Opposition plans to isolate Dhaka, blockading entry points

As the announcement of the general election schedule draws closer, the opposition BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and other like-minded parties are planning to intensify their ongoing nationwide movement to resist the election under the Awami League-led government.

According to Election Commission sources, the schedule of the elections may be announced this week.

Several BNP and Jamaat leaders told The Business Standard that simultaneous hartal and non-cooperation movements will be launched immediately after the announcement of the election schedule. Additionally, plans are underway to completely isolate Dhaka from the rest of the country by blockading all entry and exit points.

Furthermore, there is a strategy in place to mobilise leaders and activists from across the country to converge in Dhaka and lay siege to the Election Commission building in an attempt to prevent the upcoming election at all costs.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told The Business Standard, "This is now a do or die movement to retain our existence. We have two paths in front of us — one leads to prison, and the other to the streets. But the good news is that victory will be ours. The government will be defeated with a solidified movement."

Meanwhile, the BNP, Jamaat and allied political parties have announced a 48-hour blockade programme in the fifth phase, starting at 6am on Wednesday and continuing until 6am on Friday, with a one-day break on Tuesday. 

A plan is also underway to unite all anti-government parties under a common banner to amplify their agitation efforts.

The BNP and other opposition parties are carrying out the movement to realise their "one-point" demand — the resignation of the Awami League government and holding the national election under a non-partisan neutral administration.

Some senior BNP and Jamaat leaders told The Business Standard that while their plan to prevent the election schedule announcement have failed, leaders and activists across the country have continued to observe hartals and blockades since 28 October, despite the government's massive crackdown. 

Their participation in the movement has been increasing steadily, undeterred by the fear of attacks and legal cases, they added. 

The BNP and Jamaat also organised a nationwide movement to resist the 2014 election. This resulted in widespread violence and arson across the country.

As a result of the BNP-Jamaat boycott of that election, 153 Awami League MPs were elected unopposed. Though  the opposition's movement failed, the capital Dhaka was effectively cut off from the rest of the country for almost three months.

The BNP-led alliance Oikya Front challenged the ruling party in the 2018 election but the effort failed to bear fruit. 

This time around, the opposition is determined to make the ongoing 2023 movement a success, regardless of the obstacles they face.

Following a mass rally held by the BNP in the capital on 28 October, around 12,000 BNP leaders and workers have been arrested across the country. Some 13 leaders and activists, including a journalist, have reportedly been killed in violence. 

Moreover, more than 2,000 leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami have been arrested since October 28 and three people have been reported killed, according to the party sources.

At a press conference last Sunday, Islami Andolan Bangladesh announced a plan to hold a mass procession towards the Election Commission building once the election schedule is announced without prior consensus among political parties.

Also, Somomona Islami Dal, a platform of five like-minded Islamist parties, on 10 November urged the Election Commission not to announce the schedule "in the interest of the country."