Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), said on Friday that after a mass uprising paid for with thousands of lives drove out one autocrat, the country is now watching a new one rise.
He was speaking at a protest rally at Shahbag in the capital, held on a four-point charter of demands that includes curbing the steep rise in prices of daily essentials, ending the gas and electricity crisis and stopping the decline in law and order. The NCP’s Dhaka Metropolitan North and South units organised the rally jointly.
“After a historic mass uprising and a national election, through the sacrifice of thousands of people, we drove out an autocrat,” Nahid Islam said as chief guest. “But today, sadly, we see a new autocrat rising in the country. Our clear promise is that both forces, the fallen autocracy and this new one, will be defeated in the streets, together.”
Criticising the government, the NCP convener said: “There is no electricity, no gas, prices are rising unchecked, and with terror and extortion all around, the lives of ordinary people, shopkeepers and small traders have been made miserable. The government has completely failed to protect people’s lives and property, and the main responsibility for that failure lies with Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed.”
He alleged that instead of handling law and order, the home minister was busy cutting up the constitution unilaterally, ignoring the aspirations of the uprising and the verdict of the referendum. He demanded that the home minister and the energy minister resign at once, taking responsibility for the failures. He also called for the constitution amendment committee that has been formed to be scrapped and for a constitutional reform council to be set up, as promised in the July Charter and the referendum.
Nahid Islam warned that the BNP government had been breaking the pledges of its election manifesto and of the July Charter from its first day in power. If the demands are not met, he said, the movement will be stepped up across the country, and a mass procession will surround the head of government to press them.
At the same rally, Nahid Islam formally announced Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan as the NCP’s mayoral candidate for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) election and Nasiruddin Patwari as its candidate for Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report