"You (govt) are convicting our leaders and workers, including Tarique Rahman, and snatching the gallantry title of the proclaimer of independence Ziaur Rahman. There’s no point in doing all these things,” he said.
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Speaking at a protest rally, the BNP leader said, "The people of the country are fuming over the misrule of the government. We’ll unite the aggrieved people and ensure the fall of this government like other autocratic rulers through a movement.”
As part of its countrywide programme, BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units jointly arranged the programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club protesting different court verdicts sentencing party acting chairman Tarique Rahman in Narail, and its leaders and activists in Satkhira and Pabna.
Mirza Abbas, a BNP standing committee member, said the government is trying to ‘snatch Zia’s gallantry title’ as part of a far-reaching conspiracy.
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"I would like to say this title was not given by this government. This award was given to him by the people of Bangladesh out of respect and love after independence. So, the current government can’t revoke this title," he observed.
The BNP leader protested the Narail court verdict that sentenced Tarique Rahman to two years' imprisonment in a defamation case for making derogatory comments about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“You (govt) had filed cases against Tarique Rahman and convicted him. What have you gained by convicting him? It matters little if you even sentence him for 200 years. People will welcome him if he returns homes ignoring the sentences given by you,” he said.
Abbas said the government has been carrying out serious repressive acts to hang onto power by suppressing BNP leaders and activists.
"Apart from the newborns, there’s no BNP leader or activist in Bangladesh against whom there is no case… I would like to say that an authoritarian government never quits power. You (people) have to force it to relinquish power. No one will give you the rights, you have to realise those,” he said.
Another BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy said their party should launch a one-point movement demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
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He said the government has become unnerved as news channel Al Jazeera aired a documentary on a very small part of ‘huge ‘corruption and misdeeds’ took place during the rule of the current regime.
“There’re now dons, mafia, grabbers, killers and rapists in every house and Sheikh Hasina is ruling the country with their help. But this situation won’t last long. I would like to urge the government to give up the habit of throwing stones towards others by living in a glasshouse,” Gayeshwar said.
He also called upon the government to take steps for the restoration of democracy shunning the ‘arrogance and repressive acts’.
Party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the government has taken a step to repeal Ziaur Rahman’s gallantry title to divert people’s attention to a different direction from the Al Jazeera report on Bangladesh.
“The entire world has got panicked by the coronavirus while Sheikh Hasina’s government by the Al Jazeera virus. They (govt) are now staging new dramas of snatching Ziaur Rahman’s title and sentencing Tarique Rahman to counter the Al Jazeera virus,” he observed.