The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday said that there would be no elections in the country without the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.
‘We [BNP] want to make it clear that there will be no elections in this country until resignation of [Prime Minister] Sheikh Hasina,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a mass rally in Cumilla.
The party organised the mass rally on Cumilla Town Hall ground as a part of the central programme of holding mass rallies in the party’s organisational divisions.
Fakhrul, at this time, also said that the non-partisan caretaker government system should be restored, parliament should be dissolved and a new Election Commission should be formed to hold the next general elections.
Regarding the economic situation of the country, Fakhrul said, ‘The economic sector of the country has become perforated. There is nothing called treasury anymore, everything has been looted.’
Claiming that the government is scared because of the BNP rallies, Fakhrul said that the government was trying to reduce the number of people in the BNP rally creating various ostracises, but the attendance of the people was increasing.
He said that the government was lodging one case after another against the leaders and activists of BNP to prevent the gathering in the December 10 Dhaka rally and was harassing them by raiding from door to door.
Fakhrul said the’ illegal’ prime minister usurped power by holding two elections in 2014 and 2018 under her supervision by force.
The BNP leader said Hasina held a rally in Jashore on Thursday availing of all the state facilities and using the state machinery. “In that rally, she announced to hold the election again (under her) and urged people to vote for boat (AL’s) election symbol…but the people of entire Bangladesh are now singing they would not have boarded the boat had they known the consequences earlier. “So, quit power with dignity before time runs out fast as people now want you to go.”
Fakhrul bemoaned that people have to carry out a movement and sacrifice lives even after 50 years of independence for establishing their voting rights.
The BNP leader said the government has again been resorting to various tricks to hold a stage-managed election using the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) under it the since the Awami League candidates will lose their security money if a credible election is held under a neutral administration.
The BNP leader said the government has been arresting BNP leaders and activists and implicating them in fictitious cases to suppress the party and its programmes. “This is a shameless regime. Their skin is as thick as a rhinoceros.”
Fakhrul alleged that the government has started arresting the BNP leaders and activists and raiding their houses in the capital to stop the party’s December-10 rally. “You could not halt our rally anywhere including in Cumilla. You also won’t be able to do it in Dhaka on December 10.”
Though the ruling party leaders made various comments about not allowing BNP to hold the rally in Dhaka city, Fakhrul said they are now suggesting BNP arrange the programme at Suhrawardy Udyan. “Come forward a few more steps and the rally will be held at Nayapaltan.”
He said they have been in a movement to restore democracy and the voting and other rights of people in a peaceful manner but the government is trying to divert it in a different direction.
The BNP leader said the people of the entire country have got fed with the government’s misrule and failure to run the state. “People now want to get rid of the grasp of Awami League. That’s why we’ve waged a movement to oust this regime.”
BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the common people are joining BNP’s rallies as they are angry at the government since it has destroyed democracy, snatched their rights and put them in serious trouble with its misrule and widespread plundering.
He alleged that the government has been using the law enforcers as its weapons to hang onto power by repressing and suppressing people.
Mosharraf, also a son of Cumilla, opposed the government’s move to name the Cumilla division as Gomoti division. “Cumilla is a historic name and people will not accept if the division is named Gomoti division. It has to be named as Cumill division.”
During his speech, Fakhrul also said the division should be named as Cumilla, not Gomoti.
Another BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas said their party’s eight divisional rallies have proved the country’s people are not with the Awami League government.
BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan thanked the people of Cumilla for making the rally a success with their spontaneous participation in it braving various obstructions, repressive acts and threats.
Though no transport strike was imposed in Cumilla unlike such programmes in other divisions, he said the ruling party repressed and harassed their party followers so that they cannot join the rally. “They also killed our brother Nayan Miah n Brahmanbaria over the rally. Our eight leaders and activists have so far been killed in the current movement. We won’t let their sacrifices go in vain as we’ll oust this regime through a movement.”
The father of Nayon, who was killed recently in police firing while distributing leaflets for drumming public support for the rally, also spoke at the programme seeking the punishment of those police personnel involved in the murder of his son.
Sons of BNP Cumilla leaders Humayun Kabir Parvez and Saiful Islam Hiru who have been subjected to enforced disappearance also addressed the rally seeking the government’s steps to ensure the safe return of their dear ones.
The rally venue was teeming with the opposition leaders and activists since morning as they gathered there from the different upazilas of Cumilla and its adjoining districts, including Brahmanbaria and Chandpur.
