In Bangladesh, opposition BNP takes out multiple rallies; demands dissolution of parliament

Dhaka: Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies on Wednesday staged simultaneous public meetings at several places across the country as part of their campaign to press Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and announce fresh elections. Speaking at one of the rallies in Dhaka, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced countrywide rallies and processions for January 16 to press the party’s 10-point demand and protest the government’s plan to hike power prices. Alamgir said the programs will be observed in all metropolitan cities, districts, towns, upazilas and municipality headquarters. The rally came days after his release from prison on bail after a month of imprisonment as he was facing a number of political cases. He said Prime Minister Hasina led Awami League was clinging to power depending on police and bureaucrats, snatching peoples voting rights in the past two general elections. “The people want freedom from this authoritarian regime,” Alamgir said. The BNP is demanding Prime Minister Hasina’s resignation in favour of fresh elections under a caretaker government instead of ruling Awami League, fearing the polls to be rigged by her administration. Bangladesh will hold its next general election in 2024. The BNP boycotted the 2014 and 2018 elections, but under a special provision, it allowed several of its leaders to take part in the last elections. BNP alleged that the elections were rigged. At a separate rally in the capital, senior BNP leader Mirza Abbas demanded a non-party caretaker government to hold a credible election. “The time to cling to power by force is over.” Political analysts said the BNP has rallied significant support but the party was rudderless after its chairperson 77-year-old Khaleda Zia was convicted for two graft charges. A court in 2017 sentenced her to a 17-year jail term and she spent months in prison. Zia, a three-time premier, however, was allowed to stay at her home in Dhaka under a special government provision since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and debarred from joining any political activity. Her expatriate son Tarique Rahman now steers BNP from London as its acting chairman but he too is convicted in several criminal and graft cases while two Bangladeshi courts declared him a “fugitive”. Hasina on Tuesday said, “the extreme rightist and leftist groups” – were joining hands with the opposition BNP to try to oust her government while her government ministers denounced the foreign diplomats for talking about Bangladesh’s internal issues. “Now they (BNP) are saying they will wage a movement getting beside them the extreme leftists and rightists as companions,” she told a party discussion. “Let me tell you (BNP) one thing. The Awami League works for the people and their welfare. Don’t think it will fall if one shakes it. Things are not that easy,” she said. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.