In line with its movement against the January 7 general election and its demand for the resignation of the government, the BNP will bring out processions while continuing to distribute leaflets and carry out mass campaigns against the polls across the country on Friday.
At the same time, the party will enforce a nationwide hartal spanning 48 hours from 6am Saturday.
The second day of the hartal coincides with the much-talked-about election which has already garnered global attention.
BNP Joint Senior Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the programs on Thursday afternoon in a virtual press briefing.
The BNP’s like-minded parties will observe the programs simultaneously.
The demands by the BNP include the resignation of the government, the release of its leaders and activists arrested since late October, and the unconditional release of party chief Khaleda Zia.
Soon after Rizvi’s announcement, the Liberal Democratic Party also said that it would go on a strike for 48 hours from 6am tomorrow.
It will be the fifth spell of hartals by the BNP and like-minded parties since October 29. The opposition parties enforced countrywide blockades for 23 days in 12 phases over the period.
The BNP came up with the call for a non-cooperation movement on December 20, which led to the continued mass campaigns and distribution of leaflets.
Along with nearly three dozen opposition political parties, the BNP has been carrying out a simultaneous movement since December 10, 2022 to force the current government to quit and for elections to be held under a non-party neutral administration.
However, the movement lost its momentum following clashes between its activists and law enforcers centring on the party’s grand rally on October 28 last year. Many senior leaders, including party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, were arrested while many others went into hiding in the face of a crackdown by the law enforcers.
Rizvi, too, is wanted by the police for campaigning against the election.
Earlier on Thursday, the BNP leader urged the people to boycott the “one-sided and dummy election as it will put the country into trouble.”
It will not be possible to stay in power by cheating the countrymen through such a fabricated election, he warned the government while distributing leaflets in the Uttara area of Dhaka.
Later in the day, leaders of the 12-party alliance marched in the capital’s Paltan area, where they circulated anti-polls leaflets too.
They also held a brief rally in front of the National Press Club.
In another development, BNP Standing Committee Member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, hinting at the Awami League, said: “A government can retain power by cheating the people.
“But the Awami League government will have to step down today or tomorrow,” he cautioned.
He was addressing a rally of the Bangladesh Sammilito Peshajibi Parishad, a pro-BNP organisation of professionals, near the press club.
The BNP leader claimed that 63 political parties, including the BNP, are boycotting the election as they believe in liberal, democratic and peaceful politics.
IAB, too, for boycotting polls
Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) on Thursday demanded that the president dissolve parliament and halt the election.
IAB leader Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim, well-known as Charmonai Pir, made the call at a press conference at the party’s Purana Paltan Office, urging people to boycott the election.