The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has amplified a growing wave of national outrage over the interim government’s push to lease key terminals at the strategically vital Chittagong Port to foreign operators, branding it a “controversial foreign agreement” that mirrors the discredited deals of the ousted Sheikh Hasina regime.
Speaking at a rally in Patuakhali Sadar on Sunday, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi warned that such moves risk plunging the country into future crises, joining a chorus of criticism from civil society rights bodies and leftist factions who accuse Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus of hasty privatisation laced with geopolitical ulterior motives.
Rizvi’s fiery address, delivered to hundreds at the Bighai Hat Secondary School grounds under the banner of Amra BNP Paribar, zeroed in on the proposed handover of operations at the port’s Laldia Container Terminal, New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT), and Pangaon facilities to international firms—potentially for 25-30 years.
“The interim administration is planning to sign controversial foreign agreements just like the former Sheikh Hasina government,” Rizvi thundered, likening the deal to the power purchase agreement with India’s Adani Group, which he called a “thorn in the throat” for Bangladesh’s energy sovereignty and economic burdens.
He alleged that lingering pacts from Hasina’s era continue to inflict suffering on ordinary citizens, from inflated energy costs to stifled local industries. Rizvi further slammed the Yunus administration for treading the same path, claiming insiders point to UAE-based DP World—a firm with deep ties to US defense contracts—as a frontrunner for the NCT lease, set to be inked as early as December. “Handing over our economic lifeline to foreign companies without transparency? This isn’t reform; it’s a rushed sell-off that betrays the July uprising’s spirit,” he declared.
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The BNP leader’s remarks come amid a burgeoning protest movement that has united disparate voices—from labour unions and opposition parties to communists and rights watchdogs—in decrying the port deal as a potential gateway for Western influence in the Bay of Bengal. Just two days prior, on November 14, the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) unleashed a scathing broadside at a massive rally in Suhrawardy Udyan, where presidium member Mujahidul Islam Selim accused Yunus of puppeteering for the “US deep state.”
Selim labelled the initiative a “clandestine scheme” to outsource the port under the pretext of infrastructure upgrades, warning it could embed American naval assets and encircle China’s Belt and Road routes while pressuring India’s flanks.
CPB leaders, including General Secretary Abdullah Kafi Ratan and President Kazi Sajjad Zahir Chandan, framed the controversy as emblematic of Yunus’s “betrayal” of the 2024 mass uprising, which toppled Hasina’s “fascist dictatorship.” They highlighted fears of job losses for port workers—exacerbated by automation plans akin to Singapore’s model—amid a youth unemployment crisis swelling with 2 million new entrants annually.
The communists unveiled a protest calendar, including a nationwide rally today (November 16) to derail the Laldia handover, an Election Commission siege on November 24 for fair polls, and a national conclave on November 29 to forge a “united front of revolutionaries” under leftist banners like the Left Democratic Alliance and Bangladesh JSD.
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Echoing these alarms, the Ganatantrik Odhikar Committee—a civil society rights group—issued a damning statement on November 15, condemning the “Jamaat-controlled US-backed interim government” for lacking the legitimacy to ink long-term contracts on strategic assets. Signed by prominent figures including Prof. Anu Muhammad, Advocate Shafiuddin Kabir Abid, Seema Dutta, and Dr. Harun Ur Rashid, the missive spotlighted “suspicious haste, irregularities, and secrecy” in leasing Laldia, Pangaon, and the New Mooring Terminal. It revealed that agreements were being rushed over weekends, bypassing stakeholder input and flouting the Chittagong Port Authority Act’s transparency mandates.
The group accused the International Finance Corporation (IFC)—a World Bank arm acting as a consultant—of steering the process to favour global conglomerates over national interests, citing a recent 41% port tariff hike as evidence. Drawing parallels to exploitative IFC roles in Bolivia, Ghana, and the Philippines across sectors like energy and education, the committee warned of “commission recipients” from Hasina’s era infiltrating Yunus’s decision-making, pocketing crores in graft.
“Such a government has no right to any long-term contract,” they asserted, demanding parliamentary scrutiny post-elections and an immediate halt to the “misdeeds against national interest.”
Shipping Secretary Mohammad Yusuf has defended the outsourcing as essential to boost capacity from current bottlenecks—plagued by faulty scanners and crumbling infrastructure—to 5.36 million TEUs by 2030, promising knowledge transfers to empower Bangladeshis by 2036. Yunus, during a May port visit, envisioned it as a “world-class hub” linking landlocked neighbours like Nepal and India’s northeast for trade and jobs, dismissing detractors as spreaders of “baseless misinformation.”
Yet, opposition has snowballed: June sit-ins by BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and leftists; a two-day National Board of Revenue strike costing the garment sector $222 million; and dockers’ November 1 shutdown at NCT. Even murmurs from Bangladesh Army circles highlight maritime vulnerabilities, while port workers’ federation president Mohammad Harun decries it as a “direct threat to national security.”
Rizvi tied these threads to broader governance failures, railing against food insecurity, dengue and chikungunya surges, and potato farmers’ woes. “Instead of addressing people’s suffering, the government fixates on foreign deals,” he said, warning that unconstitutional moves like a proposed proportional representation referendum—lacking legal basis—could spark crises.
In a poignant gesture amid the rhetoric, Rizvi distributed financial aid to elderly couple Abdul Gani Jomaddar and Momtaz Begum, who a viral social media post claimed had starved for seven days. Acting BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman directed the intervention, underscoring the party’s grassroots outreach. The rally drew Amra BNP Paribar convener Atiqur Rahman Rumen, district BNP president Snehangshu Sarkar, affiliate leaders, and locals, blending protest with solidarity.
As December’s signing deadline looms, the port saga risks igniting fresh unrest in a nation still raw from July’s blood-soaked awakening. With communists vowing “the people will wake up again” against “slavery to India or America,” and rights advocates insisting on “everyone’s consent” via disclosed terms and parliamentary debate, Yunus’s reformist facade faces its sternest test. The interim regime, urged the voices in unison, must prioritise law, justice, and sovereignty—or brace for the masses’ unyielding verdict.
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