Any possible avenue of holding a dialogue with the BNP was shut down when the party demeaned the prime minister by turning her away from the doors of Khaleda Zia’s political office, several leaders of the 14-party alliance said yesterday.
The decision to not allow Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina into the Gulshan office – where she went to express condolences to the BNP chief for the loss of her son – also proved that the BNP did not want a political solution to the existing crisis, they said.
“BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has not only closed the door of dialogue, but also locked and sealed the door by demeaning and refusing to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” Awami League Advisory Council member Suranjit Sengupta told a discussion in the capital yesterday.
Expressing grave concern over the killings of innocent people by the BNP-Jamaat alliance in the name of movement, Suranjit also said: “Violence and peace cannot stay together. Likewise the patriots cannot compromise with enemies of the country. So, no dialogue will be held with the anti-state elements.”
He pointed out that Khaleda had made three mistakes in her political strategy: the first in 2013, when she refused Hasina’s proposal to sit in a dialogue for forming an election-time interim government; the second on January 5 last year when the BNP boycotted the 10th parliamentary election; and finally on Saturday, when she did not meet Hasina at her office.
On Saturday, the prime minister went to Khaleda’s Gulshan office to express condolence at the death of her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, 44, who died of cardiac arrest in Malaysia.
At the entrance, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Mahbubul Haque Shakil spoke to Khaleda’s Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas who reportedly told Shakil that Khaleda had been ill and kept asleep with sedative. None of the BNP leaders came to receive the premier, and Hasina finally had to turn back after not being allowed entry.
However, BNP Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed on Sunday admitted that they failed to show proper respect to the prime minister.
Meanwhile, at a separate event yesterday, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said: “Khaleda’s door to dialogue with the government as well as the 14-party alliance was finally closed [after Saturday’s event].
“I thought she [Khaleda] would change her indecent politics after the death of her son. But no change has come to her. Her approach with the prime minister was not proper political or social etiquette,” Menon told a programme organised by Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (Jasad) at the capital’s Bangabandhu Avenue.
In another programme, Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya slammed BNP leaders for not knowing how to respect or receive honour from others.
Spurning any possibility of talks with the BNP, Maya – also a central executive committee member of the Awami League – said: “No talks will be held with the BNP and they would have to wait until 2019 for the next 11th parliamentary election under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in accordance with the constitution. This is our final decision, and there is no chance to go back from here.”
Their comments came on the heels of similar remarks by other leaders of the ruling alliance.
At a programme by the 14-party alliance on Sunday, Workers Party General Secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha said: “Kick the dialogue that was sought by the BNP... The BNP has finally lost it. They have no ability to return, because the country’s people have denied them. So there will be no dialogue with the BNP, no election before 2019...This is final.”
Echoing Badsha, Food Minister Md Qamrul Islam said: “Kick the dialogue with the BNP; this is not only what the 14-party leaders are saying, but is also the voice of the country’s people.
“No talks with the BNP... We want to see what they can do. If they try to do excess, the country’s people will resist them and already the people have started resisting BNP-Jamaat violence and sabotage” Qamrul claimed.
Dilip Barua, president of alliance member Samyabadi Dal, also told the event that it was time to resist BNP-Jamaat and continue ahead under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Also on Sunday, lawmakers in both treasury and opposition benches voiced that the BNP had violated all political etiquettes by not allowing the prime minister to convey condolence to Khaleda Zia on Saturday.