BSP: Islam at heart, ektara in hand

At first, I was a little lost and could not find the Bangladesh Supreme Party office. An old man eventually came to my rescue and guided me past the khankah and the vaguely labelled mosque to the old four-storey building at Shah Ali Bagh in Mirpur-1. 

It took several knocks on the door for a security guard to open it. And through the semi-dark mosaic stairway, I walked up to the party's office on the third floor. No one was in sight. 

The party office door opened to startled faces – perhaps unfamiliar with unannounced visits. Within seconds of introduction, they resumed their daily activities: printing documents and designing banners and posters. 

I was forgotten on a couch. A huge ektara stood beside a framed photo of the party chairman Syed Saifuddin Ahmed. The musical instrument, curiously, was the Islamic party's emblem. A pungent smell of citrus-flavoured air freshener hung heavy in the air. There were also three paintings – two big Arabic calligraphy and a miniature painting of a sunset on a river. 

"My daughter painted this and sent it as a gift for our hujur, Shahjada Syed Saifuddin Ahmed." a voice in the room said. He was Jamal Khan, the organising secretary of the Manikganj office of the Bangladesh Supreme Party. 

Bangladesh Supreme Party registered with the Election Commission on 10 August 2023 – making it one of the three new parties participating in the upcoming 12th national election on 7 January 2024. BSP also leads the Liberal Islamic Alliance, formed by nine Islamic political parties. 

BSP has candidates for 81 seats for the upcoming 12th national elections. Was Jamal one of them? "I wanted to, but I was instructed by hujur to stay here and lead the graphics team. He said my skills are needed more here than on the field," shared Jamal. 

Why this party? "I respect him so much, I'd do anything for him. So when he got into politics, I wanted to help him bring positive change in society," explained Jamal,  a disciple of Syed Saifuddin Ahmed, the Sufi leader, commonly known as a pir, of Maizbhandar Darbar Shareef, since 2003.  

"It's not just me; he has millions of followers all over Bangladesh. I'm part of his security team, so I often travel with him. I've seen how much love and respect he gets from people," he added. 

What is Maizbhandar? A Sufi doctrine or path of spiritual learning, within Sunni Islam. "Besides, equality, harmony, and humanity are the basic pillars of 'Tariqa-e-Maizbhandaria'," explained Jamal, adding, "These are also the basis of our party ideology."

Even though BSP registered as a political party only this year, Jamal explained a strong legacy of non-political, social work for decades. "In 1988, Sheikhul Islam Hazrat Allama Shahsufi Sayeed Mainuddin Ahmed Al Hasani, the father of our chairman, first founded Anjuman-e-Rahmania Mainia Maizbhandaria, which focused on both social and religious works. Continuing that legacy, Sayed Saifuddin founded a trust, Hazrat Syed Mainuddin Ahmed Maizbhandari Trust, in his father's name in 2013," he said.

Its chairman Syed Saifuddin Ahmed, commonly known as pir, is the Sufi leader of Maizbhandar Darbar Shareef. Photo: Courtesy

The social work includes five orphanages, awareness campaigns against addiction and dowry, emergency relief distribution, etc. Our conversation was cut short as the office secretary, Md Ibrahim Mia, was ready for our impromptu interview. 

At first, on guard, Ibrahim eventually eased up. What have been BSP's biggest challenges regarding the election campaigns? "How most of the candidates are inexperienced. We nominated 125 candidates initially. But only 91 could submit their nomination forms," he replied.

He said many didn't take the process seriously as they've never done it before. They tried to submit it at the last moment and couldn't finish the process on time. The EC rejected 10 among the 91 candidates' nominations as their forms contained mistakes or didn't adhere to the rules set by the EC. So, the Bangladesh Supreme Party will now participate in the upcoming election with 81 candidates.

What does BSP expect to accomplish? "If you pay attention, you'd see that the elites have hijacked the politics of Bangladesh. If you have the money, then you own everything and can do anything. But we still believe that it's possible to build a society free of corruption and greed," he added. 

And how does BSP plan to do it? "By being inclusive and bringing together people from all classes and creeds. In Madaripur-3 constituency, we have a Hindu candidate named Nitai Chakraborty. We have a transgender candidate, Urmee, competing for the Gazipur-5 seat. Our party motto is building a corruption-free and prosperous nation with unity. We believe that everyone has the right to serve the country," Ibrahim said.

Then, with his thick Chattogram accent, he started reciting the first stanza of Kazi Nazrul Islam's poem "Aartir Thaala Tasbir Maala," which loosely translates to religious rituals and prayers will amount to nothing if people don't love and serve their fellow human beings. 

Ibrahim added that they're most excited about the Chattogram-2 constituency, where the party chairman will compete against seven other candidates, including Najibul Bashar, the leader of Tariqat  Federation, another Sufi political party in Bangladesh. 

Interestingly, Syed Najibul Bashar of the Maizbhandaria tariqa is the uncle of Syed Saifuddin Ahmed, making the Chattogram-2 election a face-off between the two wings of the Maizbhandaria order. Najibul Bashar is the incumbent and is considered the favourite among the Chattogram-2 candidates. I asked Ibrahim if BSP was worried about that. 

He replied confidently, "People love our chairman there. He has done a lot for the people there and they want change. We can easily win if the election is fair and unbiased." 

The chairman was absent from the party office. 

So how does BSP differ from other Islamic parties? "We don't believe in dividing people based on religion or other identities. But if you look at other Islamic parties, you'd see that most of them have a very divisive and extremist ideology," explained Syed Saifuddin on a phone call.  

"People hear about an Islamic political party, see beard and tupi, and by default assume that these people are extremists. We want to change this view. We chose our emblem, ektara, deliberately. It is the symbol of the common people of Bangladesh and its culture." 

"Islam is our value and we adhere to its philosophy. But Bangladesh is a secular country, and we respect our country's religious diversity," he added. 

According to Syed Saifuddin Ahmed, if they had a year to prepare before the election, BSP would have competed for all 300 seats in the 12th national election, which they aim to do in the next election. 

Still, within three months of getting the registration, the party nominated 125 candidates and will compete for 81 constituencies, which is the highest and most ambitious among the new parties. How did they find so many candidates in such a short time?  

He said, "We have a very strong non-political presence for decades. So even though we're new in the political scene, finding candidates wasn't an issue," he replied, adding, "We, however, have strict criteria for nominating the candidates – they have to do the election at their area, they can't be involved with corruption or addiction. We don't care about how popular they are as long as they are good people. We want leaders who'd go to the people's doorsteps, not vice versa." 

Syed Saifuddin Ahmed also added that they aim to involve the younger generation in politics. "Over 30 thousand active volunteers all over Bangladesh, working under the Mainia Youth Forum. For now, they do social work. We can't build a prosperous country unless the youth are interested in politics and join us in building the nation. They're the future."

Syed Saifuddin Ahmed said the Bangladesh Supreme Party will announce its election manifesto for the 12th national election this week.