The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party suggested on Thursday that prime minister Sheikh Hasina resign immediately without trying to manage anybody by visiting foreign countries.
‘There is no benefit to travelling [to foreign countries]. Your [Hasina] time is over, and your fall is a must,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a student convention in Dhaka, referring to her planned visit to Brussels this month.
Anti-Fascist Student Unity, a coalition of 15 student organisations, organised the student convention at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, demanding a universal education system, a safe campus, and the restoration of voting rights.
Fakhrul urged students to engage in street movement and establish control over the campuses across the country to bring back democracy at educational institutions as well as in the country.
Referring to the recent comment of a High Court justice, who said that the country was turned into hell, Fakhrul urged students and people of other classes to join the movement to oust the Awami League government and restore democracy.
‘We are now in a war. This war is to bring back democracy. Students should come and act as front-line fighters in this war,’ he said.
He said that dictatorship must be resisted as the government has eaten up every sector of the country, including the economy and judiciary.
‘The people of the country are suffering now. The current government is doing whatever it wants by using the judiciary. The country’s most popular person, BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia has been detained in a false case,’ he said.
He asked the prime minister to take a decision of resignation by the Durga Puja holidays and arrange the next general election under a neutral government.
BNP’s student organisation, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, acting president Rashed Iqbal Khan chaired the convention while its general secretary, Saif Mahmud Jewel, moderated it.
Central leaders, prominent citizens, and student leaders spoke at the programme.
The presidents and general secretaries of 117 district and district-level organisational units of the JCD across the country participated in the student convention.
Apart from this, the district presidents and general secretaries of the remaining 14 student organisations were also present at the convention.
The ‘Anti-Fascist Student Unity’ was formed on September 29, consisting of 15 student organisations backed by the parties that had been agitating simultaneously for months to oust the government.
The 15 student organisations in the coalition of Anti-Fascist Student Unity are JCD, Chhatra Federation backed by Ganosamhati Andolon, Chhatra Odhikar Parishad backed by Gono Odhikar Parishad, Chhatra League backed by Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, Democratic Chhatra Dal backed by Liberal Democratic Party, Nagrik Chhatra Oikya backed by Nagarik Oikya, Jagpa Chhatra League backed by Jatiya Ganotantrik Party, Chhatra Forum backed by Gano Forum, Bhashani Chhatra Parishad backed by Bhashani Onushari Parishad, Jatiya Chhatra Samaj backed by Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), Jatiya Chhatra Samaj backed by Bangladesh Jatiya Party, another faction of Jagpa Chhatra League, Chhatra Jamiat Bangladesh backed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Revolutionary Chhatra Sanghati backed by Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh and Rashtra Sangskar Chhatra Andolan backed by Rashtra Sangskar Andolon.
