Frontline organisers of the July uprising are launching a new political platform on Friday, aimed at laying the foundation for a democratic socialist political party.

‘All preparations are underway for the declaration of the platform, scheduled to be held at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka at 4:00pm on Friday,’ said Meghmallar Basu, one of the organisers of the platform.

Meghmallar, also the president of the Dhaka University unit of Bangladesh Chhatra Union, said, ‘We want to form a democratic political party. By democracy, we mean a society where the human and cultural rights of all people are equally ensured.’

Organisers said that young activists, student leaders, and followers of diverse ideologies, religions, and ethnic communities would join the platform.

The initiative plans to operate as a political platform for six months to a year before evolving into a full-fledged political party, during which time it will develop political and economic theses, a manifesto, and an organisational framework.

Ahead of the upcoming national election, the platform intends to remain active in policy dialogues, citizen mobilisation, social movements, and grassroots organisation-building across the country.

After the election, the organisers aim to formally launch the platform as a political party once its ideological and organisational groundwork is complete.

‘Some top leaders of the July uprising who resigned from the National Citizen Party and dignitaries from all walks of life will remain with the political platform,’ said one of the organisers and July uprising leader, Nazifa Jannat.

Nazifa said that some former student leaders living at home and abroad, teachers, intellectuals, activists of different political parties, including the National Citizen Party, would be involved with the platform.

Though it would begin as a political platform, it would eventually be transformed into a new political party within one year of its launch, she said.

She said that the draft of the party constitution has already been prepared.

Many of those joining the platform are coming from leftist and centrist ideological backgrounds. They also participated in the July mass uprising.

Leaders who resigned from the NCP central committee in September—Anik Roy, Moinul Islam Tuhin (Tuhin Khan), and Alik Mree—are among the founding members.

Anik Roy, a former general secretary of the left student organisation Chhatra Union, joined the NCP and became its joint convener.

Writer and activist Tuhin Khan served as a joint member-secretary of the NCP, while Alik Mree, president of the Bangladesh Adivasi Chhatra Sangram Parishad, was the NCP’s joint chief organiser for the northern region.

The platform will also include former Chhatra Union president Baki Billah, writer and researcher Mir Huzaifa Al Mamduh, writer Ferdous Ara Rumi, Chhatra Union leader and former coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Nazifa Jannat, Dhaka University Chhatra Union president Meghmallar Bosu, and general secretary Main Ahmed, said an organizer of the platform.

On September 8, 2024, the Jatiya Nagorik Committee was formed, led by student leaders of the July uprising, with the goal of restructuring the state, abolishing fascist systems, and successfully establishing the political framework of a ‘new Bangladesh’.

Key leaders from the Nagorik Committee and student movements involved in the July uprising later formed the NCP, with Nahid Islam as convener and Akhter Hossen as member secretary.

However, a number of NCP leaders have recently resigned in opposition to the party’s joining an alliance led by the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.