Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and opposition chief whip, said Mamunul Haque had been prevented from entering Parliament through a conspiracy.
“But it is not possible to stop him on the streets. We are in Parliament to speak about implementing the July Charter and the referendum, while Mamunul Haque and Nasiruddin Patwary are on the streets. If necessary, the streets and Parliament will become one,” he said.
He made the remarks as a special guest at a mass rally organized by Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital on Friday, demanding implementation of the referendum verdict.
Saying that people in the country were struggling, the NCP convener added: “We are still speaking with restraint. People in the country are not well. Due to rising prices of commodities, a fuel crisis and a measles outbreak, the opposition is trying to play a responsible role. We have tried to cooperate with the government. We did not want to politicize these issues. But the government is repeatedly breaking its promises.”
He said people would not tolerate authoritarianism: “The government is politicizing universities and institutions, unleashing thugs and trying to control the judiciary. But the people of Bangladesh will not tolerate those seeking to sustain this emerging authoritarianism and the old system.”
Warning of consequences if the referendum verdict is rejected, he said: “We will continue our struggle until the government accepts the result. If it rejects the public verdict using majority power, a two-thirds majority and force, its fate will be similar to that of past authoritarian regimes.”
At the rally, opposition leader and Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Dr Shafiqur Rahman, Ameer of Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis Mamunul Haque, and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chairman Colonel (Retd) Oli Ahmed, along with other senior leaders of the eleven-party alliance, were present.