Long march to Rangpur today
As an 11-party opposition alliance prepares to launch one of its largest street mobilizations in months, its leadership is doing something unusual for a party ahead of a mass rally: publicly preparing its own activists to be attacked – and instructing them not to fight back.
Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar told reporters at the party’s central office in Dhaka on Friday that participants in Saturday’s Dhaka-to-Rangpur long march had been explicitly instructed to absorb provocation rather than respond to it, even if they come under physical attack.
“We have asked our leaders and activists in the long march procession not to fall into any provocation, no matter how much they face,” Porwar said. “Even if we are harmed or struck, the success of the long march is more meaningful than retaliation.”
The remarks, delivered a day before the march’s launch, underscore the volatile atmosphere surrounding the procession – a scale of mobilization significant enough that organizers say they expect more than 1,000 vehicles and “millions” of supporters to line the route, while simultaneously bracing for confrontation.
The long march, led by Jamaat and backed by ten allied parties, is set to begin with a rally at Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka at 7 a.m. Saturday before departing for Rangpur around 8 a.m.
The convoy will pass through a string of towns – Bhogra bypass in Gazipur, Nagar Jalpai in Tangail, Hatikumrul in Sirajganj, the Biman intersection in Bogura, and Palashgari in Gaibandha – with rallies planned at each stop before a concluding gathering at Rangpur Zilla School.
The march is built around a lengthy set of grievances: implementation of a disputed referendum verdict, justice for those killed during last year’s July uprising, an end to shortages of power, fuel and fertilizer, action on the rising cost of essentials, a crackdown on corruption, extortion and land grabbing, improved law and order, and a rollback of what the alliance calls narrow partisan control over state institutions.
Notably, the alliance added a new demand this week: implementation of the long-stalled Teesta River master plan, a major water-management project affecting Bangladesh’s northern districts.
Porwar said the addition followed a meeting of alliance leaders at the residence of the opposition leader on Thursday, and he called on the government to overcome its “hesitation or fear” and pursue the project through diplomatic channels – a pointed reference to the plan’s sensitivity given India’s role in regional river-sharing disputes.
Despite the preparation for possible attacks, Porwar struck a conciliatory tone toward state institutions, appealing to the government, police, civil administration, intelligence agencies, traffic authorities and even roadside traders and commuters to cooperate with the procession.
He said organizers had held discussions with local authorities the previous night and had been assured of both public support and administrative cooperation.
At the same time, his message carried an unmistakable edge: a direct appeal to the government not to obstruct what he called “a disciplined and peaceful long march.”
“Whenever movements have been organised in this country to fulfil the aspirations of democracy, the nation and the people, people have temporarily endured hardships and suffered a great deal of inconvenience,” Porwar said, framing the march within a broader narrative of sacrifice for democratic causes.
He noted the alliance had organized a similar long march toward Chattogram previously, built around six demands related to democratic reform.
Porwar also addressed press coverage directly, pledging that journalists assigned to the march would be given necessary access and that media vehicles would move freely alongside the procession – a detail organizers appeared keen to publicize, given the scrutiny such large opposition mobilizations typically draw.
Extensive groundwork, he said, had already been completed by Jamaat’s district and metropolitan units along the entire route, with responsibilities assigned for managing the scale of vehicles and crowds expected to join.
Whether the march proceeds as peacefully as organizers hope – or becomes another flashpoint in Bangladesh’s tense post-uprising political landscape – is likely to become clear within hours of its Saturday morning launch.
