Nahid Islam, a key organiser of last year’s July uprising and now convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has refuted BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s recent claim that students did not propose the idea of a national government to the BNP.
In a Facebook post, Nahid said that during a press briefing on August 5 last year, the anti-discrimination student movement publicly called for an interim national government. Following that, a virtual meeting was held with BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman where the proposal for a national government and a new constitution was presented. However, Tarique Rahman did not agree and instead suggested forming an interim election-time government comprising civil society members.
Nahid, who had joined the interim government as an adviser and later stepped down to form the NCP, said discussions were also held with Mirza Fakhrul at his residence on August 7 and that proposed advisers for the interim council were later reviewed in another meeting with Tarique Rahman.
Nahid also rejected recent comments by Shibir leader Sadik Kayem, who claimed that Shibir had been involved in forming the student platform Chhatroshakti and that the group operated under Shibir’s instructions.
Terming the statement “false,” Nahid said Chhatroshakti was formed by members of the “Gurubar Adda” study circle, former members of Dhaka University’s Chhatra Adhikar Parishad, and a study circle from Jahangirnagar University. “Having contact with Shibir does not mean we operated under their political instructions,” he said, adding that Sadik was not a coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement but used the title from August 5 onwards.
Nahid further alleged that on August 2, 2024, a group led by Zulkarnaine Sayer attempted to stage a military coup to hand over power to a section of the armed forces and pressured student coordinators at a so-called “safe house” to announce a “one-point demand” on Facebook, breaking contact with his group. “We insisted that any announcement must come from the people in the field,” he said, warning that handing power to the army would pave the way for another 1/11-style episode and the return of the Awami League.
He accused Sayer’s group of repeatedly attempting to create a counter-leadership after August 5, using individuals like Sadik Kayem and resorting to tactics such as leaked call records, surveillance, smear campaigns, and propaganda. “Bangladesh has never seen such levels of propaganda even against sitting ministers,” Nahid wrote, adding, “But lies cannot sustain for long, and neither will they.”
