BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today (September 6, 2022) said Awami League government has failed to resolve the outstanding issues with India as it lacks public support.

"The Bangladesh government has not been able to solve the outstanding issues we have with India, including sharing of common rivers’ water and the killings of Bangladeshi citizens along the border, since it doesn’t have public support,” he said.

The BNP leader also said the government has so far failed to strike a bargain with the neighbouring country for overcoming the problems as people are not with it.

He came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after paying homage to BNP founder Ziaur Rahman by placing a wreath with leaders of the newly formed partial committee of Jatiyatabadi Swechchasebak Dal.

BNP announced a five-member partial committee of its voluntary wing, Jatiyatabadi Swechchasebak Dal, making SM Zilani and Rajib Ahsan its president and general secretary, respectively on Sunday last.

About Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's current visit to India, Fakhrul said every time she went to India, she gave people a lot of hope about signing the Teesta treaty and other important deals, but that has not happened so far.

He said Bangladesh was supposed to get $8 billion from India under the lines of credit, but the country has received a part of this credit. “There’s no further progress in this regard. These things depend on people's power. Had people supported this government, every issue could have been resolved.”

Earlier on Monday morning, Sheikh Hasina went to New Delhi on a four-day state visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

The Prime Minister had bilateral talks with her Indian counterpart today at the Hyderabad House and the two countries signed seven MoUs demonstrating cooperation in a number of areas including water sharing of the Kushiyara River.

Fakhrul criticised the government for not giving any appropriate response to Myanmar for repeated violations of Bangladesh's sovereignty. “Since this regime has been in power without people’s mandate, it’s very difficult for it to ink agreements with countries and protect the interests of Bangladesh. We have observed this in the case of Myanmar.”

As his attention was drawn to criticism on social media over PM being received by a state minister at Delhi’s Palam Airport, Fakhrul said, “The previous statements of the foreign minister here and the statements of most of the ministers of the government have demonstrated that they would go (to India) no matter how they’re received and they wouldn’t have a big problem with that.”

He said the Awami League government is a “subservient regime” and it is difficult for them to stay in power without the support of their friends. “So, they would like to fortify it (support) somehow before the next election.”

The BNP leader said their party believes that the governments of the democratic countries of the world will play their role in establishing the main demand of the people of Bangladesh for a democratic government and a fair and credible election.

Reiterating BNP’s position on the next election, he said a credible general election will not be possible in Bangladesh without a polls-time neutral government and a new, impartial Election Commission.

He also said their party’s only goal is to remove the “fascist” Awami League government and force it to hand over power to a neutral caretaker government by dissolving  parliament.