Top leaders of the Jatiya Oikya Front and civil society members on Saturday called for unity of all parties to wage a massive movement against the ruling Awami League after Eid for fresh election.
Forgetting divisions and differences of opinions among the parties under the Jatiya Oikya Front and the like-mined parties, leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Gono Forum, a faction of Jatiya Samjtantrik Dal and Krishak Sramik Janata League at an ifter party organised by the Nagorik Oikya urged all the like-minded parties to prepare for starting a mass movement across the country.
In the iftar party at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium, they said that the incumbent government had captured the power through massive rigging in the December 30 national elections with the help of the police and civil administrations and it was now behaving like a dictator.
The government had no interest in protecting the rights of the people and it was involved in massive corruption in the name of mega development projects, they said.
In the interest of the people and the country, they said, a large-scale protest must be launched immediately after Eid against the anti-people government for fresh general elections.
Some speakers, in presence of BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Gono Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain, criticised their parties for giving legitimacy to the government by allowing their MP-elects to take oath in the Jatiya Sangsad.
‘I proposed to call a strike immediately after the election. But it did not happen. Time has come now for forgetting the past and for moving forward. Let us organise a collective movement against the autocratic ruler,’ said Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, who chaired the iftar party discussion.
‘Yesterday [Friday] Mirza Fakhrul was talking about the poor health condition of convicted BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. Why not call a strike demanding her release after Eid?’ Manna said.
‘Strike can also be called on various other public interest issues,’ he added.
Kamal Hossain, Mirza Fakhrul, JSD general secretary Abdul Malek Ratan, Gono Shasthya founder Zafrullah Chowdhury, Krishak Sramik Janata League general secretary Habibur Rahman Talukdar, Gono Forum executive president Subrata Chowdhury and others agreed to his proposal nodding their heads on the dais.
Earlier, Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul and Jahangirnagar University’s retired government and politics professor Dilara Chowdhury berated the JOF failure to capitalise the public sentiment of not being able to cast their votes in the elections.
‘I was surprised to hear Mirza Fakhrul say the election was fair on the polls day when all of us were informed about the government’s plan for massive rigging,’ said Asif.
‘I was even more surprised when I saw no reaction from the JOF leaders after such a bad type of election. . . No strike was called, no movement was launched in the past months though murders, rapes and corruption have turned to be daily affairs,’ he said further.
‘I don’t understand why and how the BNP and Gono Forum have allowed their MP-elects to take oath,’ Dilara said.
Seeing our activities in the past few months, Habibur Rahman said, people were in doubt whether the opposition leaders really cared about them.
BNP chairperson’s advisor Abdus Salam said that not calling strike in the past months did not mean that it could not be called anymore.
‘We have to prepare for waging effective movements including strikes,’ Salam said.
Dr Zafrullah spoke for holding movements every day in different districts after Eid with presence of top political leaders of different parties.
Capitalising on contemporary issues like continued rapes of women, oppressions on the farmers and workers, corruption of AL leaders and government officials, Subrata Chowdhury, Ratan and other speakers called for unity of the like-minded political parties for massive movements.
In his brief speech, Mirza Fakhrul said, ‘We have to take decisions considering the changes in the global political situation.’
Dr Kamal called for upholding the rights of the people, the rule law and the constitution of the country at any cost.
