NCP launches associate body Jatiya Swechchhasebok Shakti, Mahin Sarkar named convener

A new associate organisation of the National Citizen Party (NCP), “Jatiya Swechchhasebok Shakti”, has been launched. Md Mahin Sarkar, a former coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement, has been made convener of the organisation's first committee.

Jobairul Hasan Arif has been given the responsibility of member secretary. Mohiuddin Roni, who came to prominence in 2022 through a movement over railway mismanagement, has been given the responsibility of chief organiser, the third-highest post.

The three-member partial committee of Jatiya Swechchhasebok Shakti was published on the NCP's verified Facebook page on Monday evening. The committee has been instructed to form a full committee within the next 15 days.

The party's notice said the convening committee was formed with the approval of NCP convener Nahid Islam and member secretary Akhtar Hossain.

Jatiya Swechchhasebok Shakti joins the NCP's associate bodies after Jatiya Chhatra Shakti, Jatiya Jubo Shakti, Jatiya Nari Shakti, Jatiya Sramik Shakti, Jatiya Krishak Shakti and Jatiya Rickshaw-Van Chalak Shakti.

Convener Mahin Sarkar is a student of Dhaka University. During the July mass uprising he was one of the coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement. When frontline coordinators were in hiding or detained during police raids, he and two other coordinators announced the movement's programmes through video messages.

After the uprising, Mahin Sarkar joined the NCP and became a joint member secretary of the party. He was later expelled from the party for standing as a candidate in the DUCSU election outside the Gonotantrik Chhatra Sangsad panel formed by a section of the coordinators. Last September his expulsion order was withdrawn and he was taken back into the party.

Member secretary Jobairul Hasan Arif is a former student of Chittagong University. He was the NCP candidate in the Chattogram-8 seat in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election. Although the Jamaat-led 11-party alliance left the seat to the NCP, the local Jamaat candidate did not withdraw his nomination. Jobairul Hasan forfeited his deposit in that election.

Chief organiser Mohiuddin Roni became widely known in 2022 through a movement against railway mismanagement. On July 7 that year he began a sit-in at Kamalapur railway station with six-point demands.

His continuous sit-in, begun before Eid-ul-Azha, created discussion across the country. On July 25 that year, after a four-hour meeting with senior railway officials and assurances that the demands would be met, he suspended the movement. Last April, Mohiuddin Roni formally joined the NCP.