BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday urged his party’s rank and file to continue the movement against the government’s “trap” ahead of the next general election.
“The government has set up a trap by planning to hold the polls under a partisan management. But we have to be careful against this. We have been pushed to the wall. We will have to remain on the streets with a fresh vow to fight and defeat the government,” he added.
Alamgir was addressing a function to mark the 6th jail release day of BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman. It was organised by Jatiyatabadi Sechhasebak Dal at the Diploma Engineers’ Institute here.
“Earlier, Premier Sheikh Hasina had said in London that the present Parliament would be dissolved during the general election and there will be a small cabinet to run the administration. She had said BNP would also be allowed to participate in the cabinet. But the Premier has now strayed from her stance,” Alamgir said.
“Ouster of the government from power is only a solution for the nation and we will have to ensure this through movement on the streets,” Alamgir said.
The BNP leader claimed that the Awami League was aware of an inevitable debacle in the next general election. Now, the government was plotting to prevent the setback by holding the polls under its own management.
“If the election is held under this way, all votes will be counted under the Awami League’s Boat symbol, no matter who ever you vote for,” he alleged.
“There is very little time. We have to be organised and united to unseat the government through a movement,” he added.
The opposition spokesman said BNP did not want power by waging a movement on the streets, but by ensuring the people’s fundamental right to vote freely.
The government has brought in the Constitution’s 15th amendment on its own whim to re-establish the ruling party’s previous one-party BKSAL role in the garb of democracy, Alamgir alleged. “Opposition men are being repressed and kidnapped by government agencies without any justification,” he added.
He said there was no parallel to the Awami League’s politics of vengeance in the whole world. BNP leaders Meer Sarafat Ali Safu, Monir Hossain, Rejaur Rahman Ripon, Yesin Ali and others spoke at the function with Habibunnabi Khan Sohel, president of the front body, in the chair.
In a separate meeting, BNP standing committee member Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said Sheikh Hasina’s “desperation” to hang on to power was the main obstacle to a consensus over a poll-time caretaker government. “The Premier is planning to hold a stage-managed election by keeping BNP away from the poll process,” he alleged. “The only option open to us is to wage a tough movement in the country to foil the government’s plot,” he added.
Hossain was addressing a meeting on the “Necessity of CG system and cancellation of registration of a political party” organised by Sushil Forum at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
BNP leaders Abdus Salam Azad and others spoke at the programme with Zahid Hossain, president of the forum, in the chair. In another programme, BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy called upon his party men not to spare any “dubious leader”. He alleged that a vested-interest group within the party was conspiring to participate in the election by side lining party chief Khaleda Zia.
Goyeshwar was addressing a meeting organised by Tarique Rahman Parishad at National Press Club.
“From where is the Premier getting the courage to hold polls under her own management without dissolving Parliament? Definitely, there are some forces that have encouraged her to make her mission a success,” he said.
Goyeshwar claimed that the government was trying to influence Jamaat-e-Islami to participate in the next general election by severing ties with BNP.
-With The Independent input
