There have been a lot of speculation yesterday on why the BNP and its partners had backtracked after having announced that they would hold a rally at Gazipur “at any cost.”
Considering how things have been unfolding, the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s countrywide hartal for Monday and leaving today free on the back of yesterday’s local shutdown in Gazipur, also comes as a bit of a surprise.
Insiders said the party does not want to cause any trouble for the visiting Chinese foreign minister who is scheduled to meet BNP chief Khaleda Zia on Sunday; that is why they called the hartal a day later.
Insiders also said the party did not want to waste any manpower before their “special plan” for January 3 and 5; hence the backtracking from Gazipur.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP acting secretary general and alliance spokesperson, made the hartal announcement after a secretary-general-level meeting at the BNP chief’s Gulshan office yesterday.
Seeking anonymity, a senior BNP leader told the Dhaka Tribune: “If Madam [Khaleda] went to Gazipur today [Saturday], then many leaders would have been arrested and many others would have been forced to go underground. So, the party [that has big plans for January 3 and 5] does not want to take any risk right now.”
The leader also said: “BNP’s organisational strength in Gazipur is not very good. That is why the party backtracked from its decision to hold the rally in Gazipur at any cost.”
During a meeting between senior party leaders and Khaleda Zia on Friday night, standing committee member Moudud Ahmad reportedly said gathering thousands of leaders and activists in Gazipur would not bring any result.
“It is the Gazipur district BNP who has to do everything. We have to think whether Gazipur BNP is ready for that or not,” a senior leader who attended that meeting, quoted Moudud as saying.
Moudud also advised that they should concentrate on the January 5 programme because Gazipur was only going to hurt. “Then came the decision to not move all-out into Gazipur and instead enforce a hartal there on Saturday,” the meeting source said.
Another senior leader said the party and its partners may also enforce non-stop 72-hour hartal starting January 5. “We have decided to hold a rally on January 5 even if there is section 144,” he said.
After announcing the Monday hartal, Mirza Fakhrul yesterday alleged the local administration had adopted double standards in Gazipur.
“Although section 144 was imposed, ruling party men were allowed to bring out processions in the area, thanks to the local administration,” Fakhrul said.
Gazipur authorities imposed section 144 at the playground of a local college for an indefinite period starting Friday 2pm, banning all kinds of gatherings, after BNP and ruling Awami League’s student front Chhatra League announced separate rallies at the same venue for Saturday.
Yesterday, the BNP enforced a general shutdown in the district protesting what they said was a plan to foil their rally.
After a year of relative peace, the country’s political arena showed signs of heating up when the BNP and Chhatra League men clashed in Old Dhaka centring Khaleda Zia’s court appearance in a graft case.