Apparently angered by the comment of Finance Minister AMA Muhith who at a post-budget press conference termed JaPa not a serious opposition, HM Ershad’s party toughened its criticism of the Awami League government yesterday as its MP Kazi Feroz Rashid came down hard on several ministers and the chief whip.
The JaPa comes under question from different quarters for its dual role of opposition and part of the ruling coalition since the BNP-Jamaat boycotted the January 5 polls.
Opposing some ministries’ additional grants for the ongoing 2013-14 fiscal year, the JaPa presidium member said his party would play the role of opposition the people had seen over the last 43 years and started castigating AMA Muhith, ASM Feroz, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir and some ministries seeking additional grants.
On Sunday, Peer Fazlur Rahman, another JaPa MP, told the Jatiya Sangsad that a minister branded the opposition in the “tone of the BNP-Jamaat”, becoming the first JaPa lawmaker of the six-month-old 10th parliament to make harsh criticism of the government.
Chief whip ASM Feroz became the first target of Kazi Feroz Rashid. Quoting newspaper reports, he alleged that the chief whip’s occupation of five houses was unfair, if true.
“The chief whip delivered a long speech yesterday, but he did not deny that he was not using so many houses. Bangladesh is a poor country and the people’s money should not be misused in such way.
You cannot open your shrine everywhere and the people will light candles,” said Kazi Feroz.
Opposing the additional grant of around Tk475 crore sought by the Textiles and Jute Ministry, the JaPa MP said the outgoing minister (Abdul Latif Siddiqui) had sold valuable land of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation.
“So, why demand additional grants? The minister has given a Motijheel land to the Chittagong association. But our Gopalganj association has no land.”
“The minister has written (in the official note in favour of giving the land) that he gave the land to the association as he had married a Chittagong girl.”
He said: “In our Gopalganj, there are numerous canals and water bodies full of paani (water). We could have had a plot if the minister drank a little bit of water from the canals.”
Kazi Feroz raised the issue of misappropriation of public money in the banking sector and said the finance minister could not shrug off his responsibility for the banking scandals such as Hall-Mark, Bismillah Group, BASIC Bank, resulting in thousands of crores of taka.
Referring to the home ministry’s additional demand for Tk1,441 crore, Kazi Feroz Rashid said a former home minister, who has a doctorate, had asked a deputy commissioner to issue a licence for a revolver to a killer who is charged with 12 murder cases and serving a jail term of more than 10 years.
On the performance of the Religious Affairs Ministry, which sought an additional allocation of around Tk34 crore, Kazi Feroz said the ministry had done nothing good other than sending people for Hajj.
“Even the peons of the ministry have gone on pilgrimage four to five times. Even their relatives go on pilgrimage with government sponsorship. This must be stopped,” he said.
Criticising the Environment Ministry, Kazi Feroz said, “There is no forest, no environment as the forests are being destroyed.”
Nurul Islam Milon, another JaPa MP, referred the name of Finance Minister AMA Muhith for his comment on the Jatiya Party’s role as opposition, opposing additional grants from different ministries.
While delivering his speech on the supplementary budget, Muhith thanked Kazi Feroz Rashid for his very important speech.`
JaPa MPs Shawkat Chowdhury and Fakhrul Imam also delivered their speech criticising the government.
