Bangladesh National Party
Meet Bangladesh - Bangladesh 101:
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party
received a heavy blow as a result of Ershad's March 1982 coup. From a position
of control under Zia, it was thrown into the political wilderness, with many of
its leaders prosecuted for corruption. During the 1982-83 period, the party was
divided into two groups, one headed by Abdus Sattar, the deposed president, with
Khaleda Zia as senior vice chairman, and the other headed by former Minister of
Information Shamsul Huda Chowdhury. The latter group quickly disappeared, and
the dominant faction found a popular leader in Khaleda Zia. She became party
chairman and was reelected unopposed in 1986. Throughout the 1980s, the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party led a seven-party alliance that consistently
refused to recognize the Ershad regime. The price it paid for this stance was an
inability to participate in the government. In fact, the policies advocated by
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party differed little from those of the Jatiyo Party
once it was in power, for both groups were descended from the military rule of
Zia's time. Although the Bangladesh Nationalist Party generally ranked behind
the Awami League in terms of public support, it had a presence in the
countryside through its peasants' wing, the Jatiyobadi Krishak Dal (Nationalist
Peasants Party), formed in October 1987. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party also
backed a student wing called the Jatiyobadi Chhatro Dal (Nationalist Students
Party) and a workers' front called the Jatiyobadi Sramik Dal (Nationalist
Workers Party).
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