Pakistan National Congress

Pakistan National Congress
(1947–1971)
Bangladesh National Congress
(1971–1975)
AbbreviationPNC
BNC
PresidentKiran Shankar Roy (1947)
Manoranjan Dhar (1971)[1]
Founded1947 (77 years ago) (1947)
Dissolved1975 (49 years ago) (1975)
Split fromIndian National Congress
IdeologyGandhian socialism
Secularism
Minority interests
Political positionCentre-left
Colours  Sky blue
1st Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
11 / 69
East Bengal Legislative Assembly (1954)
28 / 309
Election symbol
BJC party symbol
Pitcher

The National Congress (Bengali: জাতীয় কংগ্রেস, Urdu: نیشنل کانگریس) was a political party that mainly represented the Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh.[2][3] The party championed secularism in the Muslim-dominated state, and its electoral and organisational strength was mainly based in East Bengal later known as East Pakistan since 1955 and since 1971 the independent state of Bangladesh.[2][4]

  1. ^ "From the Archives (September 10, 1971): Bangla Desh parties demand independence". The Hindu. 10 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b George McTurnan Kahin, Harold C. Hinton (1958). Major governments of Asia. Cornell University Press. p. 439.
  3. ^ Moshe Y. Sachs (1967). Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations: Asia and Australasia. Worldmark Press.
  4. ^ Richard Sisson, Leo E. Rose (1991). War and Secession: Pakistan, India and the Creation of Bangladesh. University of California Press. pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-0-520-07665-5.