BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said MPs from his party are ready to resign from the current Parliament as their main goal is to restore democracy by ousting the Awami League government.
“We would like to straightly say that no election will be held in the country under Sheikh Hasina and without a caretaker government. Our only demand is the resignation of this regime.” He told a massive rally in Rangpur.
The BNP leader also said the government must dissolve the Parliament and hand over power to a caretaker government.
“Our MPs Harun, Rumeen and Zahid are ready to resign (from Parliament) as per the directive of the party. The government must hand over power to a caretaker government which will form a new Election Commission and a fresh election will be held under it,” he said.
He added that a national government will be formed after a credible election to repair the state, economy and politics that have been destroyed by the current government.
As part of the party's planned rallies at the division level, the Rangpur city unit BNP organized the program on Rangpur Collector Eidgah ground.
Thousands of leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies joined the rally, defying a transport strike.
An adequate number of police and other security officials have been deployed around the rally venue and at different points in the city to prevent any untoward incident.
The organizers said the rally was meant to denounce the price hike of daily essentials and fuels, the death of five party men in previous police action in Bhola, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Jessore, and to ensure the freedom of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, reports UNB.
On Saturday, Fakhrul saluted the people of Rangpur for making the rally a success after enduring untold suffering and working hard for three days due to obstacles caused by a 36-hour transport strike.
Dhaka TribuneHe questioned why the government attempts to obstruct BNP's rallies and guns down opposition activists and attacks them if it is not afraid of BNP.
“A party and one person (Prime Minisyer Sheikh Hasina) has ruined the entire country and repressed and suppressed us for the last 15 years…They've chewed up the economy and destroyed it. They're now trying to eat up the entire Bangladesh,” Fakhrul said.
He said the resignation of the current government is their only demand as it has destroyed the nation's all achievements. "Wherever you look at, you'll see their theft. They're stealing from the construction work on roads and bridges and even from the construction work on building houses for our poor people. They're eating up everything, not sparing anything,” the BNP leader alleged.
BNP standing committee members Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Selima Rahman, and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, BNP vice chairman AZM Zahid Hossain, Joint Secretary General Harunur Rashid and Organising Secretary Asadul Habib Dulu, among others, spoke at the program.
Saturday's rally was the fourth one by the BNP at the divisional level as the first one was held in Chittagong the second one in Mymensingh and the third in Khulna.
To make the rally a success, BNP men from different districts, including Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, and Dinajpur, came to Rangpur in various ways including by trains, motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, and human haulers amid an allegation of using the transport owners and workers by Awami League to enforce the strike in the region.
But the ruling party in Rangpur has denied any involvement with the transport strike.
Rangpur District Motor Owners' Association has enforced the transport strike from 6am Friday to 6pm Saturday, demanding a ban on illegal vehicles, including three-wheelers, on the highway and an end to "administrative harassment.”
