Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said that Sheikh Hasina must return to power to save Bangladesh.

“If Sheikh Hasina loses, Bangladesh will lose,” Quader told a discussion meeting organised by Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) on the premises of the central Shaheed Minar. “We cannot be defeated by the anti-liberation forces.”

The event was held to commemorate the 50th founding anniversary of the party led by Hasanul Huq Inu.

Quader called for a greater unity under the leadership of Hasina, saying that an evil force like BNP must be defeated by forging unity of the pro-liberation forces.

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He came down heavily on BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for his comment that the crowd in a recent council of the Dhaka district Awami League was thin.

“(I think) Mirza Fakhrul counted the chairs at the Dhaka district Awami League council by using binoculars from Rangpur. There were 70,000 chairs, not 22,000. I challenged,” Quader said in reference to the statement by Fakhrul who spoke at an anti-government rally in Rangpur on the same day of the AL council in Dhaka.

“I want to tell Mirza Fakhrul, we are united under the 14-party alliance. To save Bangladesh, Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina must be in power," he said.

He said that BNP did not protest for even 13 minutes over last 13 years.

“Now, Fakhrul wants to protest (against us). We know where the root of this (anti-government) movement is,” he said.

Also read: ‘BNP will swallow the entire country if it returns to power’ ‘BNP will swallow the entire country if it returns to power’

Quader said that BNP’s dream of toppling down the government on December 10 and returning to power would not succeed. BNP has set December 10 to hold a massive anti-government rally in Dhaka through which the opposition party wants to knock the government down. Some BNP leaders even warned that after December 10 the country will be run by BNP.

Quader said they know some secrets behind the ongoing movement.

"We have received information that the money (being spent by BNP in the movement) is coming from Dubai," Quader said.