BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday said the movement that her party was going to lodge after the upazila parishad polls would not be “unsuccessful.”
In her first public address outside Dhaka since the January 5 parliamentary election, Khaleda Zia told a rally in Rajbari that the BNP-led 19-party alliance was first going to consolidate organisationally and lodge a movement for toppling the government after the upazila polls.
“This time the movement will not be unsuccessful,” the former opposition leader said.
The BNP and its allies vowed to resist the January 5 national election which they boycotted. However, BNP’s arch rival Awami League eventually managed to stage the election and formed the government for the second time in a row.
This the first time since 2008 that Khaleda Zia has come to Rajbari. She came to the district last time for electioneering for the 2008 national poll.
Local ranks of the BNP generally make extravagant decorative arrangements on the highways that Khaleda Zia travel along before going to address such rallies at the district level. However, yesterday’s arrangement was nowhere near extravagant. Very few usual archways were visible on the roads.
During her address at the Railway ground in Rajbari town, she also alleged that a total of 304 people were killed and at least 65 abducted in three months from October to January.
On January 15, she alleged that more than 300 people were killed in one month centring the national election.
The BNP chief also claimed that a total of 32,000 cases had been filed against the leaders and activists of the 19-party alliance and law enforcers had been involved in “arrest and repression business.”
Regarding the joint force’s drive, Khaleda said: “They [the joint forces] cannot be termed patriotic people of the country.”
During yesterday’s addressed, Khaleda vowed that none would be allowed to use Bangladesh’s soil to carry out terrorist activities.
“There is no place for militancy in the country. There is no place al-Qaeda in Bangladesh,” she affirmed.
Khaleda also said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would have to take the blame for the snatching of three detained JMB operatives from a prison van because she was in charge of the home ministry then.
“You [the government] can tap our phone calls. Why did not you do it when the militants talked over phones in the jail?” she questioned.
In a cinematic operation on February 23, suspected JMB men killed a policeman and snatched three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh. Two of those snatched JMB leaders were death row convicts. One of them was arrested a few hours after the incident but was killed in an alleged gunfight in Tangail the next day.
In her 45-minute address in Rajbari yesterday, Khaleda branded the parliament “inactive,” saying people’s money was being wasted because there was no effective opposition in the House.
The BNP chief holds the record for remaining the highest number of days absent in parliament as the opposition leader.
She also alleged that the government, after having failed to drum up foreign support in favour of the January 5 election, started attacking the religious minority communities.
“Neither Muslims, nor Buddhists nor Christians nor the Hindus are safe in the hands of the Awami League government,” she said.
Khaleda also slammed the government for the price hike of electricity and agricultural inputs.
“A few days ago, we saw reports of potato cultivators demonstrating by smashing potatoes in the street because they did not get fair price. But the government did not pay any heed. Instead, it remained busy with its projects,” she said.
Lambasting the government for politicising the administration, the former premier said: “The quota system will be reduced… Merit and competence will get priority for making the administration active.”
