Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson鈥檚 advisory council member Zainul Abedin Farroque on Friday called upon Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami to apologise to the nation for its past mistakes and take part in the next national elections.
鈥業 saw in a newspaper that they [Jamaat] said PR is not needed if people don鈥檛 want it. May Almighty Allah guide them on this holy Jumma Day. I urge them not to gradually change their political strategy, apologise to the people if there are mistakes in the past history, and join the election,鈥� he said.
Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader also said that Jamaat was making various demands to delay the election while at the same time preparing for the polls and seeking votes from the people by using religious sentiment.
鈥極n the one hand, they say they won鈥檛 join the election without PR or a referendum. On the other, they鈥檝e already declared 300 candidates and started campaigning from mosques, even going door to door telling people they will go to heaven if they vote for the election symbol Scale. These are not my words, these are the words of people in my constituency,鈥� he said.
Farroque, a former opposition chief whip in parliament, said that they were not concerned about Jamaat鈥檚 election campaign.
鈥業 told my people, don鈥檛 worry. Put your trust in Allah. The nation knows that the party of Shaheed Zia, Begum Khaleda Zia, and Tarique Rahman has never betrayed the people while in power.鈥�
He also said that no power on earth could defeat the people if the interim government ensured a fair election as BNP was truly the party of the masses in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Swadhinata Ghoshok Parishad arranged the discussion at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka with its president Sheikh Shamim Hasan Onik in the chair.
Farroque said that BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman made the July-August anti-discrimination student movement a success with the wholehearted support of the country鈥檚 18 crore people.
鈥楴ow, attempts are being made to create confusion over the national election under the Professor Yunus-led government by inventing various methods, tactics and debates such as PR and other issues. This is nothing but a ploy to thwart the election,鈥� he observed.
He also alleged that conspiracies were ongoing to derail the election and destabilise the country by Awami League leaders who were then staying in Delhi.
Farroque said that some people in Bangladesh were colluding with Awami League under Delhi鈥檚 provocation to foil the election under the interim government.
The BNP leader warned that the country鈥檚 people would resist any such conspiracy.
He said many attempts were made to erase the name of Ziaur Rahman during the 16 years of Awami League鈥檚 rule. 鈥楤ut they could not remove Shaheed Zia鈥檚 name from people鈥檚 hearts. You can break a picture by throwing stones at it, but you cannot erase a name from the heart.鈥�
