Ruling party lawmaker AKM Rahmatullah on Tuesday claimed in the House that there are some 30 MPs who are followers of Ahle Hadith, but they choose to not disclose it.
Ahle Hadith is a Sunni reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-19th century from the teachings of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, Syed Nazeer Husain and Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan.
Rahmatullah, the lawmaker for Dhaka-11, claimed to have 20 million votes – one-eighth of the population – in his “pockets” by way of those MPs, reports UNB.
"There are 20 million votes of Ahle Hadith followers all over Bangladesh."
He then proclaimed himself to be the chief adviser to the movement.
He also mentioned that Ahle Hadith followers wanted to make him their president and that he effectively has them on a string. "Whichever direction I will go, they will follow."
