Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Saturday cautioned India against what he described as playing the “Hasina card” while claiming to seek friendly relations with Bangladesh, saying the two positions could not coexist.
“On the one hand, you say you want friendship with Bangladesh, and on the other, you play the Hasina card. These two things cannot go together,” Ahmed said.
He was speaking at a discussion titled “Teachers’ Role in the Fall of the Fascist Government” at Dhaka University’s Senate Bhaban, organized by Sada Dal, the BNP-backed teachers’ platform at the university, and the University Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh (UTAB).
The home minister referred to the United Nations’ findings on the July-August 2024 crackdown, saying more than 1,400 people were killed during the violence.
He also said the 2024 mass uprising was not, strictly speaking, a “revolution,” but a democratic movement led by the Students Against Discrimination platform to reclaim political and constitutional rights that had been stripped away under the previous Awami League government.
“A genuine revolution requires structural changes to the social and economic system,” he said, adding that this was not what Bangladeshis had fought for.
According to Salahuddin, people took to the streets demanding the restoration of their voting rights and democratic and constitutional freedoms.
He said the movement’s objective was therefore to restore those rights rather than bring about a revolutionary overhaul of the state.
The minister also outlined several constitutional reforms that he said the BNP would pursue, including limiting a prime minister’s tenure to 10 years, introducing direct election of the president by members of parliament, and establishing checks and balances between an upper and lower house of parliament.
Also speaking at the event, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the prime minister’s adviser on political affairs, questioned how former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in India, was able to address a press conference in Delhi without government clearance.
He contrasted this with the treatment of Lord Carlile, a British lawyer who had sought to visit Dhaka in connection with the legal case involving Khaleda Zia.
Rizvi also referred to a recent art exhibition held at the residence of the Jamaat-e-Islami ameer, saying it did not include any image or reference to the person who declared Bangladesh’s independence.
Professor Morshed Hasan Khan, convener of Sada Dal, presided over the session, while its member secretary, Professor Mohammad Mohiuddin, moderated it.
Teachers from 26 public universities across the country attended the programme.