BNP senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Sunday said those who are afraid of elections should not be there in politics and instead work as pressure groups or NGOs.

“Those who are afraid of elections do not need to do politics. Let them work as pressure groups. They can work as NGOs. You cannot do politics, avoid elections, and at the same time obstruct the democratic process. That’s unacceptable,” he said.

He made the remarks while speaking at a discussion organised by the Bhasani Janashakti Party and Bhasani Anushari Parishad at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU), marking the first anniversary of the July Uprising.

Khosru, a BNP Standing Committee member, warned that in countries where mass revolutions took place and elections were delayed, it led to division, civil war and failure as a state. “But those who returned to democracy promptly through elections saw economic, social and political improvement,” he said.

Talking about the July Uprising, he said there are some divisions over the movement, but no one has the scope to hijack it.

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He said the July uprising was not something new, as movements for their rights are in the DNA of the people of Bangladesh.

“There was no other way for Sheikh Hasina but to go. We wouldn’t have returned home if Sheikh Hasina hadn’t fallen on August 5. Our movement would have continued,” the BNP leader said.

The aim of the movement, he said, was to reclaim people’s ownership of the country and restore their constitutional rights.

Although BNP leaders and activists suffered the most, Khosru said their party never claimed credit for the movement.

He said a government elected through people’s vote must be established to make the mass uprising a success.

The BNP leader stressed that a full consensus is not needed on all issues. “Different political parties will have different ideas and beliefs, which is normal. But on national issues, unity is important. Without differences, democracy cannot survive. We are not here to establish one-party rule.”

He said there has been a change in people’s mindset in Bangladesh following Sheikh Hasina’s fleeing. “Those who fail to understand this change have no political future.”

Khosru also said many police and government officials are not working properly due to the absence of an elected government, and foreign investors are waiting for an elected government to make decisions.