BNP senior leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy has alleged that the government is trying to keep the Rohingya issue alive just to make its political gain.
The BNP leader said this while speaking at a discussion arranged by Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Projonmo71 at the National Press Club, marking its 14th founding anniversary on Saturday.
"We must understand why the Rohingyas do not want to go back. There is a hearsay that the government wants to keep the crisis alive out of fear as they will not be able to use this issue as a political weapon if Rohingyas go back home," he said.
Gayeshwar, BNP standing committee member, said the government should not consider a serious problem like the Rohingya crisis as its own issue.
"It is a national crisis and a collective leadership is necessary to overcome the problem. We must create a national consensus with all parties to find a solution."
He also said there should have been strong efforts to win the support of influential countries and the UN to ensure the security of Rohingyas and their safe return to Myanmar.
The BNP leader urged the government to take steps for creating the national unity over the Rohingya problem and resolve it with united efforts.
Criticizing the ruling party leaders and ministers for blaming BNP for the Rohingya crisis, Gayeshwar alleged that the government itself is instigating Rohingyas to create a trouble here.
"Our foreign minister has said those who are provoking Rohingyas will be dealt with an iron hand. It is a good stance, but the government itself is inciting the Rohingyas," he added.
"How did hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas hold a rally, if the government had no provocation? How did they take out processions when political parties do not get permission for such programs in Bangladesh? I think the government has a provocation to Rohingyas with an ill motive," the BNP leader said.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen warned of legal steps against those instigating Rohingyas not to go back to their homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
"We have learned that various NGOs are inciting [Rohingyas]. We're scrutinizing them," he said at a Doa Mahfil in Sylhet.
Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas and most of them entered the country since August 25, 2017.
The two countries signed a repatriation deal on November 23, 2017, but there has been little progress.
About Krishak Sramik Janata League President Abdul Kader Siddiqui's comment that he quit Jatiya Oikya Front as he did not join it to make, Tarique Rahman, BNP acting chairman, a leader, Gayeshwar said: "Tarique became a leader even one and a half decades before the formation of the Dr Kamal Hossain-led alliance.
"Kader joined Oikya Front considering his political gains and left it as his interests were not secured. It is not an unusual case," the BNP leader added.