• Opinion polls show NCP in third place with only 6% support.
• Party holding talks with BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, say leaders.
• Nahid Islam says party is weak due to lack of time to build it.

DHAKA: Thousands in Bangladesh flocked to hear the plans of the students who toppled long-time leader Sheikh Hasina when they launched a new political party this year, but now it finds itself struggling to translate the street power into votes.

Fighting to deliver on its promise to free the nation from decades of nepotism and two-party dominance, the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) faces entrenched rivals with deep networks and resources as polls approach in February.

“Our organisation is weak because we haven’t had enough time to build it,” said its chief Nahid Islam, prominent in last year’s deadly anti-government protests who served briefly in the caretaker administration under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

“We are aware of this, but we are still taking on the challenge,” added the 27-year-old, speaking from the party office in a high-rise in Dhaka, the capital, where one wall was covered in graffiti depicting crowds in revolt.

BNP in lead

Opinion polls show the NCP, which aims to contest all 300 seats, in third place, with support of just 6%, far behind the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, which leads with 30%.

Even the Jamaat-e-Islami will do better than the NCP, coming in second with 26%, a December poll by a US-based non-profit, the International Republican Institute, showed.

“When they first launched, I saw hope in them, like everyone,” said Prapti Taposhi, 25, who helped lead the revolt and looked to the newcomers to break decades of rule by two dominant parties, only to say she was eventually disappointed.

“They say they are centrist, but their actions don’t match that,” added Taposhi, a feminist activist.

“They hesitate to take positions on important issues, whether it’s minority rights or women’s rights, and when they do, it comes too late.”

Another sign of growing disenchantment was the party’s failure to win a single seat in September’s student body election at Dhaka University, the epicentre of the uprising that forced Hasina to flee to New Delhi.

Hasina’s Awami League, which remains barred from contesting the election, has warned of unrest if the ban is not lifted, a threat that could imperil Bangladesh’s textile industry, the world’s second biggest garment exporter.

Political alliance

Hampered by a skeletal structure, scarce funds, and a stance on key issues such as rights for women and minorities widely seen as unclear, the NCP is holding talks with other parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, leaders say.

“If we stand independently, there is a chance we may not win even one seat,” a senior NCP leader told Reuters on condition of anonymity, acknowledging the risks.

On the other hand, say analysts, an alliance risks diluting the party’s “revolutionary” image.

“If they ally, the public will no longer see them as a distinct force outside the Awami League, BNP and Jamaat,” said Dhaka-based writer and political analyst Altaf Parvez.

While the uprising briefly united students across party lines to oust Hasina, most returned to their respective groups afterwards, leaving just a fraction to form the NCP, said political analysts and one NCP leader.

Now the party faces rivals with long-entrenched networks and well-oiled machinery stretching deep into villages.

Fundraising issue

Money is another hurdle, Islam said, as members rely on salaries from full-time jobs, small donations and crowdfunding to keep campaigns afloat.

Some, like 28-year-old Hasnat Abdullah, have tried to drum up support by going door-to-door in villages.

“In my constituency, I tell people I am penniless,” he said, referring to an eastern region where he plans to contest. “I told them a leader’s main job is not to give voters money, but to ensure government funds are properly allocated and used.”

Graft accusations against some NCP leaders, which the party denies, saying it has a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, have further dented its image, however.

Striving for egalitarian culture

Yet some young people are still inclined to support the party, seeing it as striving for a more egalitarian culture in a political landscape shaped by money, muscle and dynastic power.

“They are young, they led the revolution, and I’m hopeful they can deliver change — as long as they don’t turn authoritarian themselves,” said one such backer, university student Manzila Rahman.

The NCP launched an unusual search for candidates in November, interviewing more than 1,000 applicants among ordinary citizens nationwide over two days.

Young party leaders moved from booth to booth interviewing hopefuls, including a rickshaw puller who took a day off work for the tryout, and a 23-year-old student partially blinded by police pellets during the protests.

“Some may think a rickshaw puller has nothing to offer in parliament,” said Mohammad Sujan Khan, 32. “Give me a chance and see what I do to change the country”.

The chance of such a future attracted Tasnim Jara, a doctor who left a successful career in Cambridge to join the NCP, seeking to help build it from the ground up.

“We want to open up politics, not keep it confined to powerful families, and give power back to ordinary people,” she said.

BNP and Jamaat leaders also see value in engaging with students.

“It’s the young people who are going to dominate politics in the future, so it will be good if we can accommodate them in parliament,” said BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

NCP leaders say they are thinking beyond the upcoming vote, aiming for institutional and structural reform in the long term.

“Win or lose, just by taking part in the election, we are offering something new,” said NCP’s Abdullah.

The United States has announced tighter global visa screening measures, introducing new rules and criteria aimed at strengthening security checks for travelers seeking entry into the country.

Tommy Pigott, deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, said the Trump administration has rolled out “enhanced vetting procedures and updated guidelines” for visa issuance worldwide.

Under the new rules, consular officers are instructed to consider additional risk factors and apply stricter criteria before approving any visa application.

“Each visa decision is ultimately a matter of national security,” Pigott said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that every application undergoes a more rigorous review than ever before.”

He added that the State Department continuously evaluates and updates its procedures to prevent anyone who could pose a potential threat from entering the United States.

“Our guiding principle is common sense: we must ensure that no individual who could harm the public is allowed into the country,” Pigott said. “We will keep refining and strengthening our policies to make the process even more secure and effective.”

Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively prioritized immigration enforcement, sending federal agents to major US cities and turning away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.

His administration has frequently highlighted the deportation push but until now it has put less emphasis on efforts to reshape legal immigration.

AUSTIN, TEXAS: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the country’s most prominent Muslim civil rights organisations, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking to block the enforcement of a gubernatorial proclamation that designated the group as a “foreign terrorist organisation” and barred it from purchasing land in the state.

The lawsuit was filed jointly by CAIR’s Dallas–Fort Worth and Austin chapters, marking a significant escalation in the standoff between the state government and the Muslim civil rights community.

CAIR contends that the governor acted without notice, evidence or any opportunity for the organisation to be heard, branding a longstanding American nonprofit as a terrorist entity in violation of both federal and state law. 

The petition argues that the authority to designate foreign terrorist organisations lies exclusively with the United States Secretary of State, and that the governor’s unilateral move constitutes a violation of the US Constitution as well as a clear overreach of state powers.

The lawsuit further states that Abbott’s proclamation infringes upon CAIR’s rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by damaging the organisation’s reputation and property interests, and violates the First Amendment by targeting its political speech, particularly its longstanding criticism of Israeli government policies.

Reacting to the lawsuit, Governor Abbott posted a statement on X, declaring that the legal challenge would “expose all of their financial activities and dealings” and claiming that the attorney general “will have a great day” once the organisation’s records are scrutinised.

A day after issuing the proclamation, the governor also dispatched a separate letter directing criminal inquiries into what he described as “Sharia courts” operating in Collin and Dallas counties. 

These, he alleged, were Muslim mediation groups presenting themselves as courts and issuing decisions to impose Islamic law — a claim CAIR and other community organisations strongly reject. Governor Abbott instructed district attorneys, county sheriffs, Attorney General Paxton and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Freeman Martin to investigate such activities.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Tribunal — one of the groups referenced in public debate — issued a clarification on its website explaining that it is neither a law firm nor a judicial authority, and that its members are not attorneys. 

It stated that it provides voluntary mediation and arbitration services based on Islamic principles, with all proceedings conducted under federal, state and local law, and that no decision is legally binding unless formally recognised by a state court. 

It noted that Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities across the United States make frequent use of voluntary mediation systems, which exist alongside and not in place of official courts.

The governor’s recent directives followed his announcement describing CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organisations, an allegation CAIR-Texas called an “Islamophobic conspiracy theory”, insisting that Americans retain the constitutional right to seek voluntary religious mediation while only state courts hold legal authority to enforce judgments.

Attorney Charlie Swift of the Muslim Legal Fund of America criticised the governor’s actions as an attack on constitutional principles and said the proclamation must fail in court. CAIR’s General Counsel Lena Masri remarked that the organisation has successfully defeated Governor Abbott three times previously in First Amendment litigation, and expressed confidence in prevailing again. 

CAIR-Texas stated that the governor is targeting American Muslims under the influence of “Israel First politics”, adding that the community will continue to defend its constitutional rights without intimidation.

The lawsuit describes Abbott’s claims as false, defamatory and unsupported by Texas law, emphasising that CAIR is an independent American nonprofit unaffiliated with any foreign group. 

The organisation is seeking an injunction to halt the implementation of the governor’s order, as well as damages for the harm caused by the designation.

The confrontation has now developed into a significant constitutional and political dispute in Texas, one that observers say may have broader implications for Muslim civil rights across the United States.