The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday urged all democratic parties and people to take to the streets with all of their strength to oust the ‘monstrous’ government.
‘In the past 15 years, this horrible fascist government has pushed the entire state into destruction,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a rally in front of BNP central office at Naya Paltan.
‘They posted deputy commissioners, police superintendents of their choice and instructed them to file cases as many as they can against the opposition people,’ he said.
The party’s Dhaka north and south city units jointly organised the rally simultaneously with other opposition parties marking International Democracy Day.
‘Today, ignoring the cases, people took to the streets. Thousands of crores of money are being looted in the name of power generation. Health, education and justice departments have been destroyed,’ said Fakhrul.
Even if the country’s media can be silenced by a law in the name of cyber security, how foreign media can be silenced, he asked.
New York Times has said that Bangladesh’s democracy is on the way to collapse, the BNP leader said, adding that a media in London said that the democracy of Bangladesh was now at the bottom.
Although the country’s media is squeezed, journalists are still trying to write for democracy and the people, he said.
‘The government wants to fool the people. Commodity prices are skyrocketing while there is no rice, no pulse and no oil at people’s homes. The government does not care about this. The only concern of the government is how to cling to power, how to exploit the country,’ Fakhrul said.
He demanded immediate dissolution of the parliament and handover of the power to a neutral caretaker government to hold a free and fair election.
The BNP leader said that the ‘fascist’ government destroyed all the pillars of the state, including the health system, education system, judiciary and it was clear that the government completely failed to run the state.
‘The youth should come forward. When the War of Independence took place in 1971, the youth rushed into the war without any fear. Even today, everyone has to take to the streets to restore democracy,’ he said.
‘Now is the time to remove the terrible government and establish a democratic government,’ he added.
He condemned the conviction and sentence of human rights organisation Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman and its secretary Nasiruddin Elan and demanded immediate withdrawal of the case filed against them.
BNP standing committee member Anir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said that the ongoing movement of the opposition parties were not against any political party but against the corrupt, autocrat and vote thieves.
‘We have to protect the country from these looters,’ he said.
Another standing committee member Mirza Abbas said that the people wanted their voting rights back and the BNP was agitating to ensure the people’s voting rights.
‘Not only this government but also under this administration can no election be fair. In other words, the Awami League has become entrenched at all levels of administration,’ he said.
Chaired by Dhaka south city BNP convener Abdus Salam and moderated by north city unit member secretary Aminul Haque, the party standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan and vice-chairman Abdul Awal Mintoo, among others, also addressed the rally.
Besides, at a press conference on the day, Fakhrul announced that Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Juba Dal as well as the BNP city units would hold youth marches in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
In addition, the BNP is set to unveil a series of simultaneous programmes on September 18 as part of the opposition parties’ simultaneous movement to oust the government.
