BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday raised an allegation of corruption and nepotism against the government in giving the Independence Award.
"It's a so failed and incompetent government that it has resorted to corruption regarding Independence Award which was introduced by martyred President Ziaur Rahman," he said
Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader said the government nominated an infamous person named Amir Hamza for the award and later cancelled it, launching an investigation.
“Why is he (Hamza)? Investigate to find out the identities of other people whom you've given the award this time. Most of them are the relatives of the ministers or the relatives of the Prime Minister,” he observed.
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In celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Independence, BNP's sub-committee on the Medical and Services organised the programme at the Jatiya Press Club.
Earlier in the day, Prime minister Sheikh Hasina handed over "Swadhinata Padak 2022" (Independence Award-2022), the highest national civil award of the country, to nine distinguished individuals and two organisations in recognition of their outstanding contributions to their respective fields.
Fakhrul said the government has taken plundering and corruption to such a level that there is now no alternative to ousting it from power to save the country.
He also said the Awami League government has destroyed democracy and forced lakhs of people to leave their homes to avoid persecution. "They’re harassing our 35 lakh leaders and workers and pro-democracy people by filing false cases against them. They’ve made more than 600 people disappeared and killed over a thousand ones. This is the true colour of Awami League."
He called upon all professionals and political parties to get united to remove the ‘fascist’ regime through a fierce mass movement and establish a truly people's government.
"One thing we’ve to keep in mind is that this government is an anti-independence and anti-people one. "They (gpvt) are working on how they can make money through plundering and how they can siphon off money abroad and how they can create more scopes for relatives to make more money," the BNP leader said.
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Depicting the ‘sorry state’ of the country, he said economists are saying that the poverty rate in the country has increased by two percent. "People's purchasing power has declined significantly. That’s the reality. The way commodity prices have gone up and inflation has risen it is now difficult for people to survive.”
Fakhrul also accused the government of spreading false information to people about the rise in GDP growth and per capita income.
In their programmes,BNP's subcommittee provided seven freedom fighter physicians with crests for their contributions to their field.
They are, Prof Faridul Huda, Prof Mobin Khan, Prof Shamsul Islam, Dr. Shahadat Hossain, Prof Mominul Islam, Prof. Abdul Quddus, Prof Siraj Uddin Ahmed and Prof Abdul Haq.