KHULNA — Mia Golam Parwar, secretary general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and a former member of parliament, said a referendum should be held in November alongside the implementation of the July charter, with national elections to follow in February.
Parwar made the remarks Friday morning as chief guest at a Hindu convention organized by the Duria upazila Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hindu committee at the Independence Square in Khulna’s Duria upazila.
Parwar said every government since independence has used Hindus only to improve its own fortunes. Hindus, he said, now need an Islamic government to improve their lot and develop infrastructure. Those threatening Hindus on seeing the rise of the scales symbol will fail to intimidate them this time, he added, and the public will resist anyone who tries to obstruct Hindus.
“For 54 years those who ran the country, the thugs, the land-grabbers and the extortionists, used state agencies to exploit Hindus,” he said. “If Jamaat is given the responsibility of running the country, terrorism, extortion and land-grabbing will be uprooted, God willing.”
Parwar said the country’s people want change and that Jamaat wants to deliver it. “We have seen the rule of the plough, the paddy sheaf and the boat. Only one party is left: Jamaat’s scales,” he said. “Students from Dhaka University, Chattogram University, Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University and other universities delivered the message of the 2024 change at the cost of 1,500 lives and 40,000 injured. The people of the country will deliver the same message in the next national election, God willing.”
The convention was chaired by Krishna Nandi, president of the upazila Hindu committee, and conducted by its secretary, principal Deb Prasad Mondal. Speakers included Advocate Abul Khair, a former vice president of the Khulna District Bar Association and additional government pleader; Mosleh Uddin, president of the Shobhna union Jamaat-e-Islami; Promoth Gain, a priest of the Sharafpur Public Puja Temple; Dr. Haridas Mondal, vice president of the Duria upazila Hindu committee; Kanai Lal Karmakar and lecturer Prashant Kumar Mondal; treasurer Gautam Kumar Mondal; Subhash Sardar, principal of Pallishri Mahavidyalaya; Sujit Kumar Sarker, vice president of the Maghurkhali union; and Advocate Apos Singha, vice president of the Duria Public Puja Temple.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report