Awami League
If BNP comes to power 1971 spirit will vanish: Quader
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said that if BNP gets power again, there will be no spirit of Liberation War in the country.
"We cannot hand over power to BNP, which is the patron of communal forces and militancy," he said.
He made the remarks while joining a discussion meeting organised in the city by Dhaka Metropolitan South Awami League unit to commemorate the ‘Homecoming Day’ of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after Bangladesh gained victory over Pakistan in 1971. Bangabandhu returned to Dhaka via London and New Delhi on January 10 in 1972 after being freed from jail in Pakistan.
Read more: Must maintain good relations with India: Obaidul Quader
Quader said that another name for Bangladesh is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangabandhu will remain as long as this land exists, he added.
Pointing to BNP's mass sit-in programme on Wednesday, he bitterly criticised the opposition party and said 54 parties have joined hands against Sheikh Hasina.
“(But) What will the 54 parties do? They can’t do anything,” he said.
Criticising local media, Quader said he could not stay at home even for 50 days during the BNP regime.
“(Now) Two BNP leaders had been in jail for 26 days. Some media outlets are writing in a way as if they had been in jail for 26 thousand years,” he said.
Read more: Awami League ready to quash domestic, foreign conspiracies: Quader
Quader said there will be a game “against corruption, looting and misrule” of BNP.
He said that Hasina has “repaired what the BNP had destroyed while in power.”
"Sheikh Hasina inaugurated hundreds of bridges and hundreds of roads in one day. Sheikh Hasina can, only Sheikh Hasina can. Let us strengthen her hands," he said.
Dhaka Metropolitan South Awami League General Secretary Humayun Kabir presided over the meeting.
AL leaders, activists gather on Dhaka streets as BNP holds sit-in programme
Leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and its affiliates today took a stance in Dhaka as BNP and like-minded opposition parties and alliances organised a sit-in programme.
According to party sources, every leader in every ward of the city took to the streets to face any untoward incident.
Leaders and activists of Awami League, Jubo League, Swachhasebak League, Krishak League, Mahila Awami League, Mohila Jubo League and other affiliated organisations gathered in front of the central office of Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue since early morning.
Read more: BNP announces countrywide rally, procession on Jan 16
A huge traffic contestation was created due to the gathering. Most commuters crossed the area on foot as vehicles were stuck due to the programme.
On the other hand, Chhatra League leaders and activists gathered at Shahbagh since morning.
Apart from the day-long programme in front of Bangabandhu Avenue, Dhaka Metropolitan South Awami League arranged a discussion at 11:30 am on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Homecoming Day.
Minister of Road Transport and Bridges and General Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League, Obaidul Quader ,was present as the chief guest at the programmes.
Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day today
Today (January 10) marks the historic Homecoming Day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest Bangalee of all time. The day is being observed across the country in a fitting manner.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages on the eve of the day, paying tributes to the Father of the Nation.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid homage to the Father of the Nation by placing wreaths at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhaka‘s Dhanmondi-32.
After laying the wreaths, the Prime Minister stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Bangabandhu, the architect of independent Bangladesh.
Read: Homecoming Day of Bangabandhu: PM pays tribute at Dhanmondi-32
Awami League (AL) has planned various programmes to observe the historic day.
AL’s programmes began with the hoisting of the national and party flags at the party’s central office, Bangabandhu Bhaban and its party offices across the country at 6:30am.
AL leaders and workers paid homage to Bangabandhu by placing wreaths at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban in the city’s Dhanmondi area at 7:30am.
At 11 am, an AL delegation will pay respect to the undisputed leader of the nation by placing wreaths at his grave in Tungipara.
Read: Bangabandhu’s ‘Homecoming Day’ to be observed Tuesday
The AL delegation will include its presidium members Lt Col Muhammad Faruk Khan, central committee members Awowar Hossain, Shabuddin Farazi Iqbal Hossain Apu, Marufa Alter Popy, and Gloria Sarkar Jharna.
On the occasion, a discussion will be held on a limited scale at the party's central office in Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Avenue at 3:30 pm, maintaining the health safety guidelines while Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina will preside over the event.
Besides, all district, city, upazila, thana, union and ward level units of the AL, its associate bodies are organising similar programmes to observe the day in a befitting manner.
In a statement, AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader urged all party leaders, workers and its associates to observe all the programmes, marking Bangabandhu's Homecoming Day in a fitting manner.
Read More: Anne de Henning’s rare photos of Bangladesh’s birth, Bangabandhu to have Dhaka exhibit Dec 15-24
Bangabandhu, the undisputed leader of the nation and supreme commander of the country's Liberation War, returned to the newly independent Bangladesh after over nine and half months of captivity in a Pakistan jail on January 10 in 1972.
Divisional duties assigned among new AL committee
The ruling party Awami League on Sunday distributed divisional duties among the joint-general secretaries and organising secretaries, said a press release.
Among the joint-general secretaries, Mahbubul Alam Hanif was given charge of Sylhet and Chattogram divisions, Dipu Moni was made responsible for Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions, Hasan Mahmud got Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions, and AFM Bahauddin Nasim got Khulna and Barishal divisions.
Among the organising secretaries, Ahmed Hossain was given Sylhet division division, BM Muzammel Haque given Khulna Division, Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan got Chattogram 1adivision, SM Kamal Hossain got Rajshahi division, Mirza Azam was given Dhaka division, advocate Afzal Hossain got Barishal and Sujit Roy Nandi got Rangpur division.
The party chose prime minister Sheikh Hasina as the president of Bangladesh Awami League for the 10th consecutive term and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader as general secretary for the third successive time at its 22nd national council on 24 December.
Newly-elected AL committees, advisory council pay tributes to Bangabandhu
The newly-elected Awami League National Committee, Central Working Committee and Advisory Council on Saturday paid tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Saturday.
Led by party President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina they placed a wreath on the Mausoleum of the great leader at Tungipara in Gopalganj.
Read more: New AL central committee pays tribute to Bangabandhu
During the time, the leaders offered Fateha and joined a munajat seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of Father of the Nation and other martyrs of August 15, 1975 carnage.
Prayers were also offered seeking continued peace, progress and prosperity of the country and the nation.
Sheikh Hasina was elected President of Bangladesh Awami League for the 10th consecutive term, while Obaidul Quader was re-elected as general secretary for the third time in the 22nd National Council held December 24.
Read more: PM pays homage to Bangabandhu at Tungipara
Restoring people’s ownership of country is BNP’s main challenge: Mosharraf
BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Thursday said it is a challenge for their party to restore people’s ownership of the country by ousting the Awami League government.
Speaking at a programme, he also said the country cannot be freed from injustice, misrule and misdeeds until the current ‘fascist’ regime is removed.
“Bangladesh belongs to all its citizens. But a quarter of Awami League has grabbed people’s Bangladesh and indulged in plundering. So, there is only one challenge in front of us now. This challenge is to restore people’s ownership of the country,” the BNP leader said.
He called upon people of all walks of life irrespective of party, opinion and religious belief to come forward to save the country from the grasp of Awami League.
“We need to rescue this country and return it to people. That’s why our acting chairman called for taking back Bangladesh. The country should be taken back to its people. We are working towards this goal,” he said.
Mosharraf, a BNP standing committee member, came up with the remarks while exchanging greetings with the Christian community on the occasion of the Christmas Day.
Read more: Simultaneous Movement: BNP forms liaison committee
As in the previous years, BNP arranged the programme at the party chairperson's Gulshan office.
Mosharraf said Bangladesh has been passing through a critical juncture as the current government has destroyed democracy, economy, judicial and social systems.
“Those who destroyed all these things won’t be able to repair these again. That’s why we’ve placed the 27 points to repair the state,” the BNP leader observed.
He said their 27 points have already inspired the country’s people and created hope among them.
The BNP leader said their party believes in the freedom of all religions and they have respect for all religions. “As per the section13 of our 27 points, the believers of all faiths will enjoy the full rights of their respective religions.”
He deplored that people of all minority religious communities and their worship places came under attacks and they face obstruction in performing their religious activities during the rule of the Awami League government.
He said their party founder Ziaur Rahman established Bangladeshi nationalism for ensuring the rights and welfare of all communities and religions.
Read more: Implementing 10 points a key New Year’s challenge for BNP: Mosharraf
“We want to get rid of this fascist government. Without democracy, no sector can run smoothly. That is what Awami League has proved by killing democracy. They did it after independence by establishing Baksal and they have done it now again,” he said.The programme began with the recitation from the verses of Bible. Late, BNP leaders cut the Christmas cake with members of the Christian community, marking their biggest religious festival.
BNP to get fitting response if it resorts to violence: Quader
General Secretary of Awami League and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said a fitting response will be given to BNP if it tries to instigate and resort to violence in the name of “political movement”.
He made the remark while addressing the 30th conference of Road and Transport Engineers’ Association in Dhaka’s Tejgaon area as the chief guest.
Describing various achievements of the AL-government over the past 14 years, Quader said that smart road networks have to be developed to turn Bangladesh into a “smart” country.
Read more: Quader to BNP: Ditch caretaker dream, prepare for election
He said that the regulations of the Road Transport Act were published in a gazette and are being enforced.
Urging government employees to not go for unnecessary foreign trips, he said some officials go abroad on several excuses.
With the Road and Transport Engineers’ Association President Syed Moinul Hasan in the chair, AL’s Science and Technology Affairs Secretary Engineer Abdus Sabur, Chief Engineer of Road and Transport department Md Ishak and the association’s general secretary Engineer Amit Kumar Chakrabarty, among others, spoke at the programme.
Read more: Quader urges BNP not to create chaos on December 24
AL candidate Ripon wins Gaibandha-5 by-election
Awami League-backed candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon unofficially won the by-election to Gaibandha-5, held peacefully today (January 04, 2023).
Ripon won the election by defeating Jatiya Party-backed candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju with a margin of 33,533 votes.
The winning candidate bagged a total of 78,285 votes with the boat symbol while Ranju got 44,752 votes with the plough symbol.
The other candidates of the by-election were Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman.
Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-polls: Festive mood as voting underway
Voting started at 8 am and continued till 4:30 pm. No untoward incident was reported.
The election was monitored from Dhaka through a total of 1,242 CCTV cameras while it ended with only a 35 percent turnout.
The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazilas.
On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to “rampant irregularities” on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls.
Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-election held in a disciplined environment: CEC
Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12.
A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12 last year.
Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election.
Read More: No irregularities reported yet in Gaibandha by-election: EC Rashida.
BCL's 75th founding anniversary tomorrow
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of Bangladesh Awami League, will celebrate its 75th founding anniversary tomorrow.
To mark its 75th founding anniversary, BCL has chalked out a year-long programme.
BCL announced the programmes at a press conference held at Madhur Canteen on DU campus on Tuesday.
Read more: Saddam, Inan to lead BCL central committee
Newly appointed BCL President Saddam Hussain and General Secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Enan, its DU unit President Mazharul Kabir Shayon and General Secretary Tanbir Hasan Shaikat along with other BCl activists were present at the press conference .
Celebration programs include hoisting of national and party flags at the party office at 6:00am tomorrow, paying tribute at the Memorial of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhanmondi-32 at 8:30am, and cutting cake at Dhaka University's Curzon Hall at 9:00am, distribution of winter clothes aming cold-hit people.
The founding anniversary rally has been scheduled to be held on January 6 at 2:30pm.
In addition, BCL will carry out campaigns like blood group testing, voluntary blood donation and educational materials distribution among students between January 5 to 8.
Read more: BCL’s 30th National Council begins at Suhrawardy Udyan
Bangladesh Chhatra League(BCL), formerly known as East Pakistan Chhatra League, was founded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 4, 1948, which left its footprints in different movements including language movement, Mass uprising in 1969 and in the War of Liberation.
Awami League pay tributes to Syed Ashraf on 4th death anniversary
Awami League on Tuesday paid tributes to its former general secretary and public administration minister Syed Ashraful Islam.
The party leaders and activists laid wreaths on his grave at Banani graveyard in the city.
Read more: Awami League united under Sheikh Hasina's leadership: Quader
Awami League joint general secretaries Dr. Hasan Mahmud, Mahbubul Alam Hanif MP, Syed Ashraf's sister Syed Zakia Noor Lipi and Syed Ashraful Islam's family members were present.
Syed Ashraf died at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, aged 68, on January 3 in 2019.
Read more: Awami League pays tribute at Bangabandhu‘s portrait on Martyred Intellectuals Day
His death came just four days after he was elected lawmaker from Kishoreganj-1. Before that, Ashraf was elected member of parliament from the same constituency in 1996, 2001, 2008 and 2014.