Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Tuesday sharply criticized the “July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order, 2025,” describing it as an “endless document of deception” and a “national fraud.”
Speaking in Parliament during a scheduled discussion initiated by the Leader of the Opposition, the minister asserted that the directive lacks legal validity. “This order has no legal basis and has been illegal from the very beginning,” he said.
He also accused the interim government of failing to include the “notes of dissent” submitted by various political parties before presenting the document. “This is a continuous act of deception by the interim government,” he said. “Excluding dissenting opinions of political parties and presenting it to the nation amounts to a national deception.”
Salahuddin Ahmed raised legal objections to the recent presidential order, arguing that the authority to issue such directives had ceased after April 7, 1973. “After April 7, 1973, the President no longer had the power to issue such an order. So how was this order issued?” he questioned. He further asserted that an order invalid from its inception is, in legal terms, void ab initio, and therefore cannot be considered either an ordinance or a law.
Criticizing the structure of the referendum ballot, the minister said voters were compelled to respond to four separate questions with a simple “yes” or “no.” He argued that no law should be imposed on the public in such a manner.
Referring to the role of an interim administration, he added that a caretaker government lacks the jurisdiction to make decisions on fundamental national issues.
The home minister also criticized the Election Commission regarding the oath-taking of members of the Constitutional Reform Council, stating that there is no legal provision for administering oaths to members of a “non-existent body.” He further alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner exceeded his authority by sending the oath form to Parliament, thereby violating his own constitutional oath to uphold the Constitution.
Clarifying the position of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Salahuddin Ahmed said, “There is a deliberate attempt to create confusion across the country that BNP does not want reforms or does not support the July National Charter. However, we uphold every letter, word, and sentence of the historically signed July National Charter. We want reforms based on political consensus, not on any illegal order.”
He also claimed that the people of the country had given BNP a mandate with 51 percent of the vote.
Presenting a proposal for restructuring the state framework, he said, I am placing a motion on behalf of the Leader of the House (Prime Minister) to form a special parliamentary committee comprising all political parties represented in Parliament, along with independent members.
He proposed that the committee will work through dialogue and consensus to draft a widely accepted constitutional amendment bill and present it before Parliament for adoption.