Rift, registration, poll stakes rock JP

The Jatiya Party (JP) is passing through one of the stormiest phases in its history as the 13th National Parliament polls draw near. Leadership battles, registration tangles and fresh calls to bar it from the election field have plunged the party into uncertainty, testing both its organisational spine and political relevance.

Two rival commands now march under the JP banner-one led by GM Quader, the other by Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud. Each claims to be the "real" Jatiya Party. With the party's registration status and election symbol stuck in legal knots, the split has grown louder, deeper and more visible on the ground.

ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, Secretary General of the Anisul-led faction, tried to project normalcy, saying "Jatiya Party is an election-driven party. Except for one, we have taken part in every national election since the 1990s. There is no road to government except through elections. We will contest this election, likely in alliance-and that decision will be announced soon."

But party co-chairman and former Rangpur Mayor Mostafizur Rahman Mostafa struck a harder note.

"With Mahfuz Alam and Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan sitting in the interim government's advisory council, fair elections are impossible. Unless they are removed and a non-partisan election mechanism is ensured, the Jatiya Party cannot go to polls. And let it be clear-there will be no national election without the Jatiya Party."

He urged the party to "prepare for a movement if needed."

GM Quader echoed the ultimatum, charging that the ruling setup is "repeating the same authoritarian tendencies for which we once called Sheikh Hasina a fascist." His faction's Secretary General, Shamim Haider Patwary, warned that attempts to hold polls sidelining JP "will be resisted."

The attack is not just internal. A bloc of Islamist and nationalist parties-including Jamaat-e-Islami, NCP, Islami Andolan Bangladesh and Gana Odhikar Parishad-has placed a demand to ban JP in their four-point movement.

Barrister Anisul condemned the move as "anti-democratic and a betrayal of political memory," adding,
"The same Jamaat that we once defended from proscription is now demanding our ban."

Analysts say JP's future now hinges on four levers alliance choices, seat deals, the Rangpur vote bank-and whether it can bring its fractured leadership under one roof. For a party that has frequently acted kingmaker in Bangladesh's coalition politics, the coming weeks will determine whether it stands as broker, bystander-or casualty.