Rift in Bangladesh students party as desperate factions dial Jamaat, BNP

With the promised elections in Bangladesh on February 12 fast approaching, the Citizen Party (NCP), born out of the anti-Sheikh Hasina protests of 2024, is finding it increasingly difficult to secure a political foothold. It is the party formed by the students who made Muhammad Yunus the head of the interim set-up, and is said to enjoy his patronage. The NCP was earlier seen as an ambitious attempt to build a third force outside Bangladesh's remaining power centres — the Bangladesh ist Party (BNP) and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. The Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League, banned by Yunus' regime, is out of the poll equation for now.

The NCP, which has reportedly gained far more traction in the digital space than on the ground, is now scrambling to align itself with either the BNP or the Jamaat, according to reports by multiple Bangladeshi media outlets.

In the process, the NCP is sliding into internal discord, resignations and uneasy negotiations. In the 350-seat Jatiya Sangsad, forget about contesting all the seats, if reports are to be believed, the NCP appears ready to settle for as few as 30 seats with the Islamist–radical Jamaat, according to Dhaka-based daily, Prothom Alo.

It is worth underlining here that pre-poll surveys ahead of the election project the BNP as the clear front-runner. Jamaat, however, is not trailing far behind. The churn has effectively split the NCP into two factions. One that is pushing for an alliance with the Jamaat, while the other is negotiating with the BNP, especially after sensing an opportunity after the return of Tarique Rahman to Bangladesh.

The reports of alliance talks and an internal rift in the NCP come a day after Mir Arshadul Haque, a prominent leader of the anti-Jamaat faction within the students party, resigned on Thursday. Haque was serving as the NCP's joint member secretary and the chief coordinator of its Chattogram city unit, according to a report in the Dhaka-based The Daily Star.

There were also allegations that the Jamaat would pay 1.5 crore Taka to the NCP for each of the constituencies it would fight as an ally. An anti-Hasina student leader described the situation saying, "The grave of youth politics is about to be dug".

NCP DOWN TO 30 SEATS IN JAMAAT TALKS, ALSO DIALING BNP AFTER TARIQUE'S HOMECOMING

Barely months after its formal launch, the NCP is grappling with a problem and a dilemma.

According to a report in the Prothom Alo, discussions are currently underway between the NCP and Jamaat-e-Islami over a possible seat-sharing arrangement for the promised national parliamentary election. While sections of the NCP leadership view this as a necessary step for survival, others see it as a betrayal of the party's founding ethos.

Speaking to the Dhaka-based The Business Standard on Thursday, NCP Joint Member Secretary and Media Cell Editor Mushfiq Us Saleheen said, "Yes, discussions were held on elections, alliances and politics. However, no decision has been taken".

When asked if the seat-sharing was done with the Jamaat, Saleheen told The Business Standard that he had been instructed by party convener Nahid Islam not to comment on it.

The NCP, according to the Prothom Alo, has reportedly demanded at least 50 seats, a figure Jamaat considered unrealistic.

Abdul Kader, a key face of the anti-Hasina protests and former coordinator of the NCP's precursor Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, claimed the talks had since narrowed, with NCP settling for 30 seats.

The NCP's talks with Jamaat reportedly progressed after earlier attempts to reach an understanding with the BNP failed. But after the return of the BNP's acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, to Bangladesh, senior NCP leaders have reopened channels with the party as well.

The Jamaat, which has reportedly backed Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, however, has not publicly clarified its final position on the seat sharing with the NCP, the party earlier labelled as the "King's Party" for having the Nobel laureate's support.

WHY NCP IS CALLED YUNUS' 'KINGS PARTY'?

The NCP, was a student-led outfit launched in February 2025 by leaders who fronted the 2024 anti-Hasina protests that eventually forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out. Since then, the members, called "brains behind the protests" by Yunus, started projecting themselves as a new political force keen to contest the parliamentary elections.

But in the political lexicon, the party has increasingly been labelled a "King's Party". The tag has stuck because of perceptions around interim regime chief adviser Muhammad Yunus's role in the post-Hasina political developments in Bangladesh.

Critics alleged that Yunus had shown overt favour towards the NCP. He granted its leaders privileged access as advisers in his Cabinet. He also placed them in key reform commissions to shape policy while sidelining established parties and leaders. Yunus was also attacked for extending state patronage to help the new NCP organise and delay elections.

That perception has only deepened amid claims that the lack of a firm election timeline was meant to buy the NCP time to build a national footprint, even as the party has periodically accused Yunus of tilting towards rivals like the BNP. This has also exposed the uneasy, transactional nature of their relationship.

Naturally, an alliance between the Jamaat and the NCP, one many observers saw coming, has now begun to draw criticism, particularly from quarters that either underestimated the possibility or chose not to see it coming at all.

NCP'S JAMAAT-BNP TILT UNDER FIRE FROM FORMER ALLIES

Reacting to the Jamaat-NCP talks, a leader of the anti-Hasina protests and former president of the Bangladesh Democratic Students' Union's Dhaka University unit, Abdul Kader, said, "the grave of youth politics is about to be dug".

"If everything goes according to plan, the announcement of this alliance may come tomorrow. Through this, the NCP will, in effect, be absorbed into the womb of Jamaat," he was quoted as writing on Facebook, by the Dhaka-based The Business Standard.

"Under the terms of the alliance, the NCP will not field candidates in the remaining 270 seats and will instead support Jamaat in those constituencies," Abdul Kader added, adding that the Jamaat would pay the NCP 1.5 crore Taka per seat to spend during the polls.

The crisis and the friction within the NCP have also put stress on the Democratic Reform Alliance, formed by the NCP, the Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party), and the Bangladesh State Reform Movement ahead of the election. At its inception, the alliance had explicitly pledged to function independently of both the BNP and the Jamaat.

That promise now appears hollow.

Didar Bhuiyan, joint general secretary of the Rastra Sanskar Andolan (State Reform Movement), told the Prothom Alo that the understanding within the alliance had already been violated.

"That understanding has already been violated by holding talks with both sides," he said, adding that the party would soon issue an official statement on the same.

Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser of Bangladesh's interim regime, had promised that general elections would be held on February 12, 2026. But the political atmosphere has sharply worsened in recent weeks. The killing of anti-India radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi, triggered widespread violence, including riots, mob attacks and more deaths across the country.

At least 184 people have been killed in mob violence since Yunus took over, said human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra. Last week, a Hindu garment worker was lynched over blasphemy allegations.

The surge in violence has cast a dark shadow over the promised elections. The UN and the interim government have appealed for calm, even as understaffed authorities struggle to contain the unrest and stabilise the country ahead of the vote. A split within the NCP would add to the pre-election drama in Bangladesh.

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