Elections were held after the uprising, but only the government has changed — the people have seen no change, Islami Andolan Bangladesh chief Charmonai Pir Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim said. He made the comments as chief guest at a union- and ward-level representatives’ conference organised by the party’s upazila unit in Pirganj, Rangpur, on Thursday evening.
Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim said Islam never supports persecution or discrimination against followers of other faiths. Protecting the life, property and places of worship of non-Muslims is one of Islam’s core tenets, he said.
Charmonai Pir alleged that a section of self-serving quarters occasionally attempts to create communal division for personal and political gain. He called on the public to stay alert and united against such conspirators.
Addressing Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim said: “Out of a hunger for power, they have taken up various sudden programmes. What did we see? They took to the streets in a long march to protest rising fuel and gas prices. Yet in parliament, they said the fuel and gas crisis was not created under the current government, but under the previous one.”
Criticising the long march, Charmonai Pir said: “By taking to the streets and burning lakhs of takas’ worth of fuel and gas in a long march, you deceived the people and harmed the country.”
Citing the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands in the Liberation War, the Islami Andolan Bangladesh chief said the war’s goal was to establish an equitable, humane Bangladesh. Fifty-five years after independence, he said, that goal remains unmet — which is why the country has repeatedly seen uprisings.
Most recently, in the 2024 mass uprising, Pirganj upazila’s own son, martyr Abu Sayed, gave his life protesting injustice with his arms outstretched. Many in the uprising lost mothers, wives, husbands and children, he said.
The meeting was chaired by Maulana Muhammad Masudur Rahman, president of Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s Pirganj upazila unit. Rangpur district president A T M Golam Mostafa and other central and local party leaders also spoke.