Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and opposition chief whip, has said BNP has turned parliament into an ordinary parliament, a party parliament. “If they do not reform the structure of the state, whoever we put in place will become another Hasina,” he said.
He spoke at a press conference at a community centre in Kachari, Munshiganj town, at around 11am on Monday, ahead of a meeting held to review the party’s organisational progress and plan for the local government elections.
Nahid said the structure through which Sheikh Hasina ran the state as an autocrat had not changed at all. “The same machine is now being run by someone else. The driver has changed, but the machine has not. Unless that machine is changed, even the best driver cannot take the vehicle in the right direction. If the constitution is not changed, this will be a continuation of the previous government. The constitution must be changed to replace Sheikh Hasina’s illegitimate system.”
He said law and order had badly deteriorated across the country, with extortion and violent crime rife. “Instead of thinking about improving law and order, the home minister is busy amending the constitution. For that reason he cannot remain in this important post, and we demand his resignation. And instead of working on the crisis in the energy sector, that minister is also busy amending the constitution. We demand his resignation too.”
He said the people had given their verdict in the referendum but the government was not implementing it. “They want to make fundamental changes to the constitution, but they are not forming a constituent assembly. Instead, they want to put their own people at the head of the caretaker government. Whoever has come to power again and again has monopolised power. The Awami League succeeded in that, but BNP will never succeed. People are going round in the same circle, which is why changing the constitution has become urgent.”
The opposition chief whip said BNP would not allow the next election to be held fairly, and that it had engineered the last one heavily. “They have planned ahead and captured the Election Commission. They are also planning how to capture the caretaker government. People have begun to voice anger at them, so to silence them they are filing cases and amending the cyber law as well. They are also abusing journalists in various places. BNP has created some new autocrats, and if we cannot resist the new autocrats from the start, they will build fascism again. BNP is now moving in the same style in which the Awami League built fascism. BNP is an infant government, and the time has come to rein it in. Our programmes are under way across the country, and we are also preparing to take part in the local government elections.”
He said NCP did not believe the local government elections would be fair. “They have put their people in the Election Commission, and the state minister for local government is himself announcing candidates. That is why we have concerns about this election.” He added that sand extraction from the rivers, extortion, violent crime and land grabbing were going on in Munshiganj, with people from the ruling party involved and sheltered by those in power.
“This government cannot get the police back to normal,” he said. “We have taken to the streets to bring people relief from the deterioration in law and order and the repeated rises in fuel prices. They are politicising every institution. Reserved-seat MPs are secretly being given charge of opposition constituencies, which is unconstitutional. This elected parliament’s task is to implement the referendum verdict, write a new constitution and bring fundamental change to Bangladesh.”
Asked about Sheikh Hasina, he said: “Hasina will not come back. Those saying Hasina will return are spreading Indian propaganda.”
NCP senior joint member secretary and political council member Sarjis Alam, joint conveners Advocate Abdullah Al Amin MP and Sarwar Tushar, organising secretary Shawkat Ali, district convener Majedul Islam, joint member secretary Maruf Hasan Monty and other district NCP leaders were present.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report