Stating that the unusual hike in fuel prices had left people in the lurch, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday said that the Awami League government could no longer be allowed to cling to power.
‘This regime has destroyed politics, the economy, and potential. So it cannot be allowed to remain in power anymore,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a rally in Dhaka.
The Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal arranged the rally in front of BNP’s Naya Paltan central office, protesting the killing of two leaders of the party’s front organisations, Nure Alam and Abdur Rahim, in police firing at Bhola on July 31.
Fakhrul said that the government had brought the country to its knees by abruptly raising fuel prices on Friday night, which would raise the prices of all commodities, including fertiliser and other farm inputs, as well as transportation costs.
‘It will have a very negative impact on our economy and our economic condition will worsen further,’ he warned, also criticising the government’s argument of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation’s losses behind the fuel price hike.
‘Why does it go into loss? The BPC made a huge profit of around Tk 39,000 crore in the recent years. At that time, the price of oil was low in the international market, but you didn’t reduce the price. Even so, the fuel prices have now started to decrease in the international market,’ he added.
He slammed the information minister, Hasan Mahmud, for his comment that the fuel prices were comparatively lower in Bangladesh than in many other countries, saying that the ruling party leaders were giving people wrong information and statistics to confuse them.
‘All information of AL leaders is incorrect. We urge people not to get confused by false information,’ he said.
He claimed that the drop in international oil prices caused a 78 per cent drop in the price of oil in the United States.
He said that while other countries lower the oil price when it falls in the international market, Bangladesh does the opposite to plunder public money.
He said that the recent hike in fuel prices, especially diesel, had left farmers, common people, and bike riders in serious trouble.
‘But the government is less bothered about it. Because they need the police, RAB, BGB and other forces, not people, to run the country. It won’t continue anymore. The people of the country will no longer allow this regime to run the country in this way,’ Fakhrul said.
The BNP leader claimed that the Awami League had illegally remained in power for 15 years through the use of state machineries such as the police, Rapid Action Battalion, and Border Guard Bangladesh.
‘The government has increased the price of water, electricity, gas, and oil. Where will people go? You [AL people] have a lot of bribe money in your pocket. Our pockets are running out of money for our own survival,’ he said.
‘You have already killed many people and made many others disappear only to stay in power. In continuation of that, you have killed our Nure Alam and Abdur Rahim,’ he said.
The BNP leader alleged that Bhola Sadar Model Police Station's inspector (Investigation) Arman Hossain opened fire at the BNP rally on July 31, killing Swechchasebak Dal leader Abdur Rahim on the spot and critically injuring JCD leader Nure Alam, who later died at a hospital in the capital.
‘We want the government to arrest this police officer immediately and take proper action against him through a judicial investigation into the incident,’ Fakhrul said.
