Ruling party lawmaker Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman Bachchu (Mymensingh-10) on Thursday said those who sell the July spirit now ride on Prado vehicles, though once they used to ride on rickshaws.
“I would like to make a request to those who sell the July spirit. Many of them used to ride on rickshaws, but now they ride Prado vehicles. And they sell the July spirit,” he told Parliament.
The lawmaker made this remark participating in the general discussion on the proposed national budget for 2026-2027 fiscal year.
Akhtaruzzaman said many members in the House had actively participated in the July movement. “But many people sell the July spirit. We do not sell the July spirit; we embody it. July is not something that can be sold,” he said.
Noting that many of those who claim to represent the July spirit often go live on social media, he urged them to go live from their residences so that people could see how their lives have changed.
“They occasionally go live. If they showed the houses they now live in by going live from there, the nation could see where they now stay and how much things have changed (to them),” he said.
The Mymensingh-10 lawmaker questioned why their friends from the opposition bench seem to be a little bit upset regarding the proposed budget despite the prices of 60 essential commodities being decreased by the budgetary measures.
The Mymensingh-10 lawmaker also questioned why opposition lawmakers are upset with the proposed budget despite budgetary measures that reduced the prices of around 60 essential commodities.
Noting that the prices of only two items—cigarettes and liquor—had increased under the budget, he said, “The general people of the country have accepted this budget. But our friends in the opposition term it a ‘chanachur-type budget’. We know chanachur is eaten by children, and adults also eat it. But adults usually eat chanachur after consuming certain other things. I do not know if that is why they are unhappy.”
Joining the budget discussion, opposition Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Abdul Baten (Dhaka-16) said there is little good news for middle-income and low-income people in this budget.
He questioned how much benefit could be achieved by easing conditions for large loan defaulters while imposing additional tax burdens on small businesses.
Pointing out that VAT, one of the government's principal sources of revenue, is a regressive tax, Abdul Baten said its impact falls equally on both rich and poor people, but the burden is felt most heavily by lower-income groups.
He also demanded an increase in budgetary allocation for the defence sector, noting that its share in the proposed budget had declined in percentage terms.
Very slim possibility for AL’s return in 50 years: BNP MP
Treasury bench member Dr Mahbubur Rahman (Mymensingh-7) said there is a very slim possibility for Awami League to return to the country’s politics for the next 50 years as it hurt three generations during the road safety movement, the quota reform movement and finally the 2024 mass uprising.
“I want to tell the Awami League that it has hurt three generations—school students, college students and university students. These generations were involved in the road safety movement, the quota reform movement and later the movement that ousted Hasina,” he said.
“As long as these three generations remain alive over the next 50 years, the possibility of the Awami League returning to power appears very slim,” he added.
Besides, BNP lawmakers Morshed Milton (Bogura-7), Zakir Hossain (Mymensingh-5), Harun-or- Rashid (Rajbari-2), Fakhar Uddin Ahmed (Mymensingh-11), Joynal Abdin (Feni-2), Hafiz Ibrahim (Bhola-2) and Nayab Yusuf Ahmed (Faridpur-3) as well as Jamaat lawmakers Md Shafiqul Islam (Patuakhali-2), Salah Uddin (Gazipur-4) and Zahirul Islam (Chattogram-16) also took part in the discussion in the morning sitting.