Workers Party of Bangladesh

The Workers Party of Bangladesh (Template:Langx) is a communist party in Bangladesh. Rashed Khan Menon is the president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Fazle Hossain Badsha is the general secretary of the party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

WPB was founded in 1980 by the Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist), Revolutionary Communist League, Majdur Party and another group. Amal Sen was the founding general secretary.

In 1984, the party split in two factions, both using the name WPB. One group was led by Amal Sen and Nazrul Islam. The other was led by the current president of the party, Rashed Khan Menon. In 1992, they reunited.

The party participated in the programs of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2008, the Workers Party protested the removal of a baul statue by the Roads and Highways Department, and Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh following pressure from Islamists near the Zia International Airport.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2010, the Haider Akbar Khan Rono-led fraction of the Workers Party of Bangladesh (reconstituted) merged with the Communist Party of Bangladesh.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

WPB joined the Grand Alliance in 2014,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but the party leadership openly questioned the direction of the subsequent 14 Party Alliance after the 2014 election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rashed Khan Menon was made the Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in the Sheikh Hasina led cabinet.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

On 26 May 2016, Workers Party of Bangladesh called for the parliamentary membership of Salim Osman to be cancelled for insulting Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, the principal of Piyar Sattar Latif High School.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 2018 Bangladesh elections, it contested as part of the Grand Alliance along with the Bangladesh Awami League. Five candidates of the Workers Party used the election symbol of the Awami League, the boat.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> The candidates were Fazle Hossain Badsha from Rajshahi-2, Mustafa Lutfullah from Satkhira-1, Rashed Khan Menon from Dhaka-8, Tipu Sultan from Barisal-3, and Yeasin Ali from Thakurgaon-3.<ref name=":1" /> Three candidates of the party contested using the hammer symbol of the workers party.<ref name=":1" /> They were Ahsan Ullah from Comilla-8, Haji Bashirul Alam from Cox's Bazar-1, and Jahirul Haque Tutul from Barisal-2.<ref name=":1" /> The Workers Party won four seats in the Jatiya Sangsad in the 2018 Bangladeshi general election. Lutfun Nesa Khan was elected from the reserved women's seat from the Workers Party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The winners were Fazle Hossain Badsha from Rajshahi-2, Mustafa Lutfullah from Satkhira-1, and Rashed Khan Menon from Dhaka-8.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Awami League did not include them in the new cabinet which only had Awami League politicians.<ref name=":0" />

In February 2021, the Workers Party criticised Awami League for election policy and for not taking a hardline against religion-based political parties.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In December, the party asked the government to send former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia abroad for medical treatment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Election results

Jatiya Sangsad elections

Election	Party leader	Votes		Seats			Position		Government
		#	%	Contested	Won	+/–	Template:Small	Template:Small
1986	Amal Sen	151,828	0.53%		Template:Composition bar	New	10th	11th	Template:No2
1988		Boycotted			Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease3	Template:N/A	Template:N/A	Template:No
1991		63,434	0.19%	35	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase1	Template:Increase12th	Template:Increase20th	Template:No2
Feb 1996		Boycotted			Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease1	Template:N/A	Template:N/A	Template:No
Jun 1996		56,404	0.13%	34	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	N/A	Template:Increase8th	Template:No
2001	Rashed Khan Menon	40,484	0.07%	32	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	N/A	Template:Decrease11th	Template:No
2008		262,093	0.37%	5	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase2	Template:Increase5th	Template:Increase7th	Template:Yes2
2014		359,620	2.10%	18	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase4	Template:Increase3rd	Template:Increase3rd	Template:Yes2
2018		646,064	0.76%	8	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease2	Template:Decrease4th	Template:Decrease5th	Template:Yes2
2024		xxxxxx	xx.xx%	26	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease3	Template:Steady4th	Template:Increase4th	Template:Yes2

See also

• Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh
• List of anti-revisionist groups