In December 1990, the military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad resigned and transferred power in the face of a strong mass movement against him in Bangladesh. The outline drawn up by the three agitating alliances was the 'argumentative basis' of that movement. However, over time, that outline was not implemented and later the politics of Bangladesh took a new turn.

There were three main alliances – the eight-party alliance led by the Awami League, the seven-party alliance led by the BNP, and the five-party alliance comprising leftist parties. Apart from these, Jamaat-e-Islami simultaneously held a movement on the same demand, but they were not in any alliance.

Through the combined efforts of these alliances, the outline was announced simultaneously on November 19, 1990, the main goal of which was 'the formation of a sovereign parliament through elections under a non-partisan caretaker government'.

However, 17 days after the announcement of the outline, Ershad handed over power by appointing Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed as Vice President. Based on the outline, parliamentary elections were held on February 27, 1991, under a non-partisan caretaker government.

Researcher and writer Mohiuddin Ahmed said, "The success of the outline was the fall of Ershad and parliamentary elections under a non-party government. However, later the two main parties ignored their outline and in many cases did the opposite."

Badiul Alam Majumdar, editor of the non-governmental organization Sujan, said, "Even after the 1991 elections, the parties did not keep their promises in the outline, but rather nothing happened except introducing the parliamentary system. The current mass uprising is the result of this disastrous situation."

How the outline was prepared

Several types of information about the outline creation were obtained by discussing with a few people who were involved in the outline creation process or who observed it closely.

Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a member of the BNP's current national standing committee, was part of the liaison committee formed to coordinate discussions and programs between the three anti-Ershad alliances. He told BBC Bangla that it was this liaison committee that finalized the outline.

CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim said that he had prepared the draft of the outline on the advice of the leaders of the three alliances at the time, which was later finalized after being revised by the liaison committee of the three alliances and approved by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina.

On the other hand, Nur Ahmed Bakul, one of the important leaders of the All-Party Student Unity of the 1990s, says that they saw the draft of the outline at the Dhaka residence of the then Awami League leader, the late Abdul Mannan of Tangail. Bakul is now the acting general secretary of the Workers' Party of Bangladesh.

Another account states that a draft of the outline was handwritten by Rashed Khan Menon. Based on this, discussions were held in the three alliances. Later, based on this, Dr. Kamal Hossain, late lawyer Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed and Abdul Mannan refined the draft.

BNP leaders Abdus Salam Talukder, Abdul Matin Chowdhury, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and several others were involved in this process.

This was later given to the three alliances for discussion among themselves. After the alliances themselves discussed it, the liaison committee finalized it. Then, the outline was announced from the three alliances' separate gatherings.

However, the background to this outline was the 1988 elections, after which the anti-Ershad movement began to strengthen.

Most political parties, including the BNP and Awami League, boycotted the election. Only six political parties participated in the election at that time.

The movement gained momentum around September 1990, and issue-based unity developed among the protesting parties. Two alliances were also formed among student organizations at that time.

In the meantime, after the death of Chhatra Dal leader Jehad on October 10, 24 student organizations formed the All-Party Student Unity with Jehad's body in front of them. Then, on November 27, when Dr. Shamsul Alam Khan Milon was shot dead, Ershad's downfall became inevitable.

It was mainly under the leadership of this student unity that the violent movement took place, as a result of which, through a series of events, Hussain Muhammad Ershad agreed to resign at one point.

But even before this, there was discussion in the political arena about how Ershad would resign or to whom he would resign. Because if Ershad resigned, he would have to do it to his Vice President Moudud Ahmed.

Bakul said that the demand for a parliament through elections under a caretaker government and the fall of Ershad had come from the students. Because of this, the issue of an outline came up in a meeting among political leaders. This was discussed repeatedly at the residence of the late Mohiuddin Ahmed and Abdul Mannan among the leaders of the agitating parties, including the BNP-Awami League. Through this, the work of preparing the outline began.

Mujahidul Islam Selim says that a committee was formed to draft the outline based on the leaders' discussions, and he was the one who wrote the draft while being part of that committee.

He said, "We prepared a draft based on how Ershad would transfer power, how the elections would be held, and how the country and politics would progress after the elections. We wrote in it that three elections would be held under the caretaker government. Later, on the advice of Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, the 'three elections' were omitted and only the next election was written in the outline."

Researcher Mohiuddin Ahmed, however, says that the outline was full of many important elements of democratic politics, including guidelines for the transfer of power and elections.

He said, however, that the alliances did not sign it. They had made the announcement at the rally. But since there was no formal signing, it could not become a national charter despite the consensus.

What was said in the outline?

The leaflets that were published by the anti-government protesting parties at the time, outlining the outline of the three alliances, show that the goals of the outline were outlined at the beginning.

It said, 'People of all classes and professions have embarked on a heroic struggle in the ongoing mass movement to demand the removal of the Ershad government from the grip of the tyrannical Ershad government, to establish a permanent democratic trend and way of life in the country, and to re-establish the spirit and values ​​of the Liberation War.'

Incidentally, on March 24, 1982, then-Army Chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad seized power by overthrowing President Abdus Sattar. After nine consecutive years in power, he was forced to hand over power on December 6, 1990.

For nine years, political parties protested demanding Ershad's resignation. However, he was ultimately overthrown by massive student protests. More than 350 people died in the nine-year movement.

The outline of the three alliances further stated that, 'At various stages of this struggle, people are selflessly sacrificing their lives, disregarding imprisonment, oppression, torture, and even death, for the purpose of establishing a truly representative system of government.'

The outline states that the agitating alliances will only participate in elections held under a non-partisan caretaker government, rather than in elections under a party government.

"One of the main goals and objectives of the struggle that the countrymen are carrying out with their blood is to put an end to the change of power through unconstitutional means such as assassinations and coups, and to ensure the transfer and transfer of power through free and fair elections through constitutional means. Therefore, the central theme of our struggle is to establish a sovereign parliament through the holding of free and fair elections."

"But the Ershad government, which has seized power illegally under unconstitutional procedures, is continuously trying to permanently retain its power through farce elections. In every past election held under this government, there has been a continuous process of vote theft, vote fraud, occupation of polling stations, looting of ballot boxes, even shameless vote robbery, media culling and finally, the publication of election results through elections without voters."

In the outline, the alliances firmly pledged that they believed that no free and fair elections would be possible under this government (the then Ershad government).

"We, the 15, 7 and 5-party coalition, will not participate in any national election under Ershad and the illegal government, be it presidential or parliamentary elections. We will not only boycott these elections, but also resist them. We, the 15, 7 and 5-party coalition, will only participate in the sovereign national parliamentary elections under a non-partisan, impartial caretaker government," the outline says.

The consequences

As written in the outline, Ershad, as a non-partisan person, finalized the name of the then Chief Justice of the three alliances, Shahabuddin Ahmed, and appointed him as Vice President, handing over power to him.

Shahabuddin Ahmed's government organized the 11th parliamentary election and the BNP won the election and formed the government. Later, as promised in that parliament, the presidential system of government was replaced with a parliamentary system of government by amending the constitution.

Badiul Alam Majumder says he thinks this outline is an important document and that the major parties reached consensus on several issues.

"The biggest thing was that they outlined a code of conduct. But after the elections, nothing happened except changing the system of government. Parliament also became ineffective. Profit-based politics started. The ruling party started becoming authoritarian. And the opposition also did not remain responsible. Gradually, the entire electoral system collapsed, which gave rise to another mass uprising in 2024," he was telling BBC Bangla.

The original election pledge suffered a major setback in 1994 when a parliamentary by-election was marred by widespread fraud. After that election, a movement began demanding elections under a caretaker government. Ultimately, after the controversial February 15, 1996 election, Khaleda Zia was forced to step down after parliament passed a caretaker government bill.

Again, while Sheikh Hasina was in power, she removed the provision of the caretaker government from the constitution and, after holding three controversial elections, was finally forced to leave power and took refuge in India.

Again, although the parties pledged not to accept any of Ershad's associates into their respective parties, two influential bureaucrats from the Ershad era, MK Anwar and Kazi Keramat Ali, contested the 1991 elections on behalf of the BNP.

The Awami League even formed an electoral alliance with Ershad. Later, leaders of Ershad's party, the Jatiya Party, were also included in the cabinet of the Awami League government. In addition, some leaders of the party, including Moudud Ahmed, had already joined the BNP. Some of them became ministers in the BNP government.

The outline stated that 'the parties in the alliance will refrain from personal slander and ridicule of the other party's patriotism and religious beliefs. The political parties in the alliance will not indulge in communalism. And will collectively resist communal propaganda.'

"But the reality is that over the past two and a half decades, the two main parties have engaged in the politics of eliminating each other while in power," said Mohiuddin Ahmed.

Mujahidul Islam Selim says, 'There was a promise that no one would spread misinformation or accuse each other - but no one followed these. In fact, no one followed the code of conduct. They also started using religion in their campaigns from the 1991 elections.'

Again, although the parties have outlined their pledge to repeal all laws that violate fundamental rights, new black laws have been enacted during the BNP and Awami League governments, which have also been severely criticized at home and abroad.

Mohiuddin Ahmed says that at one stage of the movement, there was optimism among the people that if the movement was successful, democracy would come to the country and harmony would emerge between the parties.

"But after a while, politics reverted to its previous course. Those who won the elections adopted the 'winner takes all' policy and the opposition's space decreased. The opposition also started a culture of opposition for the sake of opposition. Overall, the public aspirations that were created around the outline of the three alliances in the 1990s were lost and the people were deceived," he said.