BNP senior leader Salahuddin Ahmed on Monday said the people of Bangladesh will politically reject those who are trying to delay or obstruct the national election.

“For the last 16 years, we have struggled to restore our democratic and voting rights. But since the election timeline was announced, we have noticed efforts to delay and obstruct the election by some quarters. The people of Bangladesh will politically reject those who try to stand in the way of this election,” he said.

Salahuddin, a BNP Standing Committee member, made the remarks while exchanging greetings with Hindu devotees at Dhakeshwari National Temple on the occasion of Durga Puja.

He also accused a quarter and a political party of trying to divide the nation and spread disunity on the basis of religion.

The BNP leader urged all to remain alert and speak out against such evil attempts.

He said they are also seeing efforts to create different issues to block a free and participatory election in the country.

Salahuddin said an election atmosphere now prevails in Bangladesh as people are ready to cast their votes and potential candidates are reaching out to the voters.

“So, now the people of the country will identify those who try to disrupt and delay the election by creating various issues,” he said.

Salahuddin said BNP rejects any division in the nation on the basis of religion. “We have never wanted to use religion as a political tool, nor do we want it now. We firmly oppose the politics of division based on religion.”

In this country, he said, everyone is a citizen under the Constitution and no one is just a community. “We are all citizens.”

Salahuddin also said BNP leaders and activists across the country are guarding temples during Durga Puja to ensure peace and protect communal harmony, and they will continue this until the festival ends.

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“Various conspiracies are going on to destroy Bangladesh’s communal harmony, but we have never allowed them to succeed in the past, and they will not succeed in the future either,” he said.

Pointing at the Hindu community members, the BNP leader said fallen fascist forces tried to use the Hindus as a vote bank in the past.

“We must all move away from that. In Bangladesh, none of us are a community. Each of us will practise our own religion freely. Whatever one’s religion may be, we will never identify ourselves as a community—we will identify ourselves as citizens. BNP’s policy is that religion is personal, but the state belongs to everyone. Everyone has the right to security and the right to power, and we have to implement it,” he said.