The senior BNP leader said this after paying tribute to the Language Movement martyrs at Azimpur Graveyard on Thursday
Marking International Mother Language Day, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said people do not have freedom of speech; the main idea of the 1952 Language Movement.
“The movement has historic significance in our national life as it recognized our mother language through bloodshed. The undaunted children of our country sacrificed their lives on this day, in 1952, to establish our mother tongue as the state language,” he said.
The senior BNP leader said this after paying tribute to the Language Movement martyrs at Azimpur Graveyard, in the city, on Thursday morning.
Fakhrul said: “The Language Movement was the first step towards our struggle of independence and the 1971 Liberation War where we achieved an independent Bangladesh.”
“The spirit of 52’s Language Movement was democracy and freedom of speech. However, our freedom of speech is completely blocked now. Bangladesh has now become a one-party state which is not desirable at all,” he said.
Fakhrul furthered: “BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, who has been struggling her entire life for democracy, is now in jail after being convicted in false cases. On this day, we demand her immediate release along with thousands of BNP leaders and activists.”
The BNP Secretary General has also demanded the election be held again under a neutral government and neutral Election Commission.
The BNP leader also expressed his deep shock over the deadly fire that broke out in Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka Wednesday night.
He said: “People are dying due to irresponsibility and mismanagement of the Awami League government.”
At least 70 people have been killed in a massive fire that engulfed several multi-storey buildings on Nanda Kumar Lane in Chawkbazar’s Churihatta area of Old Dhaka on Wednesday night.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
