The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Ganatantra Mancha, a coalition of seven political parties, have reached an agreement to work together on a movement to oust the Awami League from power and achieve state reforms, said leaders of the two political entities after a meeting between them on Tuesday.
‘We have agreed today in the meeting that we will hold a simultaneous movement to create a mass uprising against this government through a greater national unity. We have already started this work,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press conference.
The BNP also said that it had decided to form a liaison committee to accelerate its ongoing efforts for unity among opposition parties towards a simultaneous movement to oust the Awami League from power.
‘We have decided that in order to speed up this matter, we will form a liaison committee based on discussions with political parties so that it can be done as soon as possible,’ Fakhrul said at the press conference.
The press conference was held at the BNP chair’s Gulshan office following the dialogue with the Ganatantra Mancha.
Ganatantra Mancha comprises the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, Nagarik Oikya, Ganosamhati Andolan, Gono Odhikar Parishad, Bhashani Onusari Parishad and Rashtra Sangskar Andolon.
‘Today is a historic day for Bangladesh. The message will be sent to the whole world today that people of Bangladesh will not only bring down this autocracy but the political parties will unite through the creation of a greater national unity to remove those who have stolen the votes in the dark of night,’ Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD president ASM Abdur Rob said at the press conference.
Rob said that they would repair the state, reform the state and the constitution while the preparations for the election and the movement will continue in a simultaneous manner.
Fakhrul highlighted the topics that transpired in the meeting.
There will be more discussions in the coming days to expedite this initiative and bring it to a final conclusion, he said.
Nagarik Oikya convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna said that they were in a movement and would remain in the simultaneous movement from now on.
The proposals made by the Ganatantra Mancha, he added, are similar to various proposals raised by the BNP.
Fakhrul said that there had already been a profound interest and a huge initiative among the people of Bangladesh in bringing down this government through the movement.
He went on to say that they believed that they could speed up the movement by creating a greater national unity to topple the government with the active participation of people.
Ganosamhati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki said that none of them (Ganatantra Mancha members) would take part in any election under this government.
‘Our demands are resignation of this government, election under an interim government and a qualitative change in the governance of Bangladesh through constitutional reforms,’ he said.
Among others, Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh general secretary Saiful Haque, Gono Odhikar Parishad member secretary Faruk Hasan, Bhashani Onusari Parishad Convener Rafiqul Islam and Rashtra Sangskar Andolon organisational coordinator Imran Emon were present at the meeting.
