National Citizen Party (NCP) convener and opposition chief whip Nahid Islam has said the government is reverting to the old authoritarian style of governance, alleging that BNP leader Tarique Rahman has no real plan for running the country.
Nahid made the remarks at an emergency press conference held at the party's makeshift central office in Bangla Motor, in the capital, on Monday afternoon.
The press conference was organized by the NCP's Policy and Research Sub-Committee to highlight what the party described as the "failures" of the BNP-led government's first 180 days in office.
He said the past 180 days of the government have painted a picture of mismanagement, adding that the administration is steering the country toward ruin "in a fascistic manner" through widespread plunder and partisan appointments across state institutions.
He warned that the divisional long march under the 11-party alliance would deliver a stern message to the government.
At the event, the NCP released a booklet titled "From the Promise of Change Back to Old Politics: Mismanagement, Inefficiency, Lack of Planning."
The booklet states that at its first cabinet meeting on February 17, immediately after assuming power, the government had set three priorities for its first 180 days: keeping commodity prices under control, improving the law-and-order situation, and ensuring a steady supply of electricity and energy.
Six months on, the NCP argues that data and ground realities show the government has failed dismally on all three fronts. Factories are shutting down amid the energy crisis and workers are losing their jobs, the booklet claims, while farmers are being forced to buy fertiliser at inflated prices.
The unprecedented crisis in fuel oil, gas and electricity has severely disrupted industrial production, agriculture and everyday life, the booklet says, pointing to rising prices of essential goods.
It further alleges that banking-sector defaulters are making a comeback, old syndicates have become active again in the consumer-goods and import markets, and that BNP has emerged as a new partner within these syndicates.
The NCP contends that five months of inactivity at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the resurgence of loan defaulters and market syndicates are linked.
On the institutional front, the booklet alleges that reforms left behind by the interim government, including the Human Rights Commission, the anti-enforced-disappearance law, and the Supreme Court Secretariat, have been dismantled one by one and replaced with weaker, less effective legislation.
It also claims that the widely publicised 31-point charter and the party's own election manifesto have been discarded, giving way to blatant partisan appointments and nepotism within state institutions.
The document further states that there has been no visible progress in the trials over the July mass killings, and that justice for victims, along with treatment and rehabilitation for martyrs' families and the injured, is absent from the government's stated priorities.
According to the booklet, attacks and legal cases filed by ruling-party activists against opposition figures and journalists have continued to rise, with even administration officials facing harassment.
In most such cases, it alleges, victims of attacks rather than the attackers are the ones facing legal harassment, while the police force is once again being turned into a partisan force.
The NCP also accused the government of violating its electoral pledges and the July Charter by failing to have the Constitution Reform Council take its oath. Overall, the booklet concludes, the BNP government's 180 days have become emblematic of inefficiency, mismanagement, lack of foresight, and dishonesty.
"Government has completely failed," says Nahid
Speaking at the press conference, Nahid Islam said the energy sector has been devastated over the government's 180 days in power.
Despite pledges to dismantle syndicates, he alleged, the government has instead strengthened partisan syndicates of its own.
He claimed the government promised to disband the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) but is now reportedly planning to retain it under a different name.
He further alleged that partisan administrators have been installed in city corporations and district councils, and that a form of disorder now prevails across sectors, including a deteriorating law-and-order situation, though he said the opposition continues, from its position, to point out the government's mistakes.
"We are continuously showing the people where the government is going wrong and where it is breaking its promises, and we are doing this at the policy level," Nahid said. "We will show this to the people, and we will politically resist it if the government continues down this path."
He said the booklet released to mark the government's 180 days was deliberately titled to reflect how the administration is reverting to the same fascistic, authoritarian structure it once claimed to be dismantling. "These 180 days have proven that Tarique Rahman has no plan whatsoever to run the country," Nahid said. "He has simply taken power and is running the country according to the same old fascist policies and plans. He is driving the country toward destruction."
He added that the 11-party alliance had, at a meeting the previous day, announced plans for a long march across five to six divisions, to be followed by a mass rally in Dhaka. "Through that rally, we will deliver a strong message to the government. If further movement is needed after that, we will announce it," he said.
Nahid Islam said the government had been given six months to work, yet Bangladesh's Constitution has still not been amended or reformed, and the plan to further empower the opposition under the July Charter has not been implemented. As a result, he said, the opposition remains weak in parliament and is often not given the opportunity to speak.
He said that if the government feels it lacks an adequate plan, it should seek policy support from the opposition, noting that his party has offered such support on various occasions in the past.
"We can say that BNP functioned as a failed opposition party in Bangladesh for the last 16 years," he said.
Responding to a question, Nahid alleged that instead of dismantling old syndicates, new partnerships have formed in their place, that institutions are being subjected to partisan appointments, and that regulatory bodies are being weakened through inadequate legislation.
He said the democratic and political environment is shrinking, with rising attacks and harassment against opposition figures, journalists and administrative officials, with little to no action taken against the perpetrators in most cases.
He added that the aspirations of the July uprising, including justice for the mass killings and treatment for the injured, remain absent from the government's list of priorities. He said his party had wanted an accountable state structure, but oversight bodies such as the ACC, the Human Rights Commission and the Ombudsman remain ineffective, and that multiple points of the widely publicised one-point election demand have been abandoned within these six months, with the government itself violating its own commitments.
"In these 180 days, we believe the government has completely failed," Nahid said, attributing the failure to a lack of planning, corruption and mismanagement. He pointed to the recent cabinet reshuffle as evidence, noting that a government which once claimed to have a clear plan is now seeking policy suggestions from the opposition, while ministers and state ministers are being reshuffled. "At this rate, at some point there may even be a need to change the prime minister," he said.
He anticipated that BNP would argue six months was sufficient time to judge the government's performance. "But the interim government wasn't even given three months," he said. "And even if six months isn't an entirely fair yardstick, they shouldn't be claiming success the way they are. They should be apologising for the gas and electricity crisis that people across the country are suffering through, for the factories shutting down. They promised economic management and reform of the administration and law and order, but they have failed to deliver on any of it. After another six months, this government will no longer be able to blame the interim government or the Awami League government for its failures; that excuse will no longer be acceptable to the public."
Also present at the press conference were NCP political council member Saleh Uddin Sifat, joint convener Advocate Tariqul Islam, and other senior party leaders.