RASHIDUL HASAN

Jatiya Party is celebrating its 36th founding anniversary today. Amid this celebration, however, it is planning to recover from an image crisis, as according to party leaders, it failed to act as the main opposition in parliament.

Founded in 1986 by late military ruler HM Ershad, the party has been acting as the main opposition in parliament since the 2014 parliamentary election.

But even after eight years of playing this role, JP leaders say they could not act as an opposition in and outside parliament, while people consider it to be an “ally” of the government.

Amid this crisis, JP’s top leaders said restoring the party’s image, and thus, restoring people’s trust in the party will be its main challenge this year.

“We will work for the sake of the people in the days to come. We won’t work for Awami League or BNP. Our politics will be people-centric,” Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader told The Daily Star yesterday.

Recently, JP’s new secretary general said the party leaders are praising the government so much that people consider them to be allies of Awami League.

Asked about the image crisis, GM Quader said people bear this idea as Jatiya Party had done politics together with Awami League under the same platform for a long time, and the ruling party came to power several times with support of JP.

“Jatiya Party had also participated in the different national elections under the electoral alliance with Awami League. That’s why people have the wrong idea about us,” GM Quader commented.

He claimed that Jatiya Party is doing everything it should be doing as the opposition party in and outside the parliament.