Ruling party lawmaker Gayeshwar Chandra Roy on Saturday said Jamaat-e-Islami "was born out of opposition to Bangladesh and it is their character to oppose.
"Jamaat was born out of opposition to Bangladesh. That is its character. So, it is natural for them to oppose. There is no reason to lose our heads over it," he said, pointing at criticism by Jamaat MPs of even the positive sides of the proposed budget.
Gayeshwar, elected from the Dhaka-3 constituency, was taking part in the general discussion on the proposed national budget for 2026-2027 fiscal year in Parliament.
Stressing the need for courage to move ahead overcoming challenges, the BNP lawmaker said Bangladesh had attained independence by overcoming all opposition during the Liberation War and now the democratically elected government and Parliament would likewise be able to successfully implement the budget, facing all obstacles.
The senior politician, however, said corruption remains the biggest challenge to implementing the proposed budget and urged the government to take effective steps to curb it.
"We need to rein in this corruption. If we don't rein in corruption, we will sink under it (the pressure of corruption) ….. If we can bring corruption down to zero percent, the budget can be fully implemented,” he said.
He also alleged that some tax officials were more interested in enriching themselves than increasing government revenue and urged Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury to adopt strategic measures to reduce corruption in revenue collection.
“If corruption is reduced gradually, this budget will be implemented successfully," he said.
Gayeshwar said the Tk 938,000-crore budget is not large as claimed by the opposition members.
He said a 30,00,000-crore budget is required to fulfill all demands raised by the MPs in the previous parliamentary session related to development of their own constituencies. “So, this budget has not been a large one,” he added.
To counter criticism that it is a high deficit-budget, he said it is natural that the national budget would always be a deficit budget unlike a family budget.
The BNP leader proposed keeping the taxes on Bidi low as the poor use it.
Referring to the remark of BJP Chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partho MP who in his budget speech put emphasis on promotion of Islamic banking system, Gayeshwar claimed that the Hindu community people have no access to the jobs of Islami Bank.
In this regard, he said a Hindu community person was denied a job in Islami Bank just for his religion. “Bank is not Mosque or Madrasha…. So, it is discrimination and injustice that the people from other religions won’t get jobs there,” he said.
Later, BJP chairman Andaleeve Rahman took the floor on a point of order and explained his remarks.
Partho said Islamic banking services are becoming popular even among non-Muslim communities. Though non-Muslim people can do jobs in Islamic banks, he doesn’t have any idea whether there is embargo on their participation in the board of such banks, he said.
Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury (Chattogram-15) joined the debate on the issue and claimed that the Hindu community people have access to the jobs of Islami Bank.