Police on Saturday foiled a pre-announced rally of the 12-party alliance in front of the National Press Club demanding a boycott of Indian goods in Bangladesh, protesting at aggression and alleged Indian interference in the politics of Bangladesh.
Witnesses said that police took away the banner of the alliance forcefully in front of the Press Club when the leaders and activists of the alliance gathered and tried to start their rally holding a banner with the slogan ‘India Out; Boycott India’ as part of its campaign against Indian products.
At that time, a team of police led by Shahbag police station petrol inspector Sarder Bulbul Ahmed obstructed the leaders of the alliance, asking them not to hold the rally with the slogan ‘India Out’ on the banner, which he said was against the country’s foreign policy.
Sarder Bulbul Ahmed said that at first, they requested the protesters not to hold the programme under such a banner where they wrote the words ‘India Out’ as it was contradictory to the country’s foreign policy.
‘As they did not obey our instructions, we were forced to take away the banner, and there was no other incident,’ he added.
Later, the 12-party alliance started a protest procession without a banner instead of holding the rally due to police obstacles, and the procession ended near the Purana Paltan crossing.
Shahadat Hossain Salim, the spokesperson for the 12-party alliance and the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, strongly condemned the police obstacle to their rally and procession.
He also alleged that the police threatened them for not doing the programme.
Salim urged people to boycott Indian products, protesting at Indian aggression and its interference in the politics of Bangladesh. He also criticised India for border killings and harassing Bangladeshi people in India.
Syed Ehsanul Huda, chairman of the Bangladesh Jatiya Dal, and the coordinator of the 12-party alliance, said that the Boycott India movement was ongoing and would continue.
‘We have seen patriotic people across the world protesting against aggression, but in our country, the subservient government of Delhi has taken away the right of people to speak,’ he said.
He also urged the people of the country to boycott Indian products.
Rashed Pradhan, senior vice-president of the Jatiya Democratic Party, said that the police do not want anyone to hold any democratic movement in Bangladesh. ‘Bangladesh Police is under the control of Sheikh Hasina, while she is under the control of Delhi,’ he said.
Amid allegations of Indian interference in the national elections held on January 7, several opposition parties in Bangladesh joined the ‘India Out’ campaign and boycotted Indian goods in Bangladesh.
The campaign, labelled ‘India Out,’ is mainly being driven on social media, and the hashtags #IndiaOut, #BoycottIndia and #BoycottIndianProducts have been trending on Facebook for the past few weeks.
Soon after the campaign was launched, drops in sales of Indian products were seen at shops in Bangladesh, claimed the India Out campaigners.
