A senior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday urged the interim government to stop being ‘partial’ and hold the next national election soon.
Party leaders also said that if the July Charter or National Charter was not formulated within the month of July, the Reform Commissions, the National Consensus Commission, and the interim government would be held responsible.
‘We would like to tell this government: please stop the biased behavior. You have one party on your lap while another on your shoulder,’ said BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office before starting a silent procession in memory of the martyrs of the 2024 July mass uprising.
Urging the interim government to hold the national election quickly, Mirza Abbas said, ‘You should hold an election as soon as possible. If you do, the current unrest in the country will go away. But if you don’t, we will believe that you yourselves are responsible for creating this unrest.’
The Dhaka South City unit of BNP organised the event of silent procession and prayer as part of its 36-day programme marking the first anniversary of the uprising.
The silent procession, with the participation of a huge number of BNP and its wing organizations leaders and activists, started from Naya Paltan and ended in front of Abul Hotel in Rampura area via Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh, Mouchak of the capital.
Mentioning that around 422 BNP and Chhatra Dal members were martyred during the July uprising, Abbas said that it was clear that some specific parties were politicising those incidents and trying to gain political recognition by exploiting them.
He also remarked that the martyrs did not support any particular party.
Targeting different political parties, he said, ‘The BNP is not desperate for power. The party has been on the streets for 17 years fighting for democracy and voting rights.’
Another BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed in another programme said that if the July Charter or National Charter was not produced within the month of July, the Reform Commission, the National Consensus Commission, and the interim government would be held responsible.
He made these remarks on Friday afternoon before another silent procession organised by the Dhaka North City unit BNP at the capital’s Pallabi in memory of those martyred in the 2024 mass uprising.
Salauddin said, ‘There has been a continuous attempt to blame the BNP for everything. They say reforms are not happening because of the BNP, but the reality is that the BNP is coming forward to build consensus.’
‘Today is July 18. If the July Charter or National Charter is not formulated within this month, the reform commissions, consensus commission, and the interim government will be held accountable,’ he said.
Salahuddin also said that those trying to create confusion and delay or derail the national election are the ones pushing for local government elections before the national polls while those who advocate for elections under the proportional representation system have ill intentions.
He further said, ‘Those who have fanned the Awami League with hand fans for the past 16 years now claim that they won’t participate in any election unless it’s under the PR system.’
‘They have now teamed up with another party, which has always practiced misleading politics in Bangladesh and once they were against independence, once went against the people, and at another time, acted against public sentiment. They are now trying to fish in troubled waters.’
Without naming any party, Salahuddin also said, ‘Those who are delaying elections, making it uncertain, and seeking to stay in power without an election — or are plotting to fish in troubled waters — their goal is to rehabilitee the collaborators of the fascist.’
Noting that attempts are under way to cause divisions among democratic forces, he further said, ‘We observe that those forces who had once united in an anti-fascist democratic movement are now being targeted with various conspiracies to divide them. So, we must remain alert.’
