By Mizan Rahman
Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday criticised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for comparing her government’s mandate with that of India’s BJP in her congratulatory message to Narendra Modi, saying the Bangladesh PM has ridiculed herself with such a claim.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the prime minister in her message to BJP’s PM-elect Modi said, “You have a big mandate as Bangladesh Awami League has. So we want to work together.”
He said the prime minister with such remarks not only undermined herself but also the country. “It’s known to all how Awami League came to power without people’s mandate through a lopsided
election.”
The BNP spokesman was addressing a programme of Dhaka city south unit Jubo Dal, the party’s youth front, protesting the filing of ‘false cases’ against its president Rafiqul Islam Mojnu and all other leaders and activists.
As the Indian parliamentary elections results were announced on May 16, Hasina reached out to the BJP’s PM-designate in a warm letter saying, “With the kind of people’s mandate given to their respective parties they can work together to take the bilateral relationship to increasingly greater heights.”
Fakhrul said though they had formed elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to check militancy and terrorism, the Awami League government is killing people and making them disappeared by using the force for its political purpose.
Referring to Narayanganj seven murders, he said it has proved the RAB troops were directly involved in the incident. “They’ve (RAB) carried out the incident in exchange of money. It’s a horrible matter the law enforcers are carrying out killings, abductions and forced disappearances.”
He alleged that RAB members were behind the most incidents of killing, force disappearance and abduction taken place in the recent times. “RAB members are now involved in crimes against humanity. They now have become an institution for taking lives instead of saving lives. So, this force is no longer necessary. Rab must be dissolved.”
The BNP leader termed the current regime worse than autocratic one saying the Awami League government is not only repressing the country’s people but also killing them and making them disappeared.
He urged the nationalist forces to get united to oust the current government through a strong street movement.
