With political parties tilting towards the culture of alliance, religion-based parties are becoming important. The election schedule will be declared in November and since religion-based parties do not have unity, they are trying to side with bigger parties.
There are 41 registered political parties; of these, 10 are religion-based political parties. AL’s 14 party alliance has one Islamic party and BNP’s alliance has three Islamist parties. Meanwhile, several registered and unregistered parties have been included in Jatiya Party, HM Ershad’s Shammilito Jatiya Jot. In this pact, the registered party is Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish.
On Sept 15, the Islamic Democratic Alliance, IDA, has emerged with 15 likeminded parties. In this pact, there are nine religion-based parties.
In October, Bangladesh Gonotantrik Oikkofront emerged in the scene with 39 parties, of which, six are religion based.
The ten registered Islamic parties of the Election Commission, are: Zaker Party, Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon, Jamaate Ulamaye Islam Bangladesh, Islamic Front Bangladesh, Islami Aikkojot, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Bangladesh Islami Front and Khelafat Majlish.
Of these, Jamaate Ulamaye Islam Bangladesh, Khelafat Majlish and Jamaat e Islami are with BNP.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Tarikat Foundation is with the 14-party alliance. Zaker Party and Islamic Front are also with AL.
Chairman of Islamic Front Bangladesh, Syed Bahadur Shah Mojaddedi, told Bangla Tribune, “We are with the grand alliance and will be active prior to election.”
Jatiya Party presidium member, Suneel Shuvo Roy, said, “Many parties are with JP and others are willing to join the pact.”
Registration is not the major issue here, our main aim is to work together, he said.
Chormonai pir’s Islami Andolon Bangladesh will not join any pact. Secretary of the party, Moulana Yunus Ahmed, said, “Islami Andolon is not involved in politics to go to power.”
Our main objective is to establish Islamic values, he emphasized.
“The majority of the people in the country are Muslims, and therefore, religion plays a factor in politics here.”
Islami Aikkojot left the 20-party alliance in 2016 and is on its own while internal feud resulted in the breaking of Khelafat Andolon, Jamaat e Ulemaye Islam.
Chairman of Islami Aikkojot, Mowlana Md Abdul Latif Nizami, told Bangla Tribune, “We feel the need for unity among religion-based parties but that didn’t happen due to clashes resulting from party interests.”
The big parties take smaller parties to widen their sphere of influence, he added.