The BNP no longer considers the National Citizens Party (NCP) a force. It will not allow Jamaat-e-Islami to rise to power. No matter how strong the party is, the BNP has unnecessarily given it more importance. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was quoted as saying these things in an interview published in the Bengali newspaper Ei Somoy in Kolkata, India. It was published in the online version of the newspaper on Monday.
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The interview titled โWhy is India keeping BNP-Jamaat in a bracket, Mirza’s questionโ has created a stir and controversy in the political arena of Bangladesh. Jamaat-e-Islami has strongly condemned and protested against some of the statements in the interview. NCP leaders have also reacted.
Although the BNP Secretary General, who is on a visit to the US with the interim government’s chief advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus, has stated that the interview has been misrepresented at this time, it is misleading. The BNP Secretary General did not make such a statement.
The interview began with the upcoming parliamentary elections. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam was asked whether the national elections will be held in Bangladesh in February next year at all. The way Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP are raising new demands one after another and saying that they will not allow the elections to be held if they are not met, many are sceptical.
Mirza Fakhrul’s reply was that the elections will be held in February next year. There is no room for doubt. There will be no unrest. People are demanding the return of voting rights; they are demanding elections. The elections will be held like a festival in February.
While Jamaat is saying that there will be no elections without the PR (proportional representation) system, the NCP is demanding the abolition of the existing constitution and holding elections to the Constituent Assembly first. Otherwise, they are saying that they will not allow the vote to take place – Mirza Fakhrul’s statement published in this regard says: “Jamaat will come to the polls. Not PR-TR, but the voting in Bangladesh will be done in the conventional manner in which people understand voting. Jamaat will also participate. And we no longer consider NCP to be a force. It is true that these students were the ones who ignited the protest against Sheikh Hasina. Now they have nothing. People do not come even when called.”
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The NCP’s only goal now is not to let BNP form the government – this statement was also made in this interview.
Jamaat has asked for 30 seats
At this time, Mirza Fakhrul’s response to a question in the interview was that the Jamaat has asked the BNP for 30 seats in the next election. BNP did not show enthusiasm.
In response to this question, it was further written: โI assure you, we will not let Jamaat rise to the top again. No matter how big or powerful they are, we have given them more importance than they need. PR-TR is all a tactic to put pressure on BNP. Jamaat is preparing for elections. It is announcing the names of candidates in various places. In fact, people in the country are strongly demanding elections. The army is demanding it, and Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor to the interim government, is also demanding it.โ
Jamaat was together with BNP for 25 years, so why are the names of the two parties mentioned together? In response to such a question, Fakhrul said: โWrong. The Awami League has made India believe this propaganda. They are only election partners. They do religious politics; we do not. In fact, India made the mistake of looking at Bangladesh through Awami glasses. It did not keep in touch with the rest. Today, the mountain of anger against the Awami League has turned into intense anti-India sentiment.โ
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Will parties like Awami League, JSD or Workers Party be able to participate in the next elections? The statement published by Mirza Fakhrul in response to this question is: โWe have said that Awami League and all their partners, even the Jatiya Party, should participate in the elections. Let there be a fair and free election. For this, many are abusing me as an agent of India, an Awami broker. But why should we do the same thing as Sheikh Hasina? Hasina did not let her opponent stand for election for 15 years; she got punished for it. If we do the same, we will also get the same result. But people have seen so much blood, so many lives lostโthere is anti-Awami among them.โ
BNP media cell
When various parts of the interview of the BNP Secretary General were published online at this time in various media and social media, it created a wide discussion in the political arena.
On Tuesday, at around 4pm, BNP media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan told media personnel that he had contacted Mirza Fakhrul Islam, who was on a visit to the United States, about the interview. Mirza Fakhrul said that he did not make such a statement in the interview published at this time. The news published in various media in Bangladesh under different titles based on the interview is wrong and misleading.
Jamaat seeks proof of seeking 30 seats
The party’s Secretary General, Mia Golam Parwar, has issued a statement strongly protesting the statements and comments made about Jamaat-e-Islami in the published interview. He said that the BNP Secretary General spoke in derogatory terms about Jamaat-e-Islami’s politics and the status of the organisation. Such a completely untrue, disrespectful and vindictive statement. There is no similarity between truth and decency with this statement.
In the statement, Golam Parwar said: “If this statement is made by him (Mirza Fakhrul), then we are compelled to protest and condemn it. Besides, if this statement is made by him, then we call upon the nation in an unequivocal voice to present the evidence of who Jamaat-e-Islami has claimed these seats from.”
Rejecting the demand for 30 seats from BNP, Golam Parwar said: “Jamaat-e-Islami has no relationship with the politics of seeking seats from anyone at present.” The statement called on the BNP Secretary General to refrain from making such untrue and misleading statements in the future.
โThe people will decideโ
Meanwhile, NCP convener Nahid Islam said regarding the statement given in an interview about his party, the people will decide whether the NCP is a force or not on the streets, in the voting field.
Nahid Islam said this in response to a question at a press conference in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon regarding the harassment of Akhtar Hossain at the New York airport.
Stating that there is no chance to bring the Awami League to the elections, Nahid Islam said: “We can see that on one hand the Awami League is carrying out terrorist activities, while on the other hand some politicians in the country are conspiring to bring the Awami League to the elections. We want to say clearly that there is no chance of bringing the Awami League to the elections or rehabilitating the Awami League in politics. Those who try to do this, the people will stand against them. Their politics will disappear from Bangladesh.”
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