NCP Senior Joint Chief Coordinator and MP for Noakhali-6 Abdul Hannan Masud has issued a formal clarification following controversy over comments he made on a televised talk show on Star News regarding his party's electoral performance and its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. He claimed his remarks were "distorted" and "purposefully misinterpreted."
In a written statement sent to media outlets, Masud said, "Some misunderstandings have arisen regarding my statement given on a talk show on Star News recently. I am clearly stating my position to clarify the matter." He stressed that his earlier comments were analytical observations based on electoral realities, not an attempt to assign blame to any political ally.
Explaining his position, he said he had remarked that "our expectation was that we would contest elections in 300 seats alone, and if we had won 6 seats out of 300 seats by contesting elections, it would have been more respectable. But in reality, we cannot create such an environment." He described this as a hypothetical assessment of the party's organisational capacity rather than a concrete electoral projection.
On the alliance issue, Masud said, "I will not say that alliance with Jamaat was wrong. The environment and time forced us to go in that direction. It would have been better if we had not gone." He framed the decision as shaped by political circumstances and structural constraints, not ideological alignment or strategic failure.
Clarifying another disputed remark, he said, "In another part of the speech, I said that if there was no alliance with Jamaat, NCP alone might have won 3 or 4 seats. But nowhere did I say that if there was no alliance, we would have won 3 or 4 more seats. These two statements carry completely different meanings."
Masud alleged that parts of his comments had been selectively quoted. "Unfortunately, some individuals, pages and news portals are distorting my statement and spreading it in a way that it seems as if I said that if there was no alliance with Jamaat, we would have won 3 or 4 more seats. This is a completely fabricated, purposeful and misleading interpretation of my statement," he said.
He maintained that his remarks were made "from a place of political reality, possibility and self-criticism, not with the intention of blaming anyone or giving a misleading message," and urged media outlets to consider the full context before quoting him.
