Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad said that the Awami League and Bangladesh National Party ruined his ‘dream for democracy’.
“Democracy means the rule of the people. But there is one-party rule in the country now,” he said at a discussion by Jatiya Sramik Party on Sunday.
Blaming Bangladesh’s two major parties for shattering his dream to pieces, Ershad advised members of his party to prepare for the next election.
He also thanked them for attending the discussion despite a strike enforced by Islamist parties seeking the arrest of former minister and Awami League leader Abdul Latif Siddique for his remarks against Hajj.
“People have not forgotten me. They want change… They are awakening… But we don’t have a lot of time, and every minute is valuable for us,” the former military strongman said.
Dismissive of the strike, he said even an earthquake would not have discouraged members of his party from turning up at the discussion.
Ershad, Special Envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was critical of her policies too.
He said: “I started family planning to check population growth when I was in power. I convinced the people that a huge population was bad for a country as small as ours. But the Prime Minister recently said there would be no problem if the country is overpopulated. She said they’ll contribute as manpower. But there is unemployment everywhere and many job seekers abroad are cheated. They are getting depressed and addicted to drugs. Is this an example of manpower?”
The Jatiya Party chief asked Hasina to keep her promises.
Ershad was vague about joining the 10th national election held on January 5. He decided to sit out but ended up winning from Rangpur-3 constituency after his nomination could not be withdrawn because of ‘technicalities’.
The Awami League won the election boycotted by the BNP, which was replaced as main opposition in Parliament by the Jatiya Party that emerged as the second largest bloc. The party elected Ershad’s wife Raushan to lead them in Parliament.
Ershad, who was ‘detained’ in the Combined Military Hospital after he was escorted there by RAB before the polls, was later made Special Envoy to the Prime Minister.
Source: bdnews24
