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Workers Party of Bangladesh

বাংলাদেশের ওয়ার্কার্স পার্টি
Workers Party of Bangladesh বাংলাদেশের ওয়ার্কার্স পার্টি
Abbreviation	WPB
President	Rashed Khan Menon
Secretary-General	Fazle Hossain Badsha
Founded	1980
Merger of	BCP (L); RCL; MP
Headquarters	31/F, Topkhana Road, Dhaka - 1000
Student wing	Bangladesh Chhatra Maitri
Youth wing	Bangladesh Juba Maitri
Women's wing	Nari Mukti Sangsad
Labour front	Jatio Sramik Federation Bangladesh
Peasant front	Jatio Krishok Somity
Ideology	Communism; Marxism–Leninism; Anti-revisionism
Political position	Far-left
International affiliation	IMCWP; ICMLPO (defunct); IPA
Colours	Red
Seats in the Jatiya Sangsad	Parliament dissolved
Councillor in; City Corporations	1 / 640
Chairmen in Union Councils	2 / 4,554
Party flag
Website
	www.wpbd71.org
	Politics of Bangladesh; Political parties; Elections;

The Workers Party of Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের ওয়ার্কার্স পার্টি) 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.^[2]^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

In 2010, the Haider Akbar Khan Rono led fraction of the Workers Party of Bangladesh (reconstituted) merged with the Communist Party of Bangladesh.^[6]

WPB joined the Grand Alliance in 2014,^[7] but the party leadership openly questioned the direction of the subsequent 14 Party Alliance after the 2014 election.^[8] Rashed Khan Menon was made the Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in the Sheikh Hasina led cabinet.^[9]

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.^[10]

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.^[11] 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.^[11] Three candidates of the party contested using the hammer symbol of the workers party.^[11] They were Ahsan Ullah from Comilla-8, Haji Bashirul Alam from Cox's Bazar-1, and Jahirul Haque Tutul from Barisal-2.^[11] 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.^[12] The winners were Fazle Hossain Badsha from Rajshahi-2, Mustafa Lutfullah from Satkhira-1, and Rashed Khan Menon from Dhaka-8.^[13] The Awami League did not include them in the new cabinet which only had Awami League politicians.^[9]

In February 2021, the Workers Party criticised Awami League for election policy and for not taking a hardline against religion based political parties.^[14] In December, the party asked the government to send former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia abroad for medical treatment.^[15]

Election results

Jatiya Sangsad elections

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1986	Amal Sen	151,828	0.53%	3 / 300	New	11th	Opposition
1988		Boycotted		0 / 300	3	—	Extra-parliamentary
1991		63,434	0.19%	1 / 300	1	20th	Opposition
Feb 1996		Boycotted		0 / 300	1	—	Extra-parliamentary
Jun 1996		56,404	0.13%	0 / 300	0	8th	Extra-parliamentary
2001	Rashed Khan Menon	40,484	0.07%	0 / 300	0	11th	Extra-parliamentary
2008		262,093	0.37%	2 / 300	2	7th	Coalition Government
2014		359,620	2.10%	6 / 300	4	3rd	Coalition Government
2018		646,064	0.76%	4 / 300	2	5th	Coalition Government
2024		xxxxxx	xx.xx%	1 / 300	3	5th	Coalition Government