Bangladesh Nationalist Party will organise people and begin peaceful movement after Eid-ul-Fitr in demand of a fair election and in protest at government repression, said BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Saturday.
She was addressing an iftar party organised by National People’s Party at a hotel in Dhaka.
The BNP chairperson expressed her hope that people of different forces, who were subjected to repression by the government, would stand by her party.
Khaleda claimed that people were now prepared to join movement, but someone had to lead them and BNP was not afraid of shouldering the responsibility.
She said the BNP-led alliance would come up with peaceful programmes for a free, fair and neutral election under an ‘election-conducive’ government.
She said no ‘Hasina style’ election would be allowed in the country.
Referring to newspapers reports, Khaleda said Awami League leaders claimed that they didn’t want elections, but wanted ‘Hasina in power’.
‘What a demand of them,’ she ridiculed.
Khaleda, said she wanted that her political rival Sheikh Hasina would join an election under a neutral government.
She denounced price hikes of essential, gas price increase, killings, enforced disappearances and repression on women as well new burden of tax, VAT on common people as these were proposed in national budget for 2017-18 fiscal year.
She said poor people became poorer and termed the proposed budget ‘deadly.’
Khaleda, also a former prime minister, said police, Ansar, BGB and other forces should take these into consideration before the country would collapse before them.
She said certain class was running the country using them (forces).
Khaleda condemned repression of police by Awami League activists.
Referring to the imposition of excise on bank deposits and transaction in the proposed budget, the BNP chairperson said ruling party leaders were not worried about it as they keep their money in foreign banks and outside the country.
NPP chairman Fariduzzaman Farhad also spoke at the pre-iftar discussion.
Source: New Age
