The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday held a rally and brought out a procession in Dhaka to mark the Victory Das and vowed afresh to ‘restore democracy in the country’.
Thousands of leaders and activists of the party and its associate organisations started gathering in front of its Naya Paltan central office and adjacent areas with small processions after Juma prayers.
Led by their central leaders, the party activists joined the rally carrying the national flag, placards, banners and portraits of party top leaders.
With secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who has been leading the party’s revival in field level politics as witnessed in the second half of 2022, once again landing in jail ahead of its Dhaka rally last week, it fell to standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain to inaugurate the rally around 3:35pm in front of the central office.
From there it moved towards Shantinagar amid tight security.
In the rally, BNP leaders and activists shouted slogans demanding the unconditional release of their party chairperson Khaleda Zia and the restoration of democracy and voting rights in Bangladesh.
In a brief speech before starting the rally, Mosharraf said their party successfully held 10 divisional rallies braving various obstacles.
He said a huge number of people joined their rallies spontaneously, sending out a message that they no longer want to see the Awami League government in power.
‘We have proved through our 10 rallies that we believe in peaceful politics and we believe in democratic politics. There was no anarchy, no violence, and chaos in any place during our 10 rallies. But yesterday (Thursday) the Prime Minister said we arranged rallies to create chaos. They’re making such comments out of their nervousness,’ the BNP leader said.
He alleged that the government is spreading false campaigns against BNP and its leaders to deceive people both at home and abroad, as their days, he said, are ‘numbered’.
Mosharraf said Awami League, not BNP, is creating violence to hang onto power and intimidate the country’s people.
He also slammed the government for what he called its widespread plundering, corruption, and siphoning money abroad over the last 14 years.
The BNP leader said the country’s economy is now on the brink of collapse due to the government’s misrule. ‘A famine-like situation has been now prevailing in the country while common people are struggling to survive amid the unusual price hikes in daily essentials.’
He alleged that the government is resorting to various plots to stay in power again, and urged the country’s people to remain alert to foil any evil attempt of the ruling party.
Mosharraf said their party has already placed a 10-point demand for the restoration of democracy and they will launch a simultaneous movement together with other opposition parties to realise the demands.
‘We’ll surely restore democracy and a democratic environment in the country ignoring any sort of threats and intimidations of the government and we’ll fulfill the aspirations of the people of the country. This is the oath of today’s victory rally,’ he vowed.
Later, the party’s senior leaders, including Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Selima Rahman, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, Abdullah Al Noman, Barkatullah Bulu, Mohammad Shahjahan, Abdul Awal Mintoo, Ahmed Azam Khan and Amanullah Aman, besides Mosharraf, took part in the rally.
After parading different roads through Bijoynagar, Kakrail and Shantinagar, the rally ended back at Naya Paltan at about 5:10pm.
