No NCP leader had previously made such a direct public attack on Jamaat. When Prothom Alo contacted five senior NCP policymakers to understand the reason behind Nahid’s post, they said the party had engaged with Jamaat in ‘good faith,’ where there had been some level of shared understanding especially on issues of reform and justice.
However, they believe Jamaat has been attempting to infiltrate NCP’s grassroots and sabotage its organisation. According to them, Jamaat’s decision to sign the July Charter and its recent activities have created within the NCP a “sense of betrayal.” This, they said, is why they now want to expose Jamaat’s “political duplicity” publicly.
Jamaat is currently leading a movement with five demands, including the adoption of the PR system, and reportedly tried to include the NCP. But due to disagreement over some demands, the NCP ultimately stayed out.
One senior NCP leader said that the party has been seeking the ‘Shapla’ (Water Lily) as its electoral symbol. They had long believed the BNP was obstructing this. Recently, however, they learned that Jamaat, too, has been lobbying to prevent the NCP from getting the symbol.
This, he said, could be another reason behind Nahid’s post, alongside the NCP’s broader effort to establish its distinct political identity.
Prothom Alo tried several times to reach Nahid Islam by phone for comment on his post and the alleged rift with Jamaat, but he did not respond.
When asked about Nahid’s post and the growing distance between the two parties, Ariful Islam Adib, NCP’s senior joint convener, told Prothom Alo last night that big parties often try to pass off their double standards as political maturity. What NCP is trying to establish is that such cunningness does not serve the nation.