Jamaat-e-Islami chief and Leader of the Opposition Dr. Shafiqur Rahman has said the movement will continue, programme by programme, until the verdict of the referendum is implemented.
He was speaking as chief guest at a roadside rally of the 11-party alliance at Babri Chattar, at Shibbari intersection in Khulna city, on Saturday afternoon (31 October).
He said that after forming the government with a majority won through election engineering, the BNP now does not want to accept the referendum verdict. If a one-point movement is called, everyone must be ready to go to Dhaka.
“There is no scope to ignore the referendum verdict,” Dr. Shafiqur Rahman said. “The 11-party alliance will continue the movement until this verdict of the people is implemented. One programme will follow another. If necessary, a one-point movement will be called. Then everyone will have to go to Dhaka and join the movement.”
Criticising the government, the opposition leader said: “The government is acting oppressively. But this oppression will fall, and the people will win.”
The rally was chaired by Khulna city Jamaat chief Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman. Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis chief Allama Mamunul Haque, Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Mia Golam Parwar, Bangladesh Nezame Islam Party chief Maulana Abdul Kaium Sobhani and other top leaders of the 11-party alliance spoke as special guests.
After the rally, the long march was due to travel via Murali intersection in Jashore and the Jhenaidah bus terminal and end at Shaheed Abrar Fahad Stadium in Kushtia.
Earlier, at 8:30am on Saturday, leaders and activists of the 11-party alliance set off for Khulna from the north gate of Baitul Mukarram, the national mosque in the capital, in a convoy of about 1,500 vehicles. Large numbers of leaders and activists took part in the roughly 410-kilometre long march from Dhaka to Kushtia.
Political analysts see the Khulna rally as more than a stop on the long march: through it, the 11-party alliance has also signalled that it will step up street protests to demand the referendum verdict be implemented. The opposition leader’s call to prepare for a one-point movement in particular has given the programme a new political dimension.
Mia Golam Parwar also spoke at a short roadside rally at the Phultala bus stand in Phultala upazila of Khulna.
Speaking briefly there as chief guest, Shafiqur Rahman said the BNP government is oppressing the people of the country. He urged everyone to stay on the streets until the 11 parties’ seven-point demand is implemented, to free the country from them.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report