Two BNP Factions Insist on Holding Events at Same Venue Despite Denial of Permission

The district administration in Cumilla has refused permission to both factions of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) seeking to hold separate programmes at the historic Town Hall ground—officially known as the Bir Chandra Public Library and Nagar Milonayaton field—on Thursday. Despite the ban, each faction remains adamant and continues preparations for its respective gathering, creating an atmosphere of tension in local politics.

The dispute emerged after Monirul Haque Chowdhury, an adviser to the BNP Chairperson and the party’s preliminary nominee for the Cumilla-6 constituency—which includes Adarsha Sadar, Sadar South, the City Corporation area and the cantonment—announced a public rally at the Town Hall ground. On the very same day, supporters of another nomination aspirant, Amin-ur-Rashid (Yasin), also an adviser to the Chairperson, scheduled a prayer gathering at the same venue. Their event was intended to seek the recovery of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and the wellbeing of Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.

Both groups began erecting stages and tents side by side, igniting serious concerns over possible confrontation.

Speaking to the media at around 10:30pm on Wednesday, Additional District Magistrate Mohammad Zafar Sadiq Chowdhury explained that both applications had been forwarded to the police’s Special Branch for a security assessment, as is the standard procedure. The Special Branch later reported that allowing the two rival groups to hold events simultaneously at the same location could jeopardise public order. Consequently, the administration decided not to allocate the Town Hall ground to either faction.

He added that written notices had already been issued, advising both groups to choose alternative venues. The administration, he stressed, remained alert and would take legal action if any party attempted to defy the order.

However, despite the directive, both groups stayed active at the ground well into the night. Monirul Haque Chowdhury himself visited the site with supporters, after which Amin-ur-Rashid’s followers also gathered there, indicating their refusal to back down.

Monirul’s personal lawyer, Abdul Motaleb Mazumdar, who submitted the application on his client’s behalf, insisted shortly after 11pm that the rally would go ahead at the Town Hall as planned. Likewise, Safiul Alam (Raihan), General Secretary of BNP’s Adarsha Sadar Upazila unit and applicant for Amin-ur-Rashid’s event, declared that their prayer gathering would also proceed at the same place.

It is worth noting that on 3 November, the BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced a list of prospective candidates for 237 constituencies, naming Monirul Haque Chowdhury for Cumilla-6. Since then, supporters of Amin-ur-Rashid have been staging continuous programmes, intensifying internal party rivalry in the area.