Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has introduced its election agenda for the upcoming national elections, outlining 26 key areas that it aims to focus on if granted power for the next five years.
The party’s leader, Shafiqur Rahman, presented the comprehensive 90-page manifesto at a hotel in Dhaka. The manifesto emphasizes crucial issues such as maintaining a strong national interest, fostering a just society, empowering youth, ensuring women’s safety and participation in governance, enhancing law and order, eradicating corruption, promoting merit-based recruitment, and upholding human rights.
If elected, Jamaat pledged to appoint an opposition member as the deputy speaker and allocate a significant number of chairpersonships in parliamentary committees to opposition representatives. The party also plans to amend Article 70 of the Constitution to allow MPs to express their views freely without fear of party discipline.
Additionally, the manifesto highlights the importance of continuing the July Uprising spirit in governance, fostering a transparent economy, strengthening democracy, revolutionizing agriculture, ensuring food security, and implementing the “Three Zero Vision” initiative.
Jamaat promises to promote gender equality by including a substantial number of women in the cabinet and ensuring representation of diverse religious and ethnic groups. The party also commits to providing a safe work environment for women, with reduced working hours during maternity.
Regarding governance reform, Jamaat vows to overhaul the administration and legal systems to create a more inclusive and equitable state. The party aims to eliminate discriminatory laws and policies, prioritize youth leadership, and establish accountability mechanisms for elected officials.
Furthermore, Jamaat plans to develop planned cities in all district towns and upazilas, transform Dhaka and Chattogram into modern metropolitan centers, and establish an independent accountability council for government officials.
The party envisions fostering a tolerant political culture, promoting service-oriented politics, and undertaking legal reforms to ensure democratic practices within political parties. Jamaat also proposes state funding for political parties participating in elections based on seat and vote share.
To combat political violence and coercion, the party pledges to enforce laws rigorously and engage in collective efforts to eliminate unethical practices. Jamaat emphasizes the importance of addressing political vendettas promptly through cooperation with other parties.
In its quest to strengthen the national parliament, Jamaat advocates for decentralizing executive power and empowering parliament as the primary legislative body. MPs will focus on formulating laws, strategies, and public policies to regain public trust in the parliamentary system.
