BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has heavily slated Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader for his comment that the party staged a sit-in in Dhaka illegally by obstructing traffic.
"Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader is a desperate liar. He said BNP held its program illegally. How did he speak such a brazen lie? What else can we call him except an unrestrained liar?" he said.
Rizvi, also a member of BNP’s highest policymaking body National Standing Committee, made the remark on Saturday while speaking at a press conference at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters.
Law enforcers swooped on and arrested the party’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s Dhaka North unit president Mizanur Rahman Raju and two BNP activists from the sit-in held in front of National Press Club in Dhaka on Thursday, demanding the release of its chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail.
As BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakfrul Islam Alamgir and other senior leaders tried to save Raju, the law enforcers chased them and foiled the program.
Rizvi said their party sought permission for the sit-in program from police and they had a copy of the letter. "Even, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner spoke to our secretary general about the permission."
The BNP leader said they had a plan to hold the program in front of their party's central office on Thursday. "As police requested us to hold it in front of the press club, we shifted it there."
Also Read - Police foil BNP sit-in
Mentioning that Quader was a Dhaka University student and a senior student leader when he was a first year student, Rizvi said what people and students will think about politicians if a senior leader like Awami League general secretary lies without any hesitation.
He alleged that the ruling party leaders used to resort to lies to hush up their misdeeds. "Awami League's politics is full of self-contradiction. They act exactly opposite to what they say."
The BNP leader voiced concern that their party's arrested leaders and activists are not getting bail from the lower court due to the government's interference.
"Our nearly 6,500 leaders and activists were arrested over the last one and a half months. The government has blocked bail for our arrested party men by establishing its control on the judiciary."
Rizvi strongly condemned the assault on women in the city by the 'ruling party' men on March 7.
Rizvi’s first procession in 40 days
For the first time in 40 days, BNP leader Rizvi on Saturday took part in a sudden procession brought out by party leaders and activists, protesting Thursday’s police attack on the sit-in.
Around 6:00am, about 10 BNP leaders and activists led by Rizvi brought out the procession on the road in front of their Nayapaltan office.