The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general, Mia Golam Porwar, on Friday claimed that the party in its present form was different from its 1971-era version.

Addressing a workers’ rally organised by the party’s labour wing Bangladesh Sramik Kalyan Federation at the Cumilla Town Hall Ground to mark May Day, he said that the party should no more be equated with its 1971-era version.

‘The party constitution has been amended on several occasions in line with the demands of the time and the new party constitution mentions respect for the sacrifices and struggles of the heroic freedom fighters of the great War of Independence,’ he said.

‘Despite so many changes to the party constitution, a group is trying to keep the old debate alive,’ he said, claiming that it was not an expression of the spirit of the independence.

The rally was presided over by Bangladesh Sramik Kalyan Federation’s Cumilla city unit president Md Rafiqul Islam.

City Jamaat amir Kazi Din Mohammad and Bangladesh Sramik Kalyan Federation vice-president Md Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan, among others, addressed the rally.