Jatiya Party President HM Ershad has said he would ban the use of formalin if his party were to assume power.
An annoyed Ershad made the remarks amidst sarcastic exchanges by top Awami League and BNP leaders harping on the use of formalin, a chemical preservative.
“Every day we come across newspaper reports of people being killed. But top leaders of the two parties are making fun of formalin. I am saddened by all this,” Ershad said at the party’s Banani office on Monday.
“Formalin is not a matter of joke,” he said.
Within days of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia saying that the government was ‘rotting’, Prime Minister and Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina shot back saying it was the BNP that was in decay and the government was keeping it alive with the help of formalin.
BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday described the Sheikh Hasina-led government as a tenure tainted with formalin.
Ershad flayed the top leaders for their remarks.
The chemical is being surreptitiously used in perishable food stuff to make them appear fresh with harmful effects on the human body.
“Formalin is available in fish, vegetables and fruits. You have brought formalin into the field of politics that might cause our death. You should be ashamed of that.
“What kind of society are we living in? Is it a democratic society? Is it a civilised society? The country is on the verge of ruin; there is no law and discipline, and no democracy either,”
“If I go to power I will ban formalin in seven days,” he said.
The chief of the Jatiya Party, the main opposition, expressed disappointment at the prevailing situation in the country.
Bangladesh is not a suitable country to live in at the moment, the former dictator said.
Under the circumstances, Ershad called upon party activists to unite to strengthen the party.
Source: BD news24
