PM accuses opposition leader of wanting to take Bangladesh backwards

By: Editor The Bangladesh News

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday alleged that the opposition leader wants to take Bangladesh backwards as she had promised to make the country a middle income one by 2030 against the Awami League-led Grand Alliance government’s timeframe of 2021.
“In our previous term (1996-2001), we gained success in various fields including in power, literacy and food production. But, after that we (nation) had moved backwards in all fields when the BNP assumed power,” she said while inaugurating the three-month-long tree plantation programme at a function at her official Ganobhaban residence.
In her speech, the Prime Minister iterated that imbued with the spirit of war of liberation, her government has been working tirelessly to make the country a middle income one by 2021 when Bangladesh will be observing its golden jubilee of independence. “Everyone will have to work with determination to make Bangladesh prosperous by 2021,” she said, and expressed her strong resolve to rid Bangladesh of hunger and poverty as dreamt by father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Organised by Bangladesh Krishak League, the function was also addressed by Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque, Environment and Forests Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, Adv Rahmat Ali MP, AL joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, Krishibid Institution-Bangladesh secretary general AFM Bahabuddin Nasim and Bangladesh Krishak League general secretary Motahar Hossain Molla. The function was chaired by Krishak League president Dr Mirza Jalil .
Sheikh Hasina also urged the Bangladesh Krishak League leaders and activists and others to motivate all especially the authorities of schools, colleges and hospitals to plant saplings to protect the environment and biodiversity. “Everyone should plant at least three saplings-one of fruit, one of herbal and other of timber-and nurture those to contribute to the efforts of protecting environment,” she said.
She also asked them for social afforestation by planting coconut, palm and tamarisk (jhao) trees on the lands reclaimed through river dredging to protect the country from various natural disasters like cyclone and tidal surge.
Later, the Prime Minister distributed saplings among the leaders and workers of Krishak League, and herself planted a sapling at the Ganobhaban premises

Source: The Bangladesh Today