The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal ( bn, জাতীয় সমাজতান্ত্রিক দল, 'National Socialist Party of Bangladesh', JSD or 'জাসদ', JASAD) is a political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded by

Serajul Alam Khan Serajul Alam Khan (also known as "Dada" and "Dadabhai"; born January 6, 1941) is a Bangladeshi political analyst, philosopher and writer. He is one of the founders of Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Parishad (English: Independent Bengal Revolutionary Counc ...

. The current party president is Sharif Nurul Ambia, with Executive President Moinuddin Khan Badol MP, and General Secretary Nazmul Haq Prodhan MP.

History

The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD) was formed in 1972 when it split from

Bangladesh Chhatra League The Bangladesh Chhatra League ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ছাত্রলীগ; translation: Bangladesh Students' League; BSL), formerly known as the East Pakistan Student League, often simply called the Chhatra League, is a students' po ...

, the student wing of the

Bangladesh Awami League Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, under the leadership of

M. A. Jalil Mohammad Abdul Jalil was a freedom fighter and Mukti Bahini Sector Commander of Sector 9 of during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971. He was also one of the founding members of political party Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal. Early years Mohammad ...

ASM Abdur Rab A. S. M. Abdur Rab (born 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician. He is the founder secretary general of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. In 1985, Rab and his followers left the party and formed a new party Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, known as JSD (Rab). ...

and

Shajahan Siraj Shajahan Siraj (1 March 1943 – 14 July 2020) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the vice chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). As a student, he was involved with the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was one of the founders of ...

. It had an armed wing,

Gonobahini Gonobahini ( bn, গণবাহিনী "''People's Army''") was the armed wing of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. The group was mainly composed of former Mukti Bahini members from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. History In 1972, a section ...

, led by Colonel

Abu Taher Abu Taher ( bn, আবু তাহের) (14 November 1938 – 21 July 1976) was a Bengali military serviceman, who served in the Pakistan Army, and later in BDF. He crossed into India around early August and reported to the Indian autho ...

and

Hasanul Haq Inu Hasanul Haq Inu (born 12 November 1946) is a Bangladeshi politician and the former Minister of Information of Bangladesh. He leads a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and was involved in a Marxist insurgency in the 1970s. Early life and ...

, Kazi Aref Ahmed, Monirul Islam, Sharif Nurul Ambia that led a violent left-wing

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

against the government of

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...

. Their aim was to form a new left wing democratic national government, for facilitating establishing a socialist state with Bangladeshi characteristics. This led the government to form the

Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini The Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini ( bn, জাতীয় রক্ষী বাহিনী, lit=National Defense Force) was a Bangladeshi para-military force formed in 1972 by the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government. Initially formed to curb the insur ...

, the aim of which was to counter insurgency by the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD) activists.

Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Before the coup of 15 August 1975, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal had planned to organize a mass upsurge to form a democratic national government replacing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were assassinated on 15 August 1975, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader

showed his support and remarked: "The corpse of Sheikh Mujib should have been thrown into The Bay of Bengal". On 7 November 1975, forces loyal to Colonel Abu Taher rescued army chief

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d' ...

from house arrest. When Ziaur Rahman realized that Abu Taher was moving the country into a direction of leftist

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

which contradicted Zia's right wing views, Zia declared

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

, formed the right wing

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...

and cracked down on the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal by executing Abu Taher and sentencing other leaders to various prison terms.

Factions

During Ziaur Rahman's rule, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal split up twice. The party fragmented again during the regime of

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad ( bn, হুসেইন মুহাম্মদ এরশাদ; 1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi Army Chief politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time ma ...

in the 1980s, with ASM Abdur Rab and Shajahan Siraj heading two separate factions. Abdur Rab's faction,

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal ( bn, জাতীয় সমাজতান্ত্রিক দল, 'National Socialist Party') is a political party in Bangladesh. It was formed in 2002, through a split from the original Jatiya Samajtantrik Da ...

, became the opposition after taking part in the 1988 elections that were boycotted by all major political parties. After the

(BNP) came to power in 1991, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal allied itself with former rivals

to counter growing BNP and right wing influence in the country. ASM Abdur Rab later served as a minister from 1996 to 2001 in the Awami League-led government. After the BNP returned to power in 2001,

merged his party with it. Meanwhile, Inu, who became MP after winning elections as a grand alliance nominee with the victorious Awami League's boat as his symbol in 2008, was made Information Minister. after another split The General Secretary of the Inu-led faction is

Shirin Akhter Shirin Akhter (born 12 April 1954) is the general secretary of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and the incumbent Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Feni-1 constituency since January 2014. Career Akhter is the general secretary of Jatiya Samajtantri ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1972 establishments in Bangladesh Political history of Bangladesh Muslim League breakaway groups Political parties established in 1972 Political parties in Bangladesh Socialist parties in Asia Socialist parties in Bangladesh 21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad

History

Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Factions

See also

References

External links