People want charter changed through consensus

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

The maiden session of Parliament, elected 18 months after the July 2024 uprising, was prorogued on Thursday 30 April 2026 with both the government and the opposition expecting the maintenance of a cordial atmosphere through mutual cooperation for successful functioning of the House.

Parliament in session.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and the Leader of the Opposition (LO) Dr. Shafiqur Rahman in their winding up addresses on the motion of thanks on the President's address patted each other with nice words, the PM also ordered prompt steps to resolve some developmental issues mentioned by the L.O.

The Premier went a step further and called upon the opposition that represents 26 percent of seats in the House to work in a way that the Parliament formed after nearly 16 years of movement against fascist rule doesn't fail or fall.

People who listened to live telecast of the proceedings said, the PM appeared to be extremely soft despite having an overwhelming two-thirds majority in the House.

The reasons are not difficult to understand. The economy, left in an extremely bad shape by the last Awami League regime with heavy foreign and local debt burdens, looted and dysfunctional banks, with US$16 billion of their resources laundered, unable to open letters of credit, an import-dependent and corruption-ridden deficient energy and power sector that has brought production in mills and factories 40 percent down and the Poverty rate again going up, plus the severe economic strain created by an unnecessary war on Iran by the US and Israel. The government needs cooperation of the opposition to steer the economy clear of this despair through prudent reforms.

The government has also to tackle a sharp political rift that has emerged over differences in the interpretation of the July Declaration and the implementation of the referendum held alongside the February 12 election. The opposition has not only staged several walkouts on this from Parliament but also organised protests or campaigns in streets, roundtables as well as public rallies. On 29 April the opposition refrained from naming five members to a proposed special committee on amendment of the Constitution saying, they have to discuss this among themselves because they wanted reform while the government opted for amendment of the Constitution. 

Treasury bench members emphasised that no single party or entity could monopolise the credit for the July uprising whose foundations were laid through nearly 16 years of dedicated movement in the face repressions like enforced differences, extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate arrests, detentions, and prison terms from politicised courts that worked overtime at night shifts to give dictated verdicts. They said the government would implement the July Charter as signed by all parties, word for word. 

The basic difference between the two sides lies in emphasis. The opposition wants a reformed Constitution through a Constitution Reform Council as laid down in the July National Charter (Constitution Reform) Implementation Order, of November 2025. The order provides for the Parliament also to function as the Constitution Reform Council to implement over 48 Constitution-related reforms based on the July Charter.

The treasury bench has taken a stand that the President did not have the jurisdiction to issue July Charter Implementation Order which was neither discussed nor adopted by the parties that signed the July Charter itself. Leaders of the bench maintain that after the departure of the AL regime on August 5 there was a vacuum until the appointment of the Interim Government on August 8 by the President who took judicial opinion of the Supreme Court for this. Now that Parliament has been elected the July Charter should be implemented through it.

It is to be noted that the treasury bench MPs took one oath as members of Parliament while opposition MPs took two oaths, the second as members of the Constitutional Reform Implementation Council. The opposition was against the President making his address in Parliament and staged a walk out in protest. It has taken part in the motion of thanks on the President’s address without proposing thanks to him.

The treasury bench finds this a wrong position because the July uprising did not unseat the President which was a Constitutional position that needs to be upheld and respected. 

However, if one proposes to uphold the Constitution as it was left by the immediate past political regime it cannot be changed as mandated by the July charter. Here the power given by the referendum needs to be invoked to override the barriers to amendment of the Constitution that were laid down by two previous Parliaments.

An interesting aspect of the debate on reform or amendment of the Constitution is that if the Parliament also functions as the Constitution Reform Council its composition remains the same with the government having a two-thirds majority. That its decisions will reflect the opinion of the government is a foregone conclusion. Thus, calling the constitutional change a reform or an amendment is a matter of choice or emphasis; the outcome will remain all the same. 

Treasury and opposition bench members traded insults as they spoke of upholding the Constitution or the July uprising respectively and warned each other of the risk of smoothening the return of fascists in the process. The treasury bench wants the opposition to name its members to a special committee on constitutional amendment to undo the unwelcome changes brought through the 15th Amendment. The opposition wants to make and give the changes the tune the July Charter. The ruling party also wants the charter to be implemented keeping in view the notes of dissent it had given during its signing.