National Citizen Party Convener and Opposition Party Chief Whip Nahid Islam yesterday said the party’s next goal is to strengthen its grassroots organisation to expand its political gains.
“We are not satisfied with winning six seats in the last election. We will work towards greater success in the future,” he said, urging party leaders and activists to prepare for the upcoming local government elections.
He was speaking at the party’s founding anniversary programme at Abahani Sports Ground in Dhanmondi.
“The country has emerged from fascist rule; now the goal is to fully establish democracy. Our movement to implement the necessary reforms, the July Charter, and the referendum verdict will continue,” he added.
He said this year’s founding anniversary theme is: “The country will move on a new path -- no return to fascism; revolution, alternative and reconstruction.”
Nahid said alternative leadership had emerged from the strength of the revolution to build a new Bangladesh. The NCP would remain vocal in demanding justice for those involved in genocide, enforced disappearances and killings, he added.
On the party’s ideological foundations, he said movements such as the 2013 Hefazat-e-Islam agitation, the 2018 quota reform and safe roads movements, anti-VAT protests, the Pilkhana massacre, and continued student protests against discrimination shaped the political context from which the party emerged.
Although the NCP was formally founded on February 28, 2025, its roots lie in the July uprising, he said.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed congratulated the NCP leadership and activists, saying the party represented new hope in politics.
Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar said public support for the 11-party alliance was encouraging and pledged efforts toward national reconstruction.
A three-minute and 45-second documentary highlighting the party’s journey -- from the July uprising to its participation in national elections -- was screened at the event.
Among others present were Road Transport and Bridges, Railways and Shipping Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam; poet and thinker Farhad Mazhar; AB Party Chairman Mujibur Rahman Manju; NCP Member Secretary and Rangpur-4 MP Akhter Hossan; Chief Organiser (northern region) Sarjis Alam; Chief Organiser (southern region) Hasnat Abdullah; spokesperson Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan; and leaders from central and district units.
