The manifesto of Left Democratic Alliance (LDA), the coalition of leftist parties, will include the pledge to ban political parties based on religion and anti-Liberation elements.
Its coordinator Saiful Haque told Bangla Tribune on Sunday (Dec 2) that the manifesto is at its final stages.
“The manifesto panel will meet on Monday, when we expect it to be finalised. We will publish it by the weekend,” he said.
According to the draft manifesto, seen by Bangla Tribune, the alliance’s 31-point pledges include amendment to the Constitution and continuing the war crimes trial.
LDA leaders involved in the process said that the Constitutional amendments will be made to restore the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War. The coalition will also pledge to effectively separate the judiciary from the executive, making the armed forces accountable to the parliament, a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach towards corruption and extra judicial killings, forming special tribunals and making the state broadcasters — BTV and Bangladesh Betar — autonomous.
In the opening remarks, the draft manifesto slams the previous regimes, including the Awami League and the BNP, for not being able to establish an ‘effective democracy’ after the Ershad regime was toppled in 1990.
The Leftist alliance’s electoral pledges focus on ‘reforms to the Constitution, state mechanism as well as politics in line with the Liberation War’s spirit.’
The manifesto will detail the coalition’s plan to restore the four key principles of the state — nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism. It will pledge for scrapping all constitutional provisions that contradict those.
As part of that, the alliance will pledge banning political parties based on religion and opposes Bangladesh’s Liberation.
One of the key aspects of the manifesto is freedom of speech; the LDA will pledge to scrap all laws, including the Digital Security Act, which effectively curbs the basic rights of a citizen. It will promise trial of all political and extra judicial killings as well as enforced disappearances.
The alliance will also pledges reforms in the defence, including mandatory basic military training for the youth and making the armed forces accountable to the parliament.
It also focuses on decentralisation in an effort to ensure good governance as well as forming special anti-terrorism tribunals in the wake of the recent spate of terrorism.
The Left alliance will promise a minimum wage of Tk 16,000 for workers as well as introducing increments and revision of the wage structure every two years.
The manifesto will also include a pledge for a primary school in every 2 square km area by 3 years and a high school in 8 years.
It will also pledge to ban Fatwa in an effort to implement the 2001 High Court rule to ensure women’s rights.
The Leftis alliance will promise of formulating an ‘independent’ foreign policy to establish global peace and total disarmament.
In July this year, eight leftist parties, including the Communist Party of Bangladesh or CPB, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal or BaSaD and Ganasanghati Andolan, floated the alliance with an eye on the parliamentary elections.