Nation disappointed, annoyed at PM’s speech: Fakhrul

Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said that the nation was disappointed and annoyed at prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Tuesday’s address to the nation that coincided with the first anniversary of her government’s third term in power.

The BNP secretary general made the remarks at the National Press Club in Dhaka as a group of reporters sought his reaction to the prime minister’s address.

‘Economic crisis is the  main crisis in Bangladesh’s politics. It is totally political crisis. An unelected government had grabbed the state power. No election was held on December 30, 2018, votes were robbed on the night of December 29, 2018,’ he said.

‘Considering these, the nation had an expectation that her speech would show a path to overcome the crisis. The nation expected that she would say or indicate holding of a new election under a neutral government and a neutral election commission scrapping the election results or indicate holding dialogue. But she did none of these. She showed no path to resolve the crisis,’ he said.

He said that the prime minister did not mention Ziaur Rahman’s contribution including developing the country’s economy through open market, increasing export, developing garments sector and earning remittance, bringing back multi-party politics, ensuring people’s basic rights and democracy through political reforms.

Mentioning that the prime minister had blamed the BNP for violence, Fakhrul said, ‘She forgot that they enforced hartal for 173 days demanding caretaker government and 11 people were burnt to death by torching a bus and many others were killed during that movement.’

He alleged that the prime minister did not mention that they were committing murders, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and harassing the opposition activists by lodging fictitious cases.

On the prime minister’s appeal to people to keep faith in her government, Fakhrul wanted to know how people would keep faith in them when the country’s economy is on a downward trend and the banking sector is on the brink of collapse.

Fakhrul said that people’s real income had decreased while prices of essential commodities had gone up and up and common people’s lives had become unbearable.

‘In such situation,’ he said, ‘the government has created a myth of “role model of development”. Actually it is a role model of corruption, a role model of misrule.’

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net