint meeting with associate body leaders, and a review meeting with movement partners were important to fix the future action plan of the party that was at the forefront of the opposition movement to restore democracy in the country.

According to the BNP constitution, leaders of the party standing committee, central executive committee, and presidents and  secretaries of the divisional, district, and upazila units are entitled to join extended meetings, while front-body presidents and secretaries are entitled to attend joint meetings with the BNP high-ups.

They said that the party should immediately reconstitute and fill up the vacant posts in the standing committee, central executive committee, and other units.

Several posts in the central committee are vacant due to non-conference for a long time, inactivity, and the deaths of several leaders.

The 6th National Council session of the BNP was held in March 2016, which elected Khaleda Zia as chairperson and Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as secretary general.

After that, the party failed to hold any conferences.

The names of 17 members of the standing committee were announced in that council. Two other leaders were added to the standing committee later.

Of the 19 members of the standing committee, Moudud Ahmed, Tariqul Islam, ASM Hannan Shah, and MK Anwar died.

Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain and Rafiqul Islam Mia became inactive in politics due to illness, while Mahbubur Rahman retired from politics in 2019.

Salah Uddin Ahmed and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku are now staying abroad.

BNP leaders said that five posts on the BNP standing committee are now vacant, while at least 130 posts on the party’s 470-member national executive committee have been vacant for a long time due to deaths and other reasons.

Several district leaders of the BNP said that it was high time to review the role of party leaders during the movement before the January 7 general election.

‘I am not willing to mention any name, but it is known to all of our party high-ups that many important post-holding leaders go hideout, even switching off their cell phones,’ BNP Khagrachari district unit president Wadud Bhuiyan told New Age.

He said that the party should now hold at least one extended meeting and a joint meeting to increase the party’s organisational capacity.

He said that many people should be dropped from their positions as they failed in the ‘test of politics’ and many should be appointed to important posts.

‘The grassroots of the BNP wanted an immediate extended meeting. If needed, it can be held for several days,’ Gaibandha district unit president AHM Ghulam Shahid Ranju told New Age.

He said that the party should take the initiative to activate the potential inactive leaders and drop the people who proved to be incapable.

‘There are a large number of party activists who have no posts currently but have been active in the field movement for the past 15 years,’ said a former central committee vice-president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.

He said that the party should now evaluate them and give their opinion value.

A BNP chairperson’s advisory council member told New Age that the party should hold meetings with the partners of the simultaneous movement to set the future plan and review past mistakes.

Asked about the matter, BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told New Age that the posts of different committees had become vacant due to various reasons.

He said that party high-ups were now thinking about whether to make a reform or fill the vacant posts with active leaders.

He said that now BNP was holding iftar parties in districts to encourage grassroots.

He said that after Eid-ul-Fitr, the party may hold meetings with various levels of leadership.

He said that immediately after the January 7 election, the party tried to release party people from jail; many were already released, and some were still in prison.

According to the BNP, over 25,000 BNP leaders and activists were arrested before the January 7 general election.