Before the coup of 15 August 1975, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal had planned to organize a mass upsurge to form a democratic national government replacing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[6]
After Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were assassinated on 15 August 1975, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader Abu Taher showed his support and remarked: "The corpse of Sheikh Mujib should have been thrown into The Bay of Bengal".[6] Hasanul Haq Inu was also seen reportedly dancing above an army tank after the incident.
On 7 November 1975, forces loyal to Colonel Abu Taher rescued army chief Ziaur Rahman from house arrest. When Ziaur Rahman realized that Abu Taher was moving the country into a direction of leftist communism, which contradicted Zia's right wing views, Zia declared martial law, formed the right wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party and cracked down on the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal by executing Abu Taher and sentencing other leaders to various prison terms.[6][2]
Factions
During Ziaur Rahman's rule, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal split up twice. The party fragmented again during the regime of Hussain Muhammad Ershad in the 1980s, with ASM Abdur Rab and Shajahan Siraj heading two separate factions. Abdur Rab's faction, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, became the opposition after taking part in the 1988 elections, that were boycotted by all major political parties. After the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came to power in 1991, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal allied itself with former rivals Bangladesh Awami League to counter growing BNP and right wing influence in the country. ASM Abdur Rab later served as a minister from 1996 to 2001 in the Awami League-led government.[2] After the BNP returned to power in 2001, Shajahan Siraj merged his party with it.[2]
Meanwhile, Inu, who became MP after winning elections as a grand alliance nominee with the victorious Awami League's boat as his symbol in 2008, was made Information Minister.[2] after another split, The general secretary of the Inu-led faction was Shirin Akhter.[7]
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