Leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party (NCP) attended the July Declaration event at the South Plaza of the National Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
The declaration was read out by Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus in the presence of invited political figures.
BNP was represented by Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas and Salauddin Ahmed. Jamaat-e-Islami’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Syed Abdullah Md Taher and Secretary General Professor Mia Golam Porwar also attended. From the NCP, Convenor Nahid Islam and Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain were present.
Yet the event was marked by a notable absence. Four mainstream leftist parties chose to boycott the program, arguing that they were not given access to the declaration’s draft beforehand and did not want to serve as passive witnesses.
The boycott included participation from groups like the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB), the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasad), all led by Sharif Nurul Ambia.
CPB General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince explained the decision.
“We were not informed of what was or wasn’t in the declaration. Therefore, we didn’t feel the need to be there just to bear witness,” he told Bangla Tribune.
The coordinator of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), Masud Rana, responded in much the same way.
“If we had received a draft of the declaration earlier, we might have thought about attending. Going there without knowing the content could have led to an awkward situation. So, we chose not to go,” he said.
The absence of the leftist bloc underscored a divide over coordination and transparency in the country’s shifting political landscape, even as the July Declaration drew participation from major opposition forces like BNP and Jamaat.
