Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina alleged, on Friday, that the main opposition leader and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia herself was engaged in spreading propaganda to mislead people against the ruling party. Addressing a view-exchange meeting with the party’s grassroots-level leaders from five districts at her official residence ‘Ganobhaban’, the premier called upon her leaders and workers to stay alert so that the BNP-Jamaat alliance could not be able to mislead the common people with their “blatant lies”.
“The opposition chief has only one quality, which is to tell a lie. She is spreading falsehoods saying that the AL-led government killed thousands of alems (Islamic scholars) during the Hefajat rally at Shapla square on May 6. Before the 1996 election, the BNP
chief had made the same kind of propaganda saying that if the AL went to power, there would be no one in the country to deliver azan,” Hasina said.
She alleged that BNP-Jamaat and Hefazat men had unleashed massive vandalism on May 5 and 6 in the name of holding a rally in the city’s Shapla Chattar area.
“They burnt thousands of copies of the holy Quran on that day. Those who burn the holy Quran can’t save Islam,” she said.
Expressing her firm optimism that the people of the country would cast their votes in favour of AL in the upcoming general election, the PM said that people knew it well that the country would progress only if AL came to power.
“If the people want to live in peace, they should cast their votes for AL, but if they do not want peace, we have nothing to do, it is up to them,” she noted.
On the contrary, the people of the country would be deprived of all sorts of development if BNP came to power, she added. She alleged that BNP-Jamaat had been conspiring to stop the trial of the war criminals. Hasina also accused BNP founder late
president Ziaur Rahman of stopping the trial of war criminals that had started by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
She also alleged that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia handed over the national flag to the war criminals by inviting them into national politics.
As part of a series of meetings, the AL president exchanged views with presidents and general secretaries of Comilla South and North districts, Chittagong city, South and North districts, Rangpur city and district, and the Pabna district unit of the party and their thana, upazila and grade-I municipal units. The ruling party initiated a series of view-exchange meetings between its chief and grassroots leaders on September 4, which would continue till October 12. AL presidium members Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Kazi Zafarullah, Nooh-ul-Alam Lenin, Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Satish Chandra Roy, joint secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, publicity and publication secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud and food minister Dr Abdur Razzaque were present on the occasion.
Hasina said that Bangladesh had been recognised as a role model, despite global economic recession, on the world stage on account of the massive development work that took place in the last four and a half years during the tenure of the present government.
She said that under AL rule, the rate of literacy had increased, new roads and bridges were constructed, students were given free textbooks, healthcare facilities had reached the doorsteps of the people, and salary of workers and government employees enhanced.
“Those who create, sacrifice and suffer have more affection and sympathy for the people. But those who have no roots have no love and attachment to the people and the nation,” she said.
Referring to the criticism that the Constitution was amended in a hurry, the PM said that it was amended following a long process of consultation and experts from different sectors were invited to give their opinion on the amendment.
“The consultation went on for one long year. The amendment is a historic event,” she said. She mentioned that it was the AL that took a number of steps for the welfare of Islam in the country. The first AL government led by Bangabandhu took a lot of steps for the development of mosques in the country including the Baitul Mokarram.
Besides, the current place for holding the Biswa ijtema was allocated by the Bangabandhu government, she mentioned.
She also alleged that when AL came to power people got something, but when BNP came to power, they experienced a reign of terror, corruption and plundering.
During the late BNP government, a government within the government was established by creating the Hawa Bhaban, she added.
-With The Independent input
