Opposition leader and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman on Saturday accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of “clearly deceiving the nation” by opposing reforms needed for good governance and to give people the “true taste of independence.”
“On all the fundamental areas of the state where change is needed… BNP has been opposing every single issue. Through this, BNP is clearly deceiving the nation,” he said at a national rally of July fighters and martyrs’ families at Suhrawardy Udyan.
He said Jamaat and BNP were once “oppressed together,” but warned BNP against following the Awami League.
“You will not be able to become that Awami League even if you try a thousand times; at best you can become a weak Awami League… You have started doing exactly the same thing,” he said, referring to past mockery of the opposition.
He alleged the Awami League had established dominance through “patronized stick-wielding forces,” but none stood by it in difficult times.
The Jamaat ameer also criticized BNP’s stance on its own reform proposals. “BNP is opposing the 31-point program they themselves have given… I think they have probably even lost the sense that they are opposing it,” he said.
Addressing BNP, he said the party could not have “enjoyed power” without the sacrifices of the July movement.
“If this July had not happened… you would not have been able to enjoy power today,” he said, adding many expatriates would not have imagined returning without the “revolution.”
Quoting fellow inmate Allama Mamunul Haque, he claimed top BNP leaders in jail had expressed despair, saying it would not be possible to remove Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League from power before 2041.
He also recalled standing beside a senior BNP leader at the swearing-in of advisers at Bangabhaban after the 2024 uprising. The leader later described the ঘটনা as “a gift from God… a miracle,” he said.
Shafiqur Rahman alleged many have since forgotten that “gift,” while claims that a specific individual masterminded or led the movement are “false.”
He further accused BNP of moving toward fascism. “The day they denied the referendum verdict… BNP started its journey toward fascism. This is fascism,” he said.
Calling for a safer society, he said Jamaat wants a Bangladesh where no one fears going বাইরে, and where students carry “notebooks and pens,” not weapons.
Warning against violence, he said: “This culture must be stopped… July was not only in ’24. July comes every year. That July will return again. Then finally the grave of fascism will be written.”