Published: 12:19 AM, 06 November 2026
Samantha Sharmin resigns from NCP
Samantha Sharmin, a joint convenor of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has quit the party citing ideological differences over its alliance with Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
In a resignation statement issued on Thursday, Sharmin said she had opposed an alliance with Jamaat from the beginning, arguing that the party was neither a principled nor a strategic ally for the NCP.
'I said Jamaat-e-Islami was not fit to be an ally, either on ideological or strategic grounds, and that the NCP would have to pay a heavy price for forming an alliance with it,' she said.
Over the past 11 months, she said, she had submitted written complaints and proposals at different levels of the NCP and taken part in discussions and debates. She considered challenging the party's adopted policies through recognised forums the only democratic way to steer it away from what she viewed as the wrong course.
Samantha identified four major areas of disagreement: the alliance with Jamaat, the 2026 election strategy, women's role and rights following the 2024 mass uprising, and the restructuring of the party without holding a council.
Opposing the alliance with Jamaat, she said constitutional, legal and political reforms were central to the NCP's political platform, whereas Jamaat did not consider such reforms part of its politics or state vision.
