The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the ruling Awami League are scheduled to engage in another bout of street rivalry in Dhaka on October 28 when the opposition holds a grand rally.
On Wednesday, the BNP announced the grand rally, which it said that would be the beginning of its final push to force the ruling AL government to resign and hand over power to a party-neutral, caretaker government to conduct the national election.
AL decided that it would also hold a rally in the south plaza of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on the same day.
The government and Awami League are making joint plans to face the BNP rally, according to AL policymakers.
BNP fears its leaders, who play a role in public gatherings and who are in charge of activists, may be arrested in old cases.
On Saturday, talking to reporters in Dhaka, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader said that a section of people in the country were trying to create unrest.
‘We also have a programme on October 28. We also have a great journey on this day. The journey of the Bangabandhu Tunnel under the river Karnaphuli will begin in Chattogram. In the afternoon, a rally will be held at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram,’ he said.
Addressing a programme in Lakshmipur on Saturday, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan also said that the BNP was now trying to create anarchy in the country ahead of the upcoming national election and that the government would show a hard face to the BNP if they became violent.
BNP alleged that the AL was trying to create anarchy in the country, creating obstacles to opposition programmes.
‘We have ideas of what the AL and government agencies can do. We are ready to face all kinds of obstacles,’ BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told New Age.
He alleged that the AL was using state organs for party interests.
Several BNP policymakers told New Age that it was assessing possible measures by the government as well as police targeting the party’s October 28 Dhaka grand rally.
As the party wants to convey the strength of the movement by gathering millions of people in the rally, its policymakers now regularly watch the ‘open and secret’ steps of government agencies, particularly the police. several members of the BNP standing committee confirmed New Age.
They said that at an extreme level, Dhaka Metropolitan Police could impose a ban on rallies in the city for the day or a few more days. If such a decision comes, BNP will start a march towards DMP headquarters, they added.
They said that after the Durga Puja vacation, police may intensify arrests and raids in the city and adjacent districts to create panic among party leaders and activists.
Police drives would arrest a few thousand party leaders and activists, they predicted.
But no matter how hard the government tries, this time the rally will be held at any cost, they said.
Khasru said that the party’s high command has instructed all levels of the party to make all kinds of techniques and preparations to achieve the demands through peaceful movement.
‘People are on the streets today. Common people and their leaders are willing to give their lives to overthrow this government. One can never win a fight with those who are willing to sacrifice their lives,’ he said.
According to BNP leaders, the party will announce siege programmes for the secretariat, the Election Commission, and some other important institutions as per the next programme that will start after October 28.
This time, the party wants to convey the message that a ‘one-sided’ election under the party government will not go unchallenged, they said.
BNP leaders said that the government, as well as the police, was a bit flexible for a few days after the visa policy was announced by the United States ahead of the Bangladesh elections.
‘Now they [Awami League] have started making a last-ditch attempt to stay in power,’ a BNP leader said, adding that since Tuesday, more than three hundred BNP leaders and activists have been arrested without any reason.
The leaders of the party said that they plan to bring two to three times more people for the October 28 rally than their July 28 rally in Naya Paltan.
The responsible leaders are working with a target, though there will be various hurdles, they said.
The government can stop public transport, search various entrances, and make mass arrests of activists, they said.
Based on these considerations, the party adopted the plan, they said.
Preparatory meetings and discussion meetings are being held almost every day to gather people for the mass gathering, they said, adding that a meeting was held at the BNP chairperson’s political office in Gulshan on Friday.
Apart from the BNP secretary general, members of the party’s standing committee, joint secretary generals, and leaders of various levels were present there.
Discussions are going on with leaders and activists at various thana and ward levels of Dhaka city separately, they said.
Earlier on July 28, BNP held a grand rally in Dhaka with a huge crowd.
A few hundred BNP leaders and activists were arrested before the rally.
The BNP faced a heavy crackdown before the Dhaka mass rally on December 10 last year.
Just before the rally, police arrested over two hundred BNP people, including its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee member Mirza Abbas, and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
The police sealed the BNP Naya Paltan central office on that occasion.
New Age
