BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday said the newly enacted law on the formation of the Election Commission (EC) is like a Baksal one. “Awami League has moved forward gradually with various steps over the last 14 years to do what it could not successfully accomplish in 1975. There’s now a cover of multiparty democracy, but there’s no multiparty democracy in practice,” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Speaking at a virtual discussion, he said the ruling party also arranged the last two elections “under cover” depriving people of their voting rights. Also read: BNP ditches upcoming EC formation law “They’ve now enacted a law just like that Baksal one. The Baksal law was made in 11 minutes while this time they passed a law (on EC) in parliament by seven days,” the BNP leader said. BNP’s national committee on celebrating Golden Jubilee of the country’s independence organised the virtual event, marking January 25 as ‘Baksal Day’ commemorating what it says introduction of one-party rule in the country on this day in 1975. BNP leaders from both home and abroad joined the programme. Earlier on January 27, parliament passed the “Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners Bill-2022" by voice vote to ensure a legal framework for selecting the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners Law Minister Anisul Huq placed the Bill in parliament on January 23 seeking to give a legal shield to the current and previous Election Commissions formed through search committees. Fakhrul said Bakshl has now become an “abusive” word as through it the county’s economy, politics and the dreams of freedom fighters were destroyed in 1975. “They (AL) had plunged the country and the nation into deep darkness by establishing a one-party rule at that time.” Also read: New bill a plot to form another EC with loyal people: BNP In the same way, he said Awami League has now politicised everything and created a scope for plundering public money. “The activities of all political parties are being brutally suppressed and the pro-democratic people and free-thinkers are being annihilated by resorting to killing and enforced disappearance.” The BNP leader also alleged that the government is suppressing the words of protests and people’s voices by making various oppressive laws, including the Digital Security Act. Stating that the government has been making various blueprints to restore Baksal, he called upon BNP leaders and activists to come up with a strong resistance together with people.  Fakhrul said they will put in their best efforts to establish a pro-people elected government and parliament ousting the current ‘fascist’ regime. He said the Awami League must quit and had over power to a non-party neutral government to pave the way for holding a credible nation election to be conducted by an impartial Election Commission. BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said Awami League and democracy cannot go together. “This party had established one-party Baksal rule in 1975 by obliterating democracy while it has been on power for the last 14 years by “force” snatching votes at night.” He alleged that the ruling party has already established a one-party Baksal rule under cover of democracy. The BNP leader called upon the people of all walks of life and political parties to get united to restore democracy by holding an acceptable election under a non-party neutral government.

BNP on Wednesday termed ‘baseless’ and ‘fabricated’ the government’s allegation of recruiting lobbyists abroad to campaign against Bangladesh. Launching a counter attack, the party said it is the Awami League government that has been engaging lobbyists for the last 14 years to cover up its misdeeds. “This’s a baseless and fabricated allegation. When sanctions came against an organisation and its top officials from America and when Bangladesh was not invited to the democratic summit, then this issue was raised. We want to know why this issue didn’t come up before,” said party senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. Read: BNP to observe ‘Baksal Day’ on Jan 25 He also said newspapers ran reports earlier that the Awami League government has been hiring lobbyists abroad for the last 14 years to hush up its misdeeds like obliterating democracy, violating human rights and plundering public money in Bangladesh. “When such news came out in the newspapers, the government is now trying to give a reply to it with some false and fabricated documents only to confuse people,” the BNP leader said. He made the remarks while talking to reporters on BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s grave premises at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city. Earlier, Musharraf, a BNP standing committee member, along with other party leaders and activists placed a wreath at the BNP founder’s grave and offered fateha there, marking the 86th birth anniversary of Zia. He said their party will come up with a formal reaction to the government's allegation at a press conference soon. On Tuesday, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam alleged that BNP spent at least US$ 3.75 million on lobbyists to campaign against Bangladesh, and he shared relevant documents with the media which are also available in the public domain. He also claimed that the Awami League government never appointed any lobbyist in its last three tenures but engaged a company purely on the media front in 2015 to help the world know Bangladesh based on facts and counter-propaganda against the country and its people. Cementing Baksal Later, talking to reporters, another BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas said the draft law on the Election Commission (EC) formation has been prepared to cement one-party Baksal rule. Read: BNP trashes draft law over EC formation “But we’re not interested in this matter at all. Because, we won’t go to the polls without a neutral government,” he said. Abbas said they will not only boycott the election without a neutral government but also resist it. “We won’t allow holding any election if a neutral government is not there to oversee it.” On Monday, the Cabinet approved the draft of the ‘Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioner Appointment Act, 2022’ to have a law in this regard as per the Constitution.

BNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed alleged that Bangladesh is now under the grip of one-party Baksal rule like that of 1975.