The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

Bangladesh’s Youth-led NCP Struggles for an Independent Identity in Jamaat’s Shadow

As part of a Jamaat-led alliance, the NCP secured a place in parliament. However, it needs to prove it is an independent force.

Leaders of the National Citizen Party at the launching ceremony of the party on Feb. 28, 2025, at Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

On September 19, National Citizen Party (NCP) convener Nahid Islam sharply criticized Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. Rahman would eventually have to choose how to leave power, he said. “He must decide whether he will flee the country by helicopter or resign with dignity.”

Nahid was not speaking at an NCP rally. He was addressing a long march organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)-led 11-party opposition alliance to press a seven-point demand, including implementation of the February referendum verdict, action on rising prices, the energy and fertilizer crisis, deteriorating law and order, and corruption. JI chief Shafiqur Rahman spoke at the same gathering.

This has become a familiar picture in Bangladesh, where NCP routinely joins JI in long marches, alliance meetings and parliamentary protests.

The NCP emerged from the student protests that brought down the Awami League government in August 2024. For a party that entered politics promising a new political alternative, this raises a basic question. What still separates NCP from JI?

NCP says the relationship is strategic, not ideological. But less than two years after emerging from the student-led uprising, the party is struggling to show voters what still makes it politically distinct.

When NCP was launched in February 2025, it carried a heavy political promise. Its leaders had come directly from the student movement that helped bring down Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian rule. Many were young, had never held party office, and spoke about building a political system different from the one Bangladesh had known for decades.

At its launch, NCP called for a new constitution and a “Second Republic.” It promised democratic institutions, an end to corruption and nepotism, and politics based on equality and representation. Thousands attended the launch in Dhaka. The party presented itself as a centrist force and an alternative to the older parties that had dominated Bangladesh.

Less than two years later, NCP is in parliament. But how it arrived there has created a more difficult question. Can it still convince voters that it represents something genuinely new?

The turning point came before the February 2026 national election, when NCP joined an electoral alliance led by JI.

For a new party without a strong nationwide organization, the calculation was understandable. Elections in Bangladesh require candidates, polling agents, local networks, money and organization across hundreds of constituencies. NCP had enthusiasm and recognizable leaders, but it did not have the machinery of an established party.

But JI’s history made the NCP’s choice contentious. The party had sided with Pakistan against Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, and some of its leaders and members had collaborated with Pakistani forces during the genocide. So, the deal came with a political cost.

Before coming to an agreement with JI, the NCP held seat-sharing talks with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), while also considering a separate third alliance. NCP reportedly sought at least 20 seats from the BNP, but the party was willing to offer it only around six or seven, with some NCP leaders saying the final number could fall to three.

JI, meanwhile, was prepared to offer around 30 constituencies. For a new party still struggling to build a nationwide organization, the JI deal offered a much clearer path into parliament.

However, in the JI-led alliance, JI received by far the largest share. According to media reports, the decision caused serious resistance inside the NCP. At least 30 senior members either resigned or publicly opposed the alliance. Tasnim Jara, one of the party’s best known figures, left the NCP before the election.

By the NCP’s first anniversary in February, at least 60 leaders and activists had resigned from the party during its first year. Not all left over JI, but the electoral alliance became the clearest public sign of an internal disagreement over what NCP was supposed to become.

NCP leaders have consistently rejected the idea that this means ideological integration with JI. In a March 2026 interview with The Diplomat, Chief Coordinator of NCP Nasiruddin Patwary said NCP had wanted to work with the BNP. But disagreements over reform and electoral realities pushed the party toward JI. He said JI’s religious ideology was........

© The Diplomat