Saturday, 02 August, 2025
Four left-leaning parties have walked out of the National Consensus Commission’s reform talks in protest of a proposal to replace Bangladesh’s four founding constitutional principles.
Leaders of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BaSad), and BaSad (Marxist) exited the meeting around 9:20pm on Thursday. They later stated that they would decide at a later stage whether to endorse the commission’s proposed National Charter.
The parties had participated in the day-long talks, which began at 10:30am at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka. By evening, they withdrew from the process, accusing the commission of attempting to replace the 1972 Constitution’s core principles—nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism.
In a joint briefing to the press, CPB General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince, JaSaD leader Mushtaq Hossain, BaSad General Secretary Bazlur Rahman Firoz, and BaSad (Marxist) Coordinator Masud Rana said the commission had proposed substituting the original four principles with five new ones: equality, human dignity, social justice, democracy, and religious freedom and harmony.
While acknowledging the merit of these values, the leftist leaders argued that the foundational principles of the Liberation War and the 1972 Constitution must remain untouched. They were told they could submit a note of dissent if they disagreed, but rejected the compromise.
“We cannot allow wordplay to dilute the values earned through the Liberation War,” said CPB’s Prince.
The leaders warned that if such proposals continue, their participation in the consensus dialogue process would be at serious risk.
Meanwhile, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami—both of which previously advocated reinstating the Fifth Amendment’s language on “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah”—raised no objection to the proposed changes. The National Citizen Party (NCP) fully endorsed the draft.
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Four left-leaning parties have walked out of the National Consensus Commission’s reform talks in protest of a proposal to replace Bangladesh’s four founding constitutional principles.
Leaders of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BaSad), and BaSad (Marxist) exited the meeting around 9:20pm on Thursday. They later stated that they would decide at a later stage whether to endorse the commission’s proposed National Charter.
The parties had participated in the day-long talks, which began at 10:30am at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka. By evening, they withdrew from the process, accusing the commission of attempting to replace the 1972 Constitution’s core principles—nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism.
In a joint briefing to the press, CPB General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince, JaSaD leader Mushtaq Hossain, BaSad General Secretary Bazlur Rahman Firoz, and BaSad (Marxist) Coordinator Masud Rana said the commission had proposed substituting the original four principles with five new ones: equality, human dignity, social justice, democracy, and religious freedom and harmony.
While acknowledging the merit of these values, the leftist leaders argued that the foundational principles of the Liberation War and the 1972 Constitution must remain untouched. They were told they could submit a note of dissent if they disagreed, but rejected the compromise.
“We cannot allow wordplay to dilute the values earned through the Liberation War,” said CPB’s Prince.
The leaders warned that if such proposals continue, their participation in the consensus dialogue process would be at serious risk.
Meanwhile, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami—both of which previously advocated reinstating the Fifth Amendment’s language on “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah”—raised no objection to the proposed changes. The National Citizen Party (NCP) fully endorsed the draft.
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