BNP on Wednesday alleged that the government has no attention to public sufferings as it has not been elected by people’s votes.
“Since this regime is not elected by the people, it has no attention to public sufferings. They’re not standing beside the flood victims,” said BNP Dhaka north city unit convener Amanullah Aman.
He said the government is least bothered about the plights of people as they are thinking that they will come to power again by holding another ‘farcical’ election under them as they did in 2018. “That’s why they’re ignoring the country’s people.”
“But the people of Bangladesh have decided that no more elections will be held under the current government. The next election must be held under a non-party caretaker government through which people will elect their representatives,” the BNP leader said.
He was speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office after a preparatory meeting of the party’s relief committee.
Aman said around 25 districts in the country have been affected by the floods, leaving many people in serious misery. “Our party suspended all organisational activities and asked our leaders and activists to stand by the flood-affected people at the beginning of the flood.”
He said their party leaders have already visited different flood-hit areas and distributed relief materials. “As we think that was not enough to ease the sufferings of the affected people, we’ve decided to carry out relief activities more extensively as per the advice of our acting chairman Tarique Rahman.”
The BNP leader said diseases like diarrhoea can spread in the flood-affected areas as water started receding. “So, we’ve decided to distribute fresh water, medicines and water purifying tablets in the flood-affected areas.”
Aman said it is the main responsibility of the government to provide people with adequate relief materials, but it has failed to do that.
“On the one hand the flood-affected people were starving and crying for help, on the other the government was indulging in dancing, singing and merrymaking over the inauguration of Padma Bridge. Wherever we went, people said they didn’t get relief from the government,” he said.
The BNP leader also said around Tk9.5 crores were spent on making toilets for the opening of the Padma Bridge while only Tk30 lakhs were allocated for the flood victims in Sylhet division.
As BNP is a party of people, he said the party and its leaders and activists stood beside the flood-affected people this time as in the past.
Aman recalled that Khaleda Zia during her government distributed adequate relief materials among the flood victims in different areas wadding through the floodwaters.