Staff Reporter:
National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Md Nahid Islam on Saturday said the July mass uprising did not occur only to remove one party and bring another to power.
“The uprising did not occur to change an individual or to replace a party with another in power. Rather, through the uprising, there was a desire to build a nation that would safeguard the people’s rights by bringing about fundamental and qualitative changes to the state structure,” he said.
Nahid made the remarks in a meeting between the National Consensus Commission and the NCP at the LD Hall of the Parliament Building in Dhaka.
In the wake of the July uprising, he said, the NCP has emerged as a new political party whose strength is the country’s youth. “In light of the uprising, our stand was to abolish fascism and establish a new political settlement.”
He said, “People took to the streets and staged demonstrations at different times in the country. We have read about the 1990 mass uprising in books. But the hopes that drove people to the streets remained unfulfilled. That failure set the stage for 16 years of fascist rule.”
Nahid added, “That is why we want to ensure that the July uprising does not go in vain. The aspirations of the people now must be realised. This is our commitment to the nation.”
