BNP acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has warned party leaders and activists that no leniency will be shown to anyone engaging in unethical conduct under the party’s name. He made the remarks Monday after laying flowers and paying tribute at the graves of martyred President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia at Zia Uddyan in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, in the capital. As acting secretary general, he paid tribute at the graves alongside party leaders and activists.
Addressing party workers, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said: “There may be one or two people within the party engaged in unethical conduct. To them I would say: since August 5, you have seen how firmly our chairman has taken action against those who engaged in wrongdoing in the party’s name. So no one should engage in unethical activity — stay engaged in constructive work and strengthen the party, so that party leaders and activists can serve as true representatives of the people. That is the effort you should be making.”
He said: “Our duty is to run the party in a disciplined and coordinated way. I will try, and will continue to try, to ensure that the organizational activities directed by our chairman are carried out properly, organized well, and completed smoothly.”
Rizvi said the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has today taken the reins of state power with the support of the people, forming a government under the leadership of Tareque Rahman. He said every program the prime minister has announced is in the public interest, for human welfare and social protection, and includes steps toward infrastructural development, and that party leaders and activists should ensure these initiatives are carried out smoothly, keep the public informed of each step taken for their welfare, and stay closely connected with the people.
He added that if party leaders and activists stay connected with the people, no one would be able to act on any unethical impulse, since the prime minister has ensured accountability at every stage of the government’s work and every program being implemented.
Saying the BNP would do nothing outside the public interest, the party’s acting chairman said BNP is popular with the public today because of the work its founder, martyred President Ziaur Rahman, and party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia did for public welfare, including on women’s empowerment and the country’s economic development. He said their capable elder son, Tareque Rahman, is now carrying that work forward, along with new initiatives of his own that have proven highly popular with the public.
“Our party’s leaders and activists will support that work, present it to the public, and through that, the party’s popularity with the public will grow further,” he said.
On local government elections, Rizvi said local party leaders — at the union, upazila or district level — would thoroughly vet candidates and support whoever is most qualified to run in union parishad elections, since elections will no longer be held under party symbols. A party-backed candidate, he said, would certainly be elected.
Rizvi said that despite the amount of propaganda, conspiracy and intrigue against the party, surveys still show BNP’s popularity running high — around 54%, 55% or 56%, he said, with the prime minister’s personal popularity even higher, at 65% to 66%. “So if a government works for and in the interest of the people, that government will never fail — it will remain a government cherished by the people,” he said.
Also present were Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Abdus Salam, Water Resources Minister Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, Youth and Sports State Minister Aminul Haque, BNP joint secretaries general Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel and Abdus Salam Azad, Chhatra Dal President Rakibul Islam Rakib, and leaders and activists from BNP and its affiliated organizations.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report